?Chapter One
November
Angad swore pungently when he entered his room. Kripa was sprawled on his bed in very short pink shorts and a white silk tank-top that was pushed up, leaving half of her back bare. He saw arms and legs everywhere. God, Kripa Kapoorā¦ oops Kripa Khanna, God, Kripa was sexy. He had barely come to know her in the last one week.. But from everything about her, he had come to know one thing about her, she didn't give up, and she was a hard worker. She had insisted on staying in the same room as Angad because she liked the view she got from the windows of the beach. But in one week, Angad still hadn't gotten used to walking into his room in the afternoon and seeing Kripa sprawled in his bed.
She worked hard, he thought and pulled the blanket over her against the chilly November air. She had left yesterday at five in the evening, had worked all night on her latest venture, and had probably come back a few hours ago like every day for the last week. Now, she was going to wake-up in exactly one hour and go for a jog. Bathe, eat a thing of yogurt, and run away again until tomorrow this time. The lady got less than five hours of sleep a night, Angad thought tugging a shirt down his head as Kripa stirred in the bed. She was going to get sick if she kept going this way.
He didn't care, he assured himself and pulled on a pair of grey sweat pants. They had there own lives. Until Prithvi came back, anyways. Angad tossed his towel in the laundry before going into the music room. He had a deadline approaching and if things went well he knew he had at least another Grammy under his belt. If things went well he would get an Oscar.
He ran his fingers over the keys and did a little warm-up exercise. The score was meant to be showing a woman in love and in anger. He thought of Kripa and couldn't understand what had caused Prithvi to suddenly decide to not get married. He was in love with Kripa, he had said so himself. Angad sighed and played the tune. None of his business.
It started from a slow weepy sound of piano and the power and pressure increased turning it into loud, angry notes. Angad closed his eyes and played what he had so far from memory. Once he had the music he knew the lyrics would be easy.
Kripa pulled the pillow over her head in an effort to block the music, but she was unsuccessful. Angry, she rolled out of bed and marched to the place the music was coming from. She hardly knew the house, but she found the music room without problem. She pushed at the heavy, large wooden doors, carved in various designs and found Angad sitting at the piano stool, his hands running fluidly over the keys. She simply marched over to him and spun him around. He looked at her annoyed. Her eyes were red, with bruises under them from the lack of sleep.
"Don't you have any respect for a dead human?" She demanded when he continued to stare at her. There was frustration in his eyes that matched the anger in hers.
"It's my house," he pointed out a moment later and turned back his piano keys. "And, three in the afternoon isn't a time to be sleeping anyways."
Kripa hissed out of her teeth. "I've been working all night, Slick. So shut the hell up. And, a smart person would have made the walls sound proof."
"Sorry, Your Highness, I didn't realize that every house in this world should be build according to your needs. Now go away, I've got work to do."
She wanted to turned him around and take a few shots at him. Instead, she fisted her hands in her hair and let out a long, loud scream. Mumbling and calling him names, she walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Angad finished his composition sitting in front of the piano, with a huge grin on his face. Maybe, he thought, running thought the end of the song one last time, the next six months weren't going to be so boring after all.
Kripa walked out of the shower still grumbling. The man had the nerve to be so rude, god damn it she had not even gotten a full twenty hours of sleep in the last seven days, couldn't he show a little bit of sympathy towards her? She sighed and pulled a pair of pink slacks over her matching pink underwear. She tugged her towel away from her head after draping herself in a collared white, silk shirt. She walked to the dresser and snatched her hairbrush, lying beside Angad's and dragged it through her hair a few quick times, before tossing it on the dresser again.
She grabbed a perfume at random and sprayed it against her long neck, replaced it beside Angad's cologne. From the second drawer she grabbed her wedding ring, still the same little diamond Angad had once worn, and pushed it into her finger.
She was not supposed to be running to work, she thought as she grabbed a yogurt from the fridge. She should have been somewhere with Prithvi making love with him and thinking about when she wanted to have her first child. If she wanted it to be a girl or a boy? What would she name it, how she would design the nursery?
Well, good for her, she thought angrily. She didn't want children; so now should wouldn't have to think about them. She knew Angad didn't want them.
The pain wanted to come and stab at her, but she quickly finished her yogurt, grabbed the keys to her 2007 Ferrari 599, in her hands months before it was released in the market, and her wallet and stormed out and past Angad with a set expression on her face. She worked and worked because she knew the minute she stopped she was going to be drowned in pain and tears. She was still in love with Prithvi and she knew it, it came to her with a passing thought as she frantically searched for her sunglasses and found them in the dash board beside the packet of Marlboros, which belonged to Prithvi. She tossed the cigarettes out and tugged her glasses on her nose. She turned the music on loud and dashed away before tears could even pool in her eyes.
Angad shook his head as he watched her car zip out of the drive way and into the road. She was devastated and her mind, heart, and body was just waiting to stop and crumble. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be the shoulder she would lean on when her system finally crashed.
He would just have to wait and watch. And, he would have to help her. He was rude with her, he gave her no sympathy because she didn't want any. Because she was strong and he believed she didn't need any. Plus, who would know about wanting and needing sympathy better than him?
Angad went to the phone whistling when it rang minutes later.
?
"Cut!" Tyler Johnson screamed the word so loudly, it left both Kripa and her co-actor Aaron Petty in completely shock. Annoyed, Kripa pushed Aaron back, hands fisted on her hips, she turned to towards the director. "Kripa, if you keep acting like this you're going to be blessed with eggs and tomatoes and not Grammies and Oscars. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry," she mumbled. "We can try this again."
"Fine." Tyler went back and sat down on his directors chair. "Take nine. Roll camera, action!"
"I'm sorry I have to do this, sweetheart." Kripa in Erica's character tossed her curly brown hair off her shoulders and offered her almost ex-boyfriend a sweet smile. "I know you love me darling, but it's just not going to work with us. I told you already that marriage, family, children they're not for me."
Vincent Hanson, the almost ex-boyfriend, just looked at his lady love and then down at the diamond ring he was holding. "So it was just fun and games for you, Erica? Nothing much?"
Kripa dramatically rolled her eyes, ran a frustrated hard through her hair. "Look, Vince." She made her voice take a cold, snappy turn. "We're over. I'm dumping you."
"Of course you are." He slipped the ring back into his pocket. "It was good knowing you."
"Yeah. Whatever. Bye." Her wicked blue eyes turned into sad ones the moment her lover boy turned around to walk away from her. Her lips pressed together and the tears came to her eyes without the help of glycerin. Once the front door of the house closed, Erica fell on the velvet sofa and, hands covering her face, burst into tears.
"And, cut." Tyler grinned as Kripa wiped the tears from her cheeks and gave him a grin that looked real. "That was great, we'll do the last shot in a few hours, get your lines ready."
"Sure." She spotted a spot boy and asked for a cup of coffee with a donut, and went into her trailer with them a few moments later. She knew her lines, maybe she could snatch a few minutes of sleep. But, when then door of her trailer opened she didn't stifle the groan she invited Aaron with.
"What do you want?"
"Well, I wanted you, but you broke my heart." He bit out of her donut, after kissing both her cheeks. "How's the new bride?"
"Still a virgin!" She grinned widely at him. "How's you?"
"Still a bachelor." He wiggled his at the moment empty ring finger.
"Of course, just let me go call your six months pregnant wife Olivia. If Angad and Olivia decide they want to divorce us, we can get married."
"Too bad we're stuck." He sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm on top of this world. What's wrong?"
"You just burst into tears on the set, Kripa. I know they were real." He turned her to face him and frowned at the deep shadows under her eyes. "Is Angad Khanna beating you?"
"Yeah, right." She gave a un-lady like snort. "We hardly see each other. He has no business touching me anyways."
"Hmmm. Prithvi is coming back tomorrow from France. He's going to restart the production of Bittersweet Romance.
As if unaffected, she shrugged. "We're going to finish the movie today and we're not going to start editing for a few weeks, I haven't sighed another movie, so I guess I can go for a vacation if Angad is free."
Aaron shook his head. He'd known this girl since high school. "Honey, we all know why Kripa Kapoor married Angad Khanna. You can't fake it. Not with me anyways. Tyler decided that Angad is doing the music score for this movie and Prithvi's team is going to edit it. He'll be on the set once we begin editing and dubbing. You know he's the actual director, he financed the whole movie. Tyler is just taking his place until Prithvi gets back from France."
"Oh, Aaron." She rested her head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. "I loved him so much."
"I know." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair. At least it was loved and not love "We'll beat him up together once he comes back. Don't cry."
"Of course not." She banked her tears for until she was alone. "Thanks." She said a moment later, kissing his cheek. "How's the baby and Olivia?"
"Perfect." He grinned. "She'll be seven months along tomorrow, I just can't wait. How about Nikki?"
"Due any day now, actually. Three children, I couldn't survive one."
"Kripa!" Angad came into the van painting, surprised to find Kripa sitting in Aaron's arms. "Nikki went into labor."
"Oh. Oh! I have to go Aaron, handle Tyler for me." She laughed, kissed him. "You have to stop by."
"Of course." He watched her grab her husbands Angad and dash out of the van.
"Why the hell didn't you call me, Khanna?"
"If you'd pick-up the damn phone," he tossed back. Aaron grinned behind them and knew that she was going to be alright in the end. Although he'd never been too fond of Prithvi, he had always respected Angad for the man he had been even as a boy. He only wished Kripa knew him more. And, when and if she came to know him better, Aaron wished that she would be able to accept him for everything Angad Khanna was before heā¦ before.
Nikki gave birth to a little boy, seven and a half pounds, twenty-three inches, with grey eyes and too much hair on his head. It had been almost four years when she had held a baby, because she hadn't been around for Nikki's daughter for the first nine months. Now, while Nikki slept on the bed and everyone had gone home already, Kripa carefully picked up the little boy in her arms. She didn't want her own children, but she didn't mind pampering others children. And, she was going to pamper and love and spoil this little devil more than anyone could imagine.
He was exactly eight hours old and his eyes were wide open at the moment. She grinned into them and wiggled her eyebrows, made him look at her intensely, with his eyebrows drawn together. Laughing, Kripa kissed his forehead and laid him back into the ugly, plastic, hospital crib. He would be sleeping again in a few minutes, she thought, as she closed the door of the room and went to find Angad. He hadn't even come in to see the baby. He had calmed her down with cups of coffee while Nikki was in labor, while she had paced the hospital worried sick. But he hadn't come into the room once to see Nikki or the baby.
She found him outside the hospital, sitting on the hood of his Ford, smoking. His eyes were covered with shades so she didn't see the sadness in them when she went to stand in front of him.
"Hi, handsome." He didn't even look her way, she frowned. "How come you didn't come inside?" He gave her a shrug in the answer. "Angad!" Exasperated, she tugged his glasses off his nose, tossed them behind her head in a bad habit.
"Hey!" He frowned at her.
"I'll buy you a new pair," she said when she heard them crunch under someone's feet. "So, why didn't you come inside?"
He shrugged again. "I don't care for hospitals and I'm not exactly family."
She cocked a brow at the words. "You are family," she pointed out a moment later.
"Well it doesn't matter any more. Let's go home." Kripa sat on the hood until Angad honked, wondering the reason for his aloof behavior for this particular matter. She had noticed the way he smiled at Nikki on the day they got married when she had been handling her children.
"Coming, Your Highness?" He asked when she didn't move from the hood.
"Yeah." She went and sat down in the car beside him.
Angad gave her a side glance look, the way she was thinking made him frown. But how could he tell her that he had lost his mother in the hospital, that he had lost a baby, his own little baby, here at the hospital? How could he tell her that he'd lost another mother again, Prithvi's mother this time, in a hospital?
"So are you going to celebrate since you don't have work?"
"No." Getting over it, she leaned back and yawned hugely. "I'm going to go to bed until tomorrow morning."
"Eat something first." He suggested as they drove into the French gates of his house.
"You worried about me, Slick?"
"Wouldn't want your parents to have my head, sweetheart." He took the keys out and turned to her. "If Your Highness can't cook, I can do it for you." He offered and watched annoyance flash in her eyes.
"I can cook, Lover, I just chose not to." Now she just hoped he'd never test her because she knew her cooking meant too much salt, to little something, and too burned at the edges.
"Sure. We'll have to see someday." He said and slid out of the car.
"Whatever."
"Hey, Kirpa." She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I have to fly to New York tonight for the score of the musical I'm doing. You'll be fine?"
She bit her lip, she knew he was referring to Prithvi's return tomorrow. "Yeah. When are you going?" She asked turning now.
"Two hours."
She nodded. "Okay. Need help packing?"
"No, thanks for asking. I already did that."
"Sure. I'm going to bed."
"Okay." He watched her toss a grin his way before walking into the house. He also noticed she didn't ask when he was coming back. That was good he thought, they were still acting. There were no heart-to-heart emotions in them, yet. He wished that things would stay that way for the next five months and twenty-five days.
When he walked into his room about an hour later, she was sleeping face down in large white t-shirt and her pink underwear exposed. Angad shook his head and pulled the blanket over her legs to her waist. He turned the phones off and left her a note on the dresser. He left the house praying she wouldn't have to face Prithvi add if and when she did have to face Prithvi, without him or with him, she was ready.
When Kripa woke around ten hours later it was five in the morning. She pulled the blanket closer and listened to the quite house and the birds beginning to chirp outside. This was the first time she was waking up in the house and alone. It felt odd to know that she knew next to nothing about the house she lived in. Maybe she could get herself a cup of coffee and walk around.
Another part of her wanted to just close her eyes and go back to sleep. One more hour she told herself and dozed off again.
When Kripa woke again, the sun was shining teasingly through the curtains Angad had closed for the day before. She blinked, her mind refreshed, she ran her tongue around her teeth. She had to call-up Tyler today, ask him about what the schedule was since she had missed the shoot yesterday. She also had to go and see Nikki and the little baby and see what they had named the baby.
But, before that, she wanted a real breakfast with a toast, eggs, turkey bacon, with coffee or juice. She wondered if she had time for a swim in that excellent looking pool in the back of the house.
She wanted a day off to do frivolous things.
She could have stayed in the bed for the entire day but the doorbell had her groaning and getting out of bed and grabbing a robe on her way out. She opened the door to a middle aged lady, dressed in white shorts and a pink t-shirt. She gave Kripa a huge smile. Her eyes were a cheerful, clear blue. The smile had wrinkles bunching faintly around her mouth and eyes.
"Good morning, miss. I'm Laura." She looked at the lady. The pretty little girl she'd seen on T.V. was standing in front of her.
"Hi," Kripa replied carefully. "I'm Kripa." She pursed her lips. "Angad's wife."
"Oh, dear!" Her hands went to her cheeks and she looked seriously shocked. "I go out for a month and the boy gets married." She walked inside the house like she owned it and had Kripa looking at her with a curious eye. "Where is he anyways?"
"Ah! He's gone to New York for a musical."
Laura turned around and gave Kripa a disappointed look. "How long have you been married for."
"Um. Like ten days today." She linked her hands behind her back, rocked on her heels.
"That boy!" She sighed, shook her head. "Anyways. I'm Laura, I've managed your husbands house for almost three or four years now. My daughter graduated college so I was gone. Is there anything I could do for you, Mrs. Khanna?"
Jeez that sounded wired. Mrs. Khanna. She didn't let the shudder come. "Can you make me breakfast?"
"Of course. You go get started on the day." Kripa turned to leave. "Mrs. Khanna." She turned around. "I've enjoyed your movies."
Kripa's grin was wide. "Thank you. And, make it Kripa, Laura. You're older to me."
Pleased with her, Laura, turned around and putting an apron around her neck and got to work.
When Kripa came down stairs, the house smelled of food. She breathed it in and sighed hugely. She had been living on yogurts since she had gotten married, it was time she got an actual meal. Laura was humming and setting her breakfast on a plate. She was a small lady, five three, four at the most. Her shorts went down right above her knees and her t-shirt fitted just perfectly on her curvy body. Angad had never mentioned anything about a housekeeper.
"Your breakfast is ready, miss." Laura said when she spotted Kripa in the doorway. "Anything else?"
"No." She sat down on the high stool and sipped coffee. "Sit and eat with me, Laura, I haven't had a meal in ten days and I haven't talked to anyone outside of the set of our latest production."
Laura, making herself at home, poured a glass of juice and polished off an apple. And, she mused, as Kripa ate busily, what exactly was the reason of Angad and her marriage. Well, she could pry a little. "How did the two of you get married, I mean you and Prithvi Boseā¦" She trailed off when Kripa's eyes met hers sharply. "Sorry."
"No." She shook her head, scooped up eggs. "Prithvi ditched me at the alter, so to say, and I managed to talk Angad into marrying me for six months to teach that idiot a lesson."
Ah! She knew it! Angad Khanna wasn't the type of guy who went for someone like Kripa Kapoor. She had lived with him and his first wife for the one year they had been married. Sonya Sharma had been a quite lady, a housewife. She was the type of person who woke-up before Angad woke, had food on the table before Angad got there, was in bed after Angad went to bed. She waited for him to come back and have dinner. They were a quite couple and sometimes Laura had wondered how two people could love each other with such little communication.
Sonya had even looked different than Kripa. She had been shorter by at least five inches, her hair had been black and straight, compared to Kripa's wavy, glossy brown ones. Sonya's eyes had been small, a matching color to her hair. Sonya was a neat, pin-tidy person. She placed things exactly where she found them. And, Laura had assumed that when the marriage ended, after a miscarriage, it was because they weren't close enough, in love enough, to share each others grief.
Sonya had asked for a divorce, Angad had filed it. They had gone through a heartless divorce. It was perhaps, Laura mused, as Kripa poured a new cup of coffee, that it was the most civilized divorce she had seen. There had been no loud fight before it, no cups crashing, and heads banging. No alimony was demanded. It had been the perfect end to an imperfect marriage. Now, nearly five years later Laura still sensed Angad grieving for the marriage he couldn't keep and for the baby he had lost. And, Sonya, she was already married and had a little girl from the second marriage.
Laura didn't want to seem heartless or meaningless, but she hated Sonya for leaving Angad behind to let him blame for the baby and the failed marriage.
Every part of her had hoped that Kripa would change that, but she was wrong. This was a six-month-only relationship. It's end was decided.
"What did you parents have to say about this six months contract?"
Kripa shrugged carelessly as she peeled the banana. "They don't know it's a six-month deal."
Laura nodded. She loved Angad Khanna like a son, and she was going to make sure that Kripa didn't break his heart again. "And you? It's no big deal for you to marry and then let go?"
"Nope. I'm not meant to be married and have children. I've been working with Hollywood as a Gerber Baby. I never wanted to go to college, get a degree. But, I went because my dad wanted me to. I love my parents so I went, and I worked, and I got a degree in Dance and acting. I was done after that."
There was something in those eyes, Laura thought as she picked up the plates to wash. "Well, everyone has a different boat to sail on. You found yours and that's important."
"Hmmm." She looked into her coffee. "Laura, you're the first person I've talked with, actually have a conversation with because I wanted to since I came here."
"I'll be there when you need me, honey."
"Thanks. Um. Why did Angad's first marriage fail?"
Laura wiped her hands, wondering why she would care. "That's not for me to tell you, miss." She turned and her eyes were sharp of Kripa's face. "I love Angad like my own son, Kripa. If you hurt him in anyway, you'll have to fight me." Laura walked out, leaving Kripa just a little baffled.
Kripa simply shrugged and stretched in her seat, before calling Tyler.
?
Angad Khanna's fingers were moving fluidly over the piano keys. He caressed them, lingered, and the music soothed, just the way it was meant to sooth the viewers of while the ballerina danced to the sad tune as her lover and her parted, in the final scene of the ballet.
Who would have thought Angad Khanna, who had worked in bars and restaurants cleaning tables, was capable of making music.
It was one thing he could never hate Prithvi for. He gave him securities of like no one else could.
As he finished the final recording, his mind wandered back to his house. Laura was supposed to come by and he had totally forgot to tell Kripa. He didn't even know if Laura had a key with her. What if Kripa wasn't home? He grunted as he wiped out his cell phone. And, dialed the house number. It rang three times before Laura picked-up. He exchanged a few quick words with her, told her he'd be back tonight.
He left Laura surprised when Angad didn't say one word about Kripa. His new bride.
?
Kripa stiffened and knew that Prithvi was in the room the minute he stepped inside. Not now, she did not want to deal with him now. But his voice boomed through the set as he laughed with the crew, the actors, with Tyler.
Pretending as if she didn't even realized his voice, she finished clipping her hair up for the final scene of the movie. She was going to be revealed in front of her lover today. He was going to find out that she had been walking away from him because she had promised to marry someone else. That she loved him as much as he loved her, but she couldn't be his.
Tears stung her eyes before she could stop them. She closed her lids, forced the tears away. They would have to wait until she got home. She knew there was no stopping them once she was alone today. She had put them off long enough. She had told Laura to go home and not worry about dinner. She had never bothered to tell her that Angad would be back home before she got home tonight.
When Tyler called the shot, Kripa added more blush to her cheeks and turned for the scene. She didn't even spare a look at Prithvi and grinned at Tyler and Aaron.
The scene ended in one easy shot, with a quite kiss between Kripa and Aaron. It had Prithvi's blood churning in jealousy and anger. Not the kiss, but the fact she was not teary and heartbroken, but perfectly normal. Something in his heart twisted and fluttered when she pulled out the ring from the pocket and pushed it into her ring finger, with great ease. It should have been his ring on that finger, he thought as she kissed Aaron's cheek, with a chuckle, and left the place, after setting the edit date.
Prithvi watched her walk out of the set with a frown on his face.
Kripa noticed the car in the front and house and the lights on inside it. Amused he was already back, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked inside. She found the key in her pocket and turned the key in the lock quietly. There was soft music playing inside the house, coming from the kitchen. Violins and a piano. Mixed with harps and a cello.
And, it smelled like heaven.
Eager, she placed her phone, bag, and keys on the dinning table and walked to the kitchen. Angad was wearing a pair of grey sweats and a white undershirt, fitted to every angle on his body, and standing behind the stove, sprinkling herbs on the chicken grilling in the kitchen, with a bottle of beer on his hand.
Damn it, he was so sexy. "Hi." She stuck he hands in her pockets as he glanced at her, the bottle of beer at his lips.
"Hi. I didn't know you'd be back so soon." He found a towel to wipe his hands with, before turning the stove off and replacing the glass cover to the pan.
"I didn't realize you'd be back so soon, either."
"I called Laura. She didn't tell you?"
"No. I'm going to go shower."
"Sure." He waited a beat. "Do you want to have dinner?"
"God, I thought you'd never ask. Fifteen minutes," she said and rushed off.
It was all he needed to get the table set-up. He left the music on in the kitchen, so I drifted into the dinning room and sounded distant. He had left the light loud because the dim lights reminded him too much of Sonya.
So much of the house reminded him of her. He hadn't loved her the way he thought he did when they had gotten married.
There was no point in thinking of it now. Kripa came back in sweats and a t-shirt and sat down in front of a plate. "Okay. Now we can eat away." She let him place the chicken in her plate, the French bread beside it. "Thanks." And, she stuffed. Angad watched a little surprised and then started on his own meal. "Do you have any wine?" She asked after ten minute so silence.
"Yeah. I'll get it."
"Okay, thanks."
Angad was again shocked, Sonya had never allowed him to get up from the dinner table. He was to eat and she was to serve him, and all his needs. He closed his eyes as he picked a bottle at random from the bar. He shouldn't have gotten married to Kripa.
He poured two glasses. "Everything went okay on the set?" &n bsp;
She shrugged and gulped in a un-lady like manner. "Okay."
"Good." But he noticed she wasn't eating anymore, just playing with the food. He placed a hand over the one that was resting on the table. "Want to talk about it?"
She looked at him and blinked at the tears. "Oh, come on, Kripa. Don't do that." He got out of his seat and got a few tissues for her, crouched down in front of her. "What happened?"
"I still love him, Angad." And, she burst into hot tears.
"Oh, honey. Oh, god." He stood up and let her wrap her arms around his waist and cry, her tears soaking through his shirt. He stroked her awkwardly. He'd never, never in his life, other than his mother, had someone cried on his shoulder. Now, she was and he had no idea how to make her stop. Tears just made him goofy and useless.
When she was done she turned her face so her cheek was pressed against his stomach and took a deep breathe. She hated crying because it gave her a headache afterwards. But other than that it were a way to release passion.
"I'm sorry," she said a length. "I've been putting it off since we for married."
"Just don't do it again." He said and took his hand away from her hair. "You're okay?" And, he was bending again.
She nodded. Smiled. "Thanks." And, leaned over to brush her lips against his cheek. "I never thought I'd cry all over you like this."
Trust me, he thought as they went back to the meal, he had never thought anyone would cry all over him like that.
The wetness of her tears on his shirt left a awkward feelings in his mind. He knew he'd never forget this dinner. ;
?
So life pretty much got easier, Kripa reflected, as she wiped sweat off her forehead with her wrist band. She jumped off the treadmill and danced with the Maroon 5 C.D. that blasted in the gym. She had always only dreamed of a personal gym at home, Angad had given her one. Even if it was a temporary thing. She hated going to the gym and spending the first hours or so dealing with fans and press. And, got about fifteen minutes to work out in the end. This was so much better.
She faked playing the guitar and then grabbed a water bottle, drank half of it in one shot. Whirled wildly around and tossed the water bottle in the air, then caught it as Angad shoved the door open of the gym.
While she danced around, Angad gave her a dirty look and pulled the plug of the stereo. "Kripa if the cops come here because someone compliant we're making too much noise, I swear to God I'll file for a divorce."
She grinned at him and shrugged. "Okay. I'll keep it down next time." Still smiling she grabbed her towel and walked past him. Then stopped and came back. "Good morning." She kissed his cheek. "And thanks for last night," then the other. "I'll keep the music down next time." And, she walked out humming.
Angad stood there and replayed the entire scene in his mind. He couldn't believe that she hadn't put on one argument.
A minute later, he turned and went to find her. There was something cooking in her brain and he had to know what it was. She was in the kitchen laughing with the housekeeper Laura about something. Angad narrowed his eyes as she cracked an egg and poured it into the pan. Scrambled it next. The back of her shirt was mildly sweat from the workout. Some of the hair that had been tightly secured in a ponytail were falling out, curling at her neck and top of her head from the heat of her body.
"What are you doing?" He demanded.
She whirled. "Oh. It's you again." She smiled cheerfully. "I was making breakfast. For you."
"Why are you making breakfast for me?" He asked looking at the eggs. "It's not your job."
She gave him a long cool look. "Honey, if I decide to make you breakfast you should consider yourself lucky. It's not everyday Kripaā¦ Khanna makes someone breakfast."
"You are Kripa Kapoor and I refuse to eat your breakfast. God knows what poison you've mixed in there. And, your sister called she wants you to come pick a name of her daughter." He looked at her carefully for a moment. "Make sure it's a nice name, unlike yours."
Her temper flared and had her giving him a heavy punch in the stomach. Angad's breathe came out on a whoosh. Laura stood and watched them a little fascinated. "Damn it!"
"Now go to hell and forget breakfast." She grabbed him by the collar and hauled him forward. "And, lunch and dinner. It's my house until I live here as Kripa Khanna. You can do whatever the hell you want once I'm gone." They looked right at each other. "Damn it, Angad." She let him go. "I was trying to be nice."
"Key word, Your Highness, trying."
"Get lost, Slick."
Angad pulled her forward and gave her a hard kiss on the mouth. "Sorry. I can't eat your breakfast anyways since I have a meeting. But, I won't miss dinner." He smiled and winked at her. "Bye."
Kripa blew her bangs over of her face and frowned. Maybe they weren't meant to be permanently nice to each other, Kripa thought as she flipped the eggs into a plate. Well, she didn't care.
Hey guys,
I hope you enjoyed the part. Don't forget to comment. I'll post the next part to Summer Love tomorrow!
Hugs and Kisses,
Neha
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