Adi came back without getting into trouble! the fire incident did not happen instead…
The day after the party was not an easy one for Imlie, everything was confusing and every emotion in her was magnified.
She had KISSED him, HIM, the ABP, the BKB, her boss. “Ugh!” she groaned. After her song, when she had retreated to the corner to nurse her broken heart, he showed up and dragged her to dance with him. The dance made way to feelings in her she did not want to acknowledge. Then somewhere in between the beginning and ending she kissed him.
Her heart was running a mile a minute thinking about it, her cheeks were growing hotter and she looked like a freaking tomato. After some more moaning and groaning, she headed towards the bathroom to wash her face to get ready to face what lay ahead.
As she slowly she exited her room she found kaki ma and Arpita di calling her over to join them for breakfast. “Thank God for small mercies” she thought that Akadu/Aryan was nowhere to be seen, seems like he left early.
She hoped, Kaki ma and Arpita di also did not know about her situation from last night, for them after the song she simply retreated to a corner and they wrapped up the party soon after.
thinking about last night and ASR, her cheeks grew even more red, she still remembered how his lips felt, how close she was to him, surrounded by his scent, his warmth.
While Imlie was ready to slip in to the memories from previous night, both Kaki ma and Arpita di, were concerned seeing her turn red, they thought she was sick.
Kaki ma enquired most lovingly if Imlie was feeling ok and if she wanted to her to call Imlie a doctor.
After assuring both Ma and Arpita di that she was ok Imlie attacked her breakfast with gusto when the object of her last night’s desire walked in to the dining room as if he owned the place.
Technically he did but did he have to make it seem so apparent, she thought.
While Imlie looked everywhere but him, he smirked at the effect he had on her.
This may have been the first ever time that Aryan Singh Rathore decided that when Imlie was involved everything was brighter and warmer and better for him and his family.
He just kept on staring at her, with those smoldering gaze.
Imlie knew he was staring at her, and she sent out prayers to every known Gods for any small mercy to avoid looking at him. She knew she would not be able to hold it together if he kept on looking at her like that.
While Kaki ma was talking a mile a minute about anything and everything, Arpita di was silently observing the two strangely quiet people. She had almost bumped in to them last night and interrupted their moment.
She was wise enough to leave well enough alone, she knew whatever they were doing or feeling for one another would resolve itself either with Imlie being fully part of their family or Aryan pushing her away.
Arpita di silently promised herself to push things along on a positive manner for both of them.
As they finished breakfast, Aryan asked Imlie to accompany him to the office. Knowing she would find reasons to avoid him, he told her he needed to discuss a report for the BT for tomorrow’s edition.
She simply hung her head and followed him out. As they got in the car, Aryan leaned forward to Imlie’s side brushing himself deliberately near her, then he diverted his attention to her seatbelt and clicked her in.
He knew he affected her, just wasn’t sure how much and somehow he wanted to explore his feelings for her.
As they drove towards the office, Imlie tried her best keep away from him but during the drive he still tried to find ways to include her in the conversation or gaze at her. He knew he needed to talk to her and clear things about his feelings, he just wasn’t sure how or when.
Whole day in the office as well she tried to keep herself away from him, Imlie wasn’t sure what her feeling for the Akdu were but going by how he was behaving with her, she did not feel uncomfortable or weird for some reason. A part of her wanted to explore this more.
Hearing a cough behind her she realized that all this while she didn’t think of “Babu Saheb” at all, she wanted to feel guilty but somehow could not muster up the feeling.
After everything she went thru for him and all he did, she just kept on ignoring Aditya and kept focusing on her work. Somewhere during the day her thoughts flitted between not feeling guilty about Aditya and her kisses with Aryan that she felt she had enough and wanted to leave for home.
She slowly approached Aryan’s office to ask him if she could get half day holiday. He simply looked at her and raised one his eyebrow, closed his laptop and planned on leaving with her. She was surprised to see him pick up his things but was too preoccupied with her feelings to ask him anything.
He simply picked up his things and informed her that he had something he wanted to discuss with her. She followed him out.
Of course Aditya saw them leave together early with unconstrained anger but keep quiet. He had bombed badly at getting the interview.
Driving around aimlessly for a bit, Aryan decided to stop the car at a restaurant.
Not knowing how to present his feelings, he kept sipping on his coffee while Imlie again went back to alternating between turning red because of him and ignoring him.
Having had enough, he decided to pay the bill and go home with Imlie.
If Narmada kaki and Arpita di were surprised to see them home so soon, they did not bring it up. They did see both Aryan and Imlie stealing glances at each other while heading to their respective rooms.