Recap: Milind and Prachi spend some time together in downtown Sydney.
Part 39:
Prachi sat quietly in her hotel room in the evening, recalling the events of the day. She had spent the morning with Milind and then worked with Diya for the rest of her day. Even though she only spent a couple hours with Milind, she was upset with herself.
Prachi couldn't even believe herself. Why had she spent time with Milind? She hated the mere sight of him. Then why had she accepted ice-cream from him? Why had she driven back to the hotel with him?
She was disappointed with herself. The man had cheated on her, slept with her half-sister, and lied about the whole thing. He had hurt her more than anyone else ever could. He had left her broken into a million pieces. Now, finally, when she was slowly putting herself back together, he had barged into her life once more.
Prachi did not want to spend any more time with him, and resolved to avoid him at all costs. Once Aryan arrived, she thought, this task would get a whole lot easier.
***
Milind sat pensively in his top floor office, fiddling with pen. He could not concentrate on the papers in front of him. Instead, his mind assailed to thoughts of Prachi and the time they spent together in the morning. He remembered her upset face when he yelled at her, and he recalled her anger. He remembered that sinking feeling he felt when she had jumped out of his car, and walked away. He retained that feeling of relief which he felt when he had found her.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" he thought, "Am I actually feeling sympathy or even any emotion for Prachi?" This woman had left him when he needed her the most. She never gave him a moment to explain. Clearly, he thought, she had never loved him to begin with. She had proven, after all, to be the ruthless and hurtful sister of Alaap Shah.
Milind made up his mind. He would no longer feel anything for Prachi. The whole point of making her work for him was to make her suffer and to make her regret. He wanted to break her resolve and give her the pain she had given him. "She needs to realize that nobody can mess with Milind Mishra and get away with it," he thought.
***
The next morning Prachi was busy working with DIya on floral arrangements. Over the last couple of days, the two women had become great friends. Not only did they always get their work done, but they also managed to laugh, joke, and smile.
Milind saw Prachi standing outside in the garden, from his personal balcony. She was wearing a petite white top, with a light pink, knee-length skirt and white flip-flops. He could see her immersed in her work, pointing to areas which should be placed with flowers. Not wasting a second, he rang Anjali to his room.
Within a minute, Anjali stood in his room, in a sarong and yellow bikini top. She walked up to Milind, and wrapped her arms around him. He did not move, with his eyes glued to Prachi in the garden. "Baby," moaned Anjali, "Let's go for a swim."
"Fine," mumbled Milind, "Let's use the pool in the garden."
***
Prachi and Diya were busy talking to the florist, when they heard shrieks coming from the other end of the garden. Leaving the florist, the two women ran to where the voice was coming from, hoping that everything was okay. They arrived at the pool.
The sight of what was happening caught Prachi off-guard. She saw Anjali, in a barely-there bikini, screaming and giggling as she swam around with a bare-chested Milind.
"Come on Diya," spoke Prachi softly, "let's go."
Diya, was in shock, and did not move. She was marveling at the sight of her boss, and his manly, muscular body. She was also looking at Anjali, who was cheaply throwing herself around, trying to get Milind Mishra to swim after her.
"Diya," said Prachi again, "Let's go back."
Prachi grabbed Diya's hand and turn around, but as they were about to leave, Anjali yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Milind turned his head to see who Anjali was screaming at. He smiled smugly as he realized that his plan worked. Prachi had found herself at the pool.
Diya and Prachi turned around. Prachi felt extremely embarrassed and irritated. Diya, however, was annoyed. "We came to see why someone was screaming. We thought someone was in danger," explained Diya.
"Okay, then leave now," spat Anjali. "Can't you see that my boyfriend and I are trying to swim?"
"Sorry," replied Prachi, "Come on Diya, let's go."
"Not so fast," spoke Milind, "Diya you can go, but you, the other one, I need to talk to you."
"Her name is Pari," answered Diya.
"Whatever, I don't care. Pari, I need to talk to you," said Milind irately.
"Baby," moaned Anjali, "Can't you talk to her later? I want to spend some time with you."
"Sir," spoke Prachi, avoiding eye contact, by staring the ground, "I think you're busy right now. We can talk later."
"I think I'm the best judge of when I'm busy and when I'm not," said Milind harshly.
"Fine," asserted Prachi. She exchanged glances with a confused Diya, as her friend walked away, to go attend to the florist.
"Come here," commanded Milind. Prachi walked over to where he was swimming. She saw Anjali lean in to kiss him on the cheek. Prachi tried ignoring it, but it did irritate her.
"How are all the arrangements going?" asked Milind, as he grabbed Anjali's waist.
Prachi looked at the ground, "Fine, sir."
"Sir is too formal. Call me Milind."
Prachi looked up at his smirking face, "No thank you sir," she replied calmly, "I like to maintain a level of professionalism at work."
Anjali laughed, "Why are you such a disagreeable woman?" she asked Prachi. "Your boss is saying you can call him Milind. Do you know how many women in this world are dying to even talk to this man? And here you are, not even respecting him properly. If he says you can call him Milind then you should call him Milind."
Enough was enough. Prachi had tried being calm and collected for long enough. "Excuse me Miss Anjali, but I really don't care what other woman want and don't want. Furthermore, I don't need to telling me what I should and shouldn't do. Now if you two excuse me, I have some work that I must attend to."
As Prachi was walking away from the pool, she heard Milind speak. "I haven't excused you."
Prachi ignored him and continued walking.
Milind couldn't believe her nerve. She was walking away from him, and furthermore, disobeying a direct order. He instantly got out of the swimming pool and not bothering to put a robe on, went after Prachi.
"Baby," screeched Anjali from inside the pool, "what are you doing?"
"I need to teach that woman a lesson," he answered through gritted teeth, not bothering to stop, "you stay in the pool. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."
***
There's another update you guys! I hope you like it.
Please leave your comments, ideas, and thoughts. I love reading them, and I will try to reply to all of them.