**Replies begin here.28. Tonight I'm Lovin' You
It was the first day of work after the week off. I had spent the three days after the cruise trip with Raya. She had called me over to stay at her place and I had returned to my apartment just last night. I entered my cabin and saw Vyan resting his head on one of his hands with his eyes closed. Wondering if he was sleeping while sitting, I silently moved to my table when he yawned.
"Wake up, pretty boy! Holiday is over." I loudly called in a cheery voice and his eyes flew open.
"I wasn't sleeping. I just..." He trailed off when he noticed my laughing face. "Oh well, I hate Mondays, especially the ones which come after a long weekend or a vacation."
I laughed lightly as I prepared a cup of coffee from the coffee machine Vyan had kept in our cabin.
"Drink this. It'll help waking your sleepy head!" Putting the cup in front of him, I walked back to my place.
"Thanks." He said wryly.
I started sorting out the things on my table when I heard him speak again.
"It was fun on the cruise."
"Sure was." I seconded him while I searched for something from my bag.
"I gave the gifts to my family. They were surprised by how I brought something apt for them." He laughed. "I've had a bad history with gifts and all."
I chuckled with him as he laughed again.
"They loved the gifts though. And I didn't take credit. I told them you helped me."
"Really? I thought you would have enjoyed spotlight for some time." I joked and he clucked his tongue.
"Not at all! The spotlight was yours so I couldn't take that." He smiled sweetly and gestured to make a halo above his head. I laughed, shaking my head at his antics when he continued. "So the end result is," he paused and held his breath before speaking in a single go, "Mom and my sister want to meet you."
That took me off guard and I stared at him. "Why?" I asked cautiously.
"Don't misunderstand. It's just, they're just, uhh... they just want to meet my new partner. They know you by name but now they want to meet you." I let him explain. I could see that he was getting nervous and I did not know what to say.
"So... umm... will you, I mean, uhh... will you meet them?" This was the first time I was seeing him struggling to speak so much. I quickly thought if I should consent or not.
"Okay. I'll meet them." It was no harm, I told myself. Vyan was reassuring that they just wanted to meet his partner. I smiled slightly in response to the one that appeared on his face at my answer.
Since it was the first day after a one-week holiday, quite a few internal meetings had been planned for the reassignment of duties and to give the employees a point to restart the work. I was in the middle of one such meeting when my phone rang with Mrs. Khurana's name flashing on the screen. I had not choice but to cut the call at the time but I decided to call her back later.
"Sorry, Aunty. I was in a meeting so I did not attend your call." I apologised when I called her during lunchtime.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I must have disturbed you."
"No, no, you didn't. How are you?" I sat on my chair. I was alone in the cabin at the moment.
"Good." Her voice quickly caught on a childish tone. "Geet, come over today. I'm alone at home and I'm bored."
"Alone?"
"Yes. Ranbir and Maan are off to the office and they won't return until late night. And Zara has taken Ameerah to her place. They're going to stay for the night. Come over please!"
I looked at the time and quickly made plans. "I'm going to leave the office in an hour or so. I'll come straight to your place." Aunty was happy with that, and I was happy to have gotten a chance to meet her. I had not seen her after we came back from the cruise.
When I left early that evening, I saw Vyan pout a little. He would be there for another hour even though there was really not much to do today. To cheer him up a bit, I promised him we would go out for lunch the next day. The smile which made his blue eyes twinkle spread on his face, making me smile too, and that was how I left the building.
Aunty was indeed alone when I reached the mansion. The servants were not in sight either so I understood how lonely she must have felt in the huge quiet mansion. She took me straight to her room where we sat on the bed with our legs stretched in front of us as we chatted about anything and everything as a mindless sitcom played on the television in front of us.
It was a relaxing time as we discussed what we had been up to after the trip.
Hours later, I was almost half-lying in her bed when the door to her room swung open and there stood Maan, dressed in a formal suit, looking huge as he stood in the doorway. I could see a moment's surprise in his eyes when our gazes met but then his eyes took in my position in a very leisurely way, which made me conscious.
"I didn't expect you home so soon!" Aunty said as I hastened to straighten myself to a sitting position.
"You were alone so I wrapped my work up fast." He walked to her and kissed her cheek before he sat beside her on the other side of the bed. "You here?" He looked at me.
"Straight, "you here"? No greeting? That's not manners, Maan!" Aunty scolded him lightly before I could utter a word. I suppressed a smile when his eyes turned to her at the unexpected scolding.
He looked back at me and then smiled sweetly. "Hi! How are you? Nice to see you here." I knew his inquiry was sarcastic but I played along.
"I am well, thank you."
"I called her. I was bored." Aunty gave the explanation his eyes were seeking and then started to get off the bed. "You go freshen up and I'll have the dinner ready." She was out of the room before I could react properly, leaving me and Maan behind.
A few seconds of heavy silence passed by with me and him sitting on the same bed. I did not know where to look to even though the television still played something, and my eyes involuntarily moved to him again and again. He was sitting in a relaxed posture with one leg folded under him, his back resting against the headboard. Taking a little liberty, I raised my eyes to his face and instantly regretted it. He was looking straight at me with something akin to amusement on his face.
"I'll go help her." I spoke in the air as I scrambled to get off the bed and rushed to the door.
"There's no need." He called after me just when I reached the door. My feet halted but I did not turn back as I heard him walk towards me. "She's just gone to order the servants to set the table. She won't do anything herself." He was standing close behind me now.
"And yeah, I know my presence unnerves women but I expected you to make a better excuse to escape me." I turned my head to look at him as he whispered the words in my ear. He had an arrogant half-smirk on his face as he wriggled his eyebrows before stepping ahead. His shoulder bumped with mine as he moved past me and I wondered if he had done that on purpose as I saw him walk agilely towards the grand staircase while twirling some keys in his hand which he lazily threw on the couch just before bounding up the stairs. I was left standing agape in the doorway of his mother's room. I could not decide what I was more flustered with; getting caught in my act or his unbelievably haughty behaviour. Whatever it was, I put it aside when Aunty called for dinner.
Aunty kept talking as we had dinner, sometimes about his work and sometimes about mine. I spoke with him normally but I could not digest the knowing smirk which appeared on his face whenever our eyes met. It made me want to do something to wipe it off, a feeling I had not experienced before.
"Geet, try this pasta." Aunty distracted me from my effort of controlling the scowl which was waiting to appear on my face as soon as I slipped. I took some pasta in my plate and grimaced after swallowing a bite.
"Eeh! I wonder who would have such a bad choice to like bland pastas!" I did not realise I had mumbled loud enough for the two to hear when Aunty laughed. The straightforward person that she was, she pointed a thumb towards Maan.
"He does." She laughed again as I looked at him. Seeing his flabbergasted expression, it felt to me like I had committed a faux pas. Good, my mind applauded. At least that smirk was gone. I blinked and wondered where the thought had come from. I smiled sheepishly at him.
"Sorry, I didn't know your choice was so ba-" I broke off, internally enjoying the speechless look on his face. "I mean, pastas are really bland, no Aunty? Boring. The spices are almost nonexistent." I turned to Aunty who was still chuckling. I snuck a glance at Maan and bit back a smile at his slightly narrowed eyes.
"Yeah. You see, bland people need to spice themselves up with external ingredients, like the spices you are talking about. Naturally sizzling people just wouldn't care." He winked while I gasped at his remark.
Aunty cleared her throat which, I supposed, was a warning to him. I kept quiet after that, partly because it felt awkward to be listening to this in front of Aunty and partly because I could not think of a better retort.
An hour later, when I decided to leave, Aunty insisted she would drop me. I resisted, but she persisted that she would not let me go alone, since it was later than the usual time that I returned home. It was becoming an impasse when Maan cut in.
"I'll drop her." He was probably exasperated after seeing us both argue back and forth.
"You?" Aunty and I spoke in unison in an incredulous voice.
"Why not?" He shrugged and led the way out, picking his car keys on the way.
I said a quick goodbye to Aunty and rushed after him.
It was a strange day, becoming stranger, I thought to myself when I was strapped in his shiny black luxury car. There was silence as he drove us into the dark night when my phone rang. It was Raya, worrying about me since I had not talked to her in the evening. I told her of my visit to the Khurana mansion, and that I was returning home.
"Raya?" Maan asked when I hung up.
"Yes." I nodded as I put my phone away.
"I met her on the cruise. She's still the bubbly girl I met back then, though I still can't believe it's been four years since her marriage."
"Time flies, doesn't it? But it's not necessary that people change themselves with time." I knew from the look he threw my way that he understood what I was pointing at.
"Yes, but when people just get attracted to your charm and follow you around, you need to change a little to accommodate them, right?" He said with haughtiness and I rolled my eyes.
"You have quite a high opinion of yourself, don't you?"
"Naturally." He started humming something as he concentrated on driving.
"This isn't the way to my apartment." I commented when my eyes fell out of the window.
"I know." He said casually and concentrated back on driving as if he did not understand what I was wanting to know.
"Then care to explain? You're supposed to drop me home." I spoke demandingly as he coolly pulled into the drive-thru of a bright restaurant.
"Ahh! Relax!" He rolled his eyes as he stopped in front of the window. "I just wanted to eat this ice-cream. Would you like some?"
"No, thank you." I answered stiffly. I did not know why his oh-so-easy-going attitude annoyed me.
"Have some, I insist!" He offered me the cup he had just received from the window of the restaurant. "It's one of the best you'll ever taste, I bet." I hesitantly took the cup from him. "And when it's my choice, then it's the best." His voice turned arrogant as he took his cup and drove forward.
"You have a lot of misconceptions about yourself." I instinctively tried to pull his arrogance down as he fiddled with the radio and tuned it to a music station.
"You tend to have troubles accepting truths, I have noticed." He taunted me as he parked the car near the restaurant and started eating his ice-cream.
I did not reply. He could think whatever he wanted. Instead, I took a spoonful of ice cream and confessed to myself that it actually was tasty. I didn't acknowledge it to him because it would have inflated his already huge arrogance. The music played in the background while we both ate our ice cream.
The song changed to a catchy tune and my foot automatically started tapping to the beat.
"Here's the situation
Been to every nation
Nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do
You know my motivation
Given my reputation
Please excuse me I don't me to be rude
But tonight I'm lovin' you..."
I choked on the ice cream I was swallowing when the lyrics reached my ears. The fact that he was singing along made it all the more embarrassing. I was coughing repeatedly to clear my throat, and partially to hide my flustered state. He quickly passed me a tissue and then reached between the two seats to extract a bottle of water which I took huge gulps from. I had noticed him turning the radio off amidst the little chaos so he must have guessed what was the cause of my sudden choking.
"Thanks." I returned the bottle to him, avoiding his eyes. Was it the strangest day of my life?
Edited by mayyo - 10 years ago
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