New FF- Unexpected Love-Part 25 Pg 86- 11/12/2015 - Page 18

After the dinner together in the terrace Vihaan and Kalpi had gotten closer to each other. They had truly become friends and enjoyed the time spent together.

Vihaan was not shooting for today and was planning to come to the office of Malhotra Industries. Vihaan had told Kalpi that they would be driving together to office.

Kalpi was excited to see Vihaan in his Corporate Avatar again, but she was also a little disappointed as she had other plans for the day and she had to leave early.

Rohan had called her out of the blue yesterday and told her that he was going to be coming to Mumbai to present a paper at the IIT. Kalpi was excited to see Rohan again and she was glad that he had thought of her. He had told her that he wanted to meet her and Kalpi had impulsively offered to pick him up from the airport at 4.00 p.m and drop him at his hotel and when he had asked her to have dinner with him she had gladly accepted. Kalpi had no idea that Vihaan would be in office today and she was feeling awkward asking for his permission to leave early.

"I have to inform him and take his permission soon. Why am I feeling so embarrassed to ask him? It is not every day that I leave early and on most days I am the first one to come in and last one to leave", Kalpi thought to herself.

She went to Vihaan's cabin and knocked on it and entered.

Vihaan suddenly felt his heart lift seeing her and he smiled and asked her to sit.

"Hey Kalpana, you seem to have been very busy today. I did not see you at all, even though I have been in the office all day." Vihaan said.

"No, I did not want to disturb you, as I knew you would be very busy as you are going on your Outdoor shoot next week." Kalpi said.

"I am never too busy for you, Kalpana", Vihaan said smilingly.

"Thanks, Vihaan. But I came here to ask you for a favour." Kalpi said.

"What kind of favour?" Vihaan asked.

"I need to leave early today, I have to pick up a friend from the airport" Kalpi said.

"Sure, what time do you have to leave" Vihaan asked

"His flight lands at 4.30, so I have to leave by 4.00" Kalpi said.

As soon Vihaan heard that her friend was a male his mind started going on an overdrive and he asked, "Is he anyone special?" He had to use all his acting prowess to appear nonchalant and not over-eager to hear her answer.

Kalpi blushed and looked down, but decided to be truthful. "It is a guy from my University and I have a major crush on him." She felt very embarrassed telling Vihaan about Rohan, but then thought why should I hide it from Vihaan when I consider him my friend.

As soon as Vihaan heard the word crush, he felt such an intense animosity towards this unknown guy. He felt that he needed to do something to keep him away from Kalpana.

"So, tell me about this crush of yours, so is this a serious relationship?" Vihaan asked dying to know the answer. .

"His name is Rohan and he has just finished his doctorate and he is also going to be working in Boston, where I will be studying. I have a crush on him, but he has no idea. I have never had the guts to tell him how I feel. But I really hope that something might happen in future" Kalpi said innocently not having any idea how much Vihaan hated the whole idea of her with some other guy.

Vihaan felt very upset to hear her talk of Rohan, but was also a little relieved to know that they were not in any serious relationship.

"Vihaan, I am also going to be in late tonight as I going out for dinner with Rohan. I will also inform Naani before leaving for dinner." Kalpi said.

"Why don't you take the car and driver when you go out for dinner, Kalpana? It would be better for you, as you can get more time to talk to Rohan", Vihaan said already making some plans in his mind.

"Thanks Vihaan, I will do that. I am still not very well versed with all the roads in Mumbai, especially at night", Kalpi said.

As soon as Kalpi left his office, Vihaan immediately called the driver and told him that as soon Kalpana tells him about the restaurant where she was supposed to go for dinner, the driver had to immediately message it to Vihaan.

As soon as Rohan walked out of the airport gates Kalpi was surprised to not feel the excitement that she had expected to feel on seeing him. He still looked cute, but he did not make her heart go fluttering as before.

But she greeted Rohan warmly and thought maybe it is just that we have been away for so long and once I spend some time with him I will feel the same sort of attraction.

Kalpi and Rohan got into the car and started conversing and Kalpi asked him about the reason for the visit.

As soon as she asked for the reason Rohan started a long-drawn explanation about his thesis and papers, with a lot of boasting about how great his work was.

Hearing him talk Kalpi wondered if he was always such an intellectual snob and she had always been blinded by the attraction she had felt for him. Her friends had always called him a big bore, but she had always defended him.

He had not even asked her once how she was doing and she started inadvertently comparing him to Vihaan who was always interested in her opinions in every conversation. Even when they were fighting it was never one-sided and it was always stimulating. "Why am I even thinking of Vihaan, while I am sitting here with Rohan who I was always interested in?"

Rohan continued to drone on not noticing that Kalpi was already lost in her own thoughts. Suddenly Kalpi decided that she needed do something so that she forgets about Vihaan and starts enjoying Rohan's company.

She interrupted Rohan's speech about his work and asked him about their common friends. Rohan talked about his friends for a short time and then again started talking about how his own thesis was far superior to all his friend's work. Kalpi felt glad when they reached his hotel, as she was bored out of her brains.

Before exiting the car Rohan confirmed their dinner plans, which Kalpi had totally lost all the excitement for by now. He told her that he would take her to the Taj for dinner as he had received a huge signing bonus from the US firm.

Kalpi dressed carefully and did her make-up, but her heart was not singing as she expected it to. She was dressed in a beautiful red and black designer Saree because Rohan had told her once that he loved Indian dresses.

Kalpi looked into the mirror. She looked nice, she thought and her next thought was, I hope Vihaan likes it and she suddenly imagined him standing behind her looking at her admiringly. "What is wrong with me, am I becoming like his millions of fangirls and falling for him. He is attractive, no doubt, and intelligent too, but he is just a friend. Maybe it is just because I think of him as a friend, maybe I should just think of him as my employer or only as a movie star. I am going to put more effort in my relationship with Rohan and forget all about Vihaan today", she decided.

As soon as she told the driver that she was going to the Taj after picking up Rohan from his hotel, the driver immediately texted Vihaan the information.

As soon as Rohan entered the car and sat next to Kalpi, she saw a glint of appreciation in his eyes, but he did not say anything. Rohan was himself looking pretty dapper in the suit and Kalpi in her quest to rekindle her feelings for Rohan tried harder to find him attractive.

Kalpana asked Rohan how he liked Mumbai and he started his diatribe about how he always hated Mumbai and everything he had found wrong with Mumbai. Kalpi thought of all the complaints that her friends had about Rohan and his criticizing everything was one thing they all hated, but Kalpi had never noticed it before.

Kalpi had never been to the Taj before and she suddenly felt an excitement about being in that beautiful hotel with such a history behind it and she decided to enjoy the evening.

Rohan asked her what she would like to eat, but once she decided on something he would shoot it down by saying something negative about the dish. She got irritated and gave up and allowed Rohan to select the menu.

Kalpana and Rohan started conversing again and she steered him clear of his work related topics and soon the evening started to improve. But by this time Kalpi had realized what she had felt for Rohan was just a crush and she no longer had any feelings for him and there was no way those feelings were coming back.

Suddenly Rohan said, "I don't understand Kalpi how you can insult your education so much and allow yourself to become a secretary to a movie star. I never thought of you as a girl who would get carried away by all the glamour and glitz. I am disappointed as I expected better from you rather than be side-kick to a stupid celebrity".

As soon as she heard the word stupid in relation to Vihaan her temper rose and she instinctively replied angrily, "Vihaan is not stupid. He is one of the most intelligent people I know. Don't judge someone you don't know anything about."

Rohan was taken aback by her attack, but before he could react, Vihaan walked to their table and said, "Hello Kalpana, I did not expect to see you here."

Kalpi was shocked as Vihaan was the last person who she had expected to see here and she said, "Vihaan I am here for dinner with my friend Rohan" and she introduced the two and they greeted each other graciously.

"How come you are here Vihaan?" she asked.

"I was supposed to meet my friend here for dinner, but he cancelled on me as his wife went into labour and he had to rush her to the hospital. He forgot to inform me in his hurry and I landed here. I called him and he told me he could not make it." Vihaan said. This was an excuse he had already made up.

In his mind Vihaan believed that he was just vetting the guy who was a possible partner for Kalpana who was his friend and Vitthal uncle's daughter to check if he was eligible. But subconsciously Vihaan had already planned to ensure that Kalpana would not spend any quality time with Vihaan.

"I hope I am not disturbing you two, but I hope you do not mind if I join you. As Kalpana knows, I hate eating alone." Vihaan said.

Kalpi who was already bored of Rohan eagerly wanted to get Vihaan to join them, but she looked at Rohan. Rohan who was still surprised by the sudden turn of events agreed.

Vihaan sat at the table and started chatting with Rohan, but frequently ensured that their conversation veered to avenues which highlighted Vihaan's closeness with Kalpana.

Rohan who did not have any feelings for Kalpana other than mild attraction was not really bothered. All he was bothered about at that specific instant was to impress Vihaan with his brains.

In a short time Vihaan had realized that Rohan was a snob and he decided to ensure that Kalpana realizes it too and forgets about Rohan.

He started talking about his thesis and how the people at IIT were so impressed with his research. Vihaan who himself had completed his Bachelors in science from MIT, started asking him detailed questions about his work and Rohan was astounded. But he took it as an opportunity to show off further and Kalpana was plainly embarrassed as Rohan had no idea how snobbish he sounded.

Kalpana was glad as soon as the dinner arrived, as it would put a stop to his speech about how much of a genius he was.

By the end of the dinner Kalpi who was totally irritated with the way the whole evening progressed said, "Rohan, you have a presentation at IIT tomorrow and it already late. The driver will drop you to your hotel and I will leave with Vihaan as I also have to work tomorrow."

She looked at Vihaan pleadingly and Vihaan was only too glad to take her away from Rohan agreed with the plan whole-heartedly.

As soon as she entered the car with Vihaan, Kalpi let out an audible sigh of relief and Vihaan smiled.

"You look lovely in this Saree Kalpana" Vihaan said. He had been admiring her throughout the entire meal and wanted to let her know how lovely she looked.

She said "Thanks, Vihaan" and blushed as she was ought to do at least a few times a day.

"Hey, I really liked Rohan, he is brilliant" Vihaan said teasingly.

Kalpi looked at him, saw him smiling and realized he was teasing, "He is stupid and a snob. I don't know what I had seen in him previously" she said smiling back.

"Don't say that. He is a genius. Did you not hear him proclaim that a hundred times during dinner" Vihaan continued teasing.

"I don't care what he says, his conversation is an absolute snooze fest and he has absolutely no common sense" Kalpi said.

"Kalpana, you are talking about a future Noble prize winner here. You have the chance to be a Noble prize winner's wife" Vihaan continued in the same teasing tone.

"Oh God, I did not realize that. How I would love to attend the Noble Prize Award Ceremony. I am really going to pursue him now. Maybe I should call him now and make plans to meet him tomorrow" she said in a serious tone.

Vihaan looked at her and immediately shouted before he could control himself, "You will do no such thing. I don't want you anywhere near him".

Kalpi who was just teasing him said, "Hey don't get upset. I was just teasing. You think all the Noble prizes can make me want to be with him"

Vihaan realized that he had behaved like a prize idiot and both looked at each other and burst out laughing.