New FF- Unexpected Love-Part 25 Pg 86- 11/12/2015 - Page 24

Vihaan had left for his shoot, leaving Kalpi behind in Jaipur. His Naani had insisted on him leaving for shooting and Vihaan had done so reluctantly. Kalpi decided to stay behind with Naani and Naani happily agreed. Vihaan felt distressed hearing that she was going to be staying behind, but did not want to upset his Naani.

Kalpi was in the throes of strange emotions, on the one hand she loved being in Vihaan's company, on the other hand she felt that she needed to avoid him. She had told him that that kiss would be forgotten easily, but every night the kiss came back to haunt her. She would wake up in the middle of the night feeling Vihaan's lips on her and her heart beating as fast as a bullet train.

On the side Vihaan was in a similar state. His days and nights were very busy as he tried to make up for the days he had missed due to his Naani's illness, but still Kalpana's thoughts were not far off his mind. He missed her terribly and the house seemed so empty without his Naani and Kalpi.

It was week since he had left Jaipur and Vihaan was at the shooting location. It was a romantic scene and Vihaan was seriously not in mood for it, but being a professional he was, he could not even refuse to do the scene.

Vihaan was called for the shot which involved a fairly intimate kiss with the lead actress. Vihaan who was no prude and had done many kissing scenes previously, suddenly developed a cold feet.

Vihaan told the director, "I don't think this kissing scene is very important. Can't we just avoid this?"

The director was really surprised as Vihaan was one of the most non-interfering actors. He said, "Vihaan, this kiss is very important. It is the scene where both share an intimate connecting moment, where she is supporting the hero in his emotional state. The kiss is passionate as well as emotional."

Vihaan's thoughts immediately flew to the kiss he shared with Kalpana and he irritatedly said, "Okay, let's go and do the scene".

He and Riya the heroine discussed the scene. The discussion of such a passionate scene could not have been more dispassionate.

But during the shot, as soon as Vihaan felt Riya's kiss on his lips, he immediately froze. Everything suddenly felt wrong and false and Vihaan recoiled from the kiss. The director cut the shot and Vihaan felt very embarrassed.

"Damn it, what has she done to me. She told me that the kiss was forgettable, but why the hell can I not move on. Why does it affect me even now? I hate it", he thought to himself.

He told the director that he needed a few minutes and he just took a deep breath and thought, "I will get over her, she is not important".

Next time the shot began, Vihaan kissed Riya and soon his mind wandered to thoughts of Kalpana, and he started imagining Kalpana's lips beneath his and the kiss progressed beautifully.

As soon as the director shouted, "Cut", Vihaan dropped from heaven with a thud.

The director started praising him for the excellent shot, but Vihaan just rushed into his vanity van. He looked into the mirror and wondered, what was wrong. "She can't be so special, as to occupy my thoughts so much. I need to see her soon and then I will be able to get over her. "

He immediately made plans to fly to Jaipur and surprise his Naani and Kalpana.

Kalpana herself had been made to feel a part of the Vihaan's extended family and she had got really friendly with Vihaan's cousins. But Kalpi had missed Vihaan more than she expected too. Naani was on the mend and Vihaan talked to her daily, but he had never talked to Kalpi. Kalpi was still taking care of his work, but she was only dealing with the Celebrity Management company that was handling his affairs. She was seriously disappointed. After their conversation on the terrace, she and Vihaan had been awkward with each other and had never spoken alone. She missed the delightful conversation she used to have with him, but she did not acknowledge, even to herself that she missed his handsome presence too.

Vihaan reached the Haveli and was soon surrounded by his assorted relatives, but his eyes kept searching for her, though he felt awkward to ask about her.

He went into Naani's room and suddenly felt his spirits rise seeing his Naani looking hale and hearty. She hugged him and he felt at peace. Suddenly the door was pushed open and Kalpi rushed in saying, "Naani, you should see the kind of decorations" and suddenly stopped on her tracks seeing Vihaan. No one had informed her that Vihaan had arrived. She suddenly felt dumb-struck and she kept staring at Vihaan. Vihaan looked more handsome than ever in a red coloured T-shirt and jeans.

Vihaan felt his heart beats grow louder as he took her lovely glowing face with her long hair open and framing her perfect face. He felt speechless and he could not look away.

At that moment both realized how much they had longed for this moment, but both did not want to acknowledge it.

"Hey, Kalpana look who's here. Vihaan wanted to surprise me. I am so happy to see him", Naani said.

Naani's words broke the trance which had enveloped both of them.

There was still some awkwardness between them, but Naani's presence helped a little in dissipating the tension.

Vihaan was there only for a day and as the time for his departure came Kalpi felt her heart grow heavier. She did not want him to leave.

Kalpi knew she had no right to stop him, but she desperately wanted to. When the time for Vihaan's leaving came, she felt almost teary-eyed and she went away from there.

Vihaan looked out for her, but could not find her. He decided that he would not leave without having at least one proper conversation with her. He needed to see her once before leaving.

He asked Piya where Kalpana was and when she informed him that she had gone outside into the gardens and Vihaan went out to find her.

She was standing near the fountain in the middle of the lawn seemingly lost in her thoughts. He slowly approached her and called out her name as he approached her.

She turned back and the first thing that Vihaan noticed was a kind of bleakness in her eyes. Her laughing sparkling eyes looked pensive. He did not realize that his departure was the cause of this sorrow.

Both of them did not speak for some time and then Vihaan said, "Kalpana, this cannot go on. We need to talk. We can't be behaving like strangers"

Immediately Kalpi responded with lowered eyes "It is just that I have never been kissed before"

Vihaan felt his spirits lift knowing that he was the first one to touch those lovely lips. He teasingly then asked her, "So it is not easy to forget the first kiss, is it?"

Immediately Kalpi stammered, "No, No, No, it is not that. It is just awkward"

Her tone and her stutter utterly exposed her words for the lie it was and Vihaan suddenly felt ecstatic knowing that Kalpi had not been immune to that kiss either.

"Kalpi, we cannot go on like that. We need to work together and this awkwardness will spoil our working relationship," Vihaan said.

Kalpi still did not say anything but looked up at him with absolute confusion mirrored in her lovely eyes.

Vihaan suddenly took her face in his hands and said slowly, "Kalpana, we are friends, aren't we? I missed our conversations and our fights. I want you to call me every day on Skype and give me an update about Naani and also about my work. Promise, you will do it."

Kalpi nodded slightly, but Vihaan did not remove his hands from her face.

"And Kalpana, I will come back for the Puja and then I will take you and Naani back home with me, when I leave", Vihaan said.

Hearing the words, Home in relationship with Vihaan's house felt so right and Kalpi smiled unconsciously. She had enjoyed being in Jaipur, but she wanted to go back to Mumbai very badly.

Seeing her face light up and the smile appearing on her beautiful lips, he suddenly felt as if his heart was soaring. "She wants to come back with me", he thought.

Suddenly all he wanted to do was crush her beautiful lips beneath his, but he stopped himself with difficulty and removed his hands from her face and patted her cheeks. It seemed so juvenile and affected that Vihaan could not help but smile. The only thing he could do was remove himself from the temptation that she represented and he walked away saying, "I will call you"

Kalpi stood there in trance. There was only a week left for the Puja and she was going to be back in Mumbai soon and she smiled again.

After that Kalpi and Vihaan had Skype calls every night and soon they got back their friendship groove back, but there was always a tension which both were ignoring.

On the 4^th night, suddenly when Kalpi was waiting for Vihaan's call, she received a call from Vihaan's Naani asking her to come to her room immediately.

Kalpana who was still worried about Naani's health rushed to her room, forgetting to take her phone with her in her haste.

As soon as she entered the room, she asked hastily, "Naani, are you alright. I was worried"

"I am perfectly fine, love. It is just that I was not feeling sleepy, so I thought we could have a chat." Naani said.

Soon Kalpi and Naani were in discussion about the preparations for the Puja. Naani informed her that the Puja had been going on for centuries now and the tradition had been continued till the present generation and she hoped the future generations also carried out the same.

Frequently Kalpi's eyes strayed to the clock on the wall and her thoughts flew to Vihaan, but she controlled herself.

Suddenly Kalpi felt herself being recruited to give a dance performance during the Puja. Kalpi had refused vehemently. But Naani who knew about her dance performances having seen her dance videos which her Dad had shown Naani, insisted that she perform. She cited lack of time for practice, but Naani said she could perform something which she already knew. Finally Kalpi had to agree half-heartedly.

By the time she left Naani's room it was midnight and Kalpi felt sad at having missed her call with Vihaan.

As soon as she reached the room, she picked up her phone and saw 20 missed calls from Vihaan. There were also missed calls on her Skype.

She looked at the time once more and decided it was too late to call him and decided to go to bed.

Suddenly her Skype application sprang to life and saw Vihaan's call and she excitedly accepted the call request.

Immediately Vihaan's angry face appeared on the screen and he shouted , "Where the hell were you? Do you know how many calls I made to you? How dare you ignore my calls? Who do you think you are?"

Suddenly tears sprung into Kalpi's eyes. She was normally a very strong person, but Vihaan's anger hurt her.

She did not know what had caused Vihaan to be so angry. Vihaan had a lousy day at the shoot. The actress opposite him could not just get her expressions right and he had to undergo many retakes, which caused the shooting to get prolonged. There were also problems at Malhotra Industries, which took up more of his time. During the long and tiring day, only the thought of talking to Kalpana had kept him going. On not being able to connect to Kalpana, he had initially got worried, but slowly his temper started rising. By the time Kalpana had accepted the call, his anger had reached his zenith.

But now seeing tears in her beautiful eyes, he felt guilty beyond belief. "Why do I always make her cry? I only want all the happiness in the world for her and I hurt her every time."

"I was with Naani, she could not sleep. I am sorry, that I forgot my phone", Kalpi said.

"No, Kalpana, I am sorry, I had a lousy day at work and I took it out on you. I wanted to speak to you and you were not there", Vihaan apologized.

"I also wanted to speak to you. I have missed you very much", Kalpi said. Suddenly she realized the words she had spoken and she blushed, totally embarrassed by her outburst.

Vihaan could not help staring at the adorable picture she made and wished with all his heart that he was Jaipur and he could gather her in his arms and never let her go.