If he was being honest with himself, something Omkara found he was less and less as the days passed, his so-called wife had a way of getting to him which no one else, not even Shivaay possessed. He was acutely aware of her every moment he spent in her presence and even more aware of how she wasn't there when she wasn't around. Every little action of hers seemed to set him off... and Omkara wasn't ready to admit even to himself, just how she affected him.
Somehow, he had to get his body and brain on the same page when it came to this woman. His brain knew exactly what sort of a person she was... greedy, cheap and fallen... but his body was quite intent on sending signals to his brain to forget all of that and just indulge in whatever confusing but entirely compelling connection that existed between them... a connection that he was trying his best to ignore, pretend it didn't even exist.
And the practiced vixen she was, his contract wife seemed to realize he was trying to ignore his reluctant physical attraction to her and was doing everything she could to torture him every step of the way. But she didn't know what a man like Omkara Singh Oberoi was capable of... she would lose in this little gauntlet she'd thrown down. She would lose... and he would make sure she knew just how out of her depth she was when she'd challenged him.
Fisting his hands repeatedly, Omkara walked out of his room, almost slamming into the very woman he'd spent the last fifteen minutes trying not to think about without any success whatsoever. Already on edge and irritated by how he'd been unable to get her out of his mind even when she wasn't in front of him, he growled under his breath and clamping his hands around her slim arms, made to set her aside from his path. And then he made the mistake of looking up and into her eyes.
Her eyes had always been and would always be his downfall. The artist in him reveled in the depth, color and expressions he was forever finding in those beautiful eyes. It was one of the first things that had captivated him when he met her in Bareilly before all the drama. Omkara Singh Oberoi the businessman had wanted to focus on the bloody land deal he'd come all the way to strike but the artist Omkara was busy trying to catalog every shade, tone and expression blazing from her luminous eyes as she glared at him after driving a bulldozer over his car. She might've been a devil in disguise but the maker had given her an angel's eyes.
And at the moment, they were dilated... her breath becoming faster and her eyes widening at being caught so close to him, tiny shivers racking her form. For a microsecond, something niggled at the back of his brain... could she be so great an actress that she was able to control her body to such a level that she was faking her physical reactions to him? But then he dismissed it. He had proof, seen with his own eyes that she was a characterless, cheap and greedy woman who would do anything for money. Wasn't it proof enough that she'd agreed to sign a contract and pretend to be his wife even after he had left her with Kaali Thakur back in Bareilly? Again, for a second, he felt vaguely guilty about leaving anyone with that monster, especially after some of the things he'd said to her in his furious state that day... but she'd seemed comfortable being the monster's Thakuraain, walking around his house like she owned it and had also lied about having been pressurized into it. So why did Omkara feel guilty and uncomfortable about his actions that day?
Right now wasn't the moment to reflect on his actions... he needed to concentrate on getting out of this problem with his sanity intact. His fingers briefly tightened around her arms, making her flinch slightly and Omkara let her go with a perverse sense of satisfaction at having made her feel a little bit of what she'd driven him to experience since he'd come to know that his best friend Chulbul was nothing but a construct of this woman's schemes to make more money for herself.
The second his physical presence retreated from her Gauri shrank back as much as she could, her visceral reaction prompting her to step back. But that lasted only a second... steeling herself, Gauri looked back up into the dark, bottomless pools of brown that perpetually glared down at her nowadays.
She had given herself a stern talking to, that she would make this man admit he was mistaken about her if it was the last thing she did. It might be an entirely futile quest she'd set out on, but she had truth on her side and the support of her Mother-in-law and Bua Maa ji in this. While they thought that she was back in Oberoi Mansion to make her husband fall for her and make this a real functioning marriage, she didn't have the heart to tell them the truth about the contract and that she was only here to make sure that when she left the house, she could do it with her head held high. She would make Omkara Singh Oberoi eat his words.
To that effect, she'd decided to be exactly everything her dear prejudiced husband expected her to be. Dabangg Gauri Sharma was here and she would show a thing or two to this man and take him down from his high horse. All her life she'd learnt to hide her true self, to hide whatever her emotions were... so hiding her true feelings from this man wasn't going to be any more difficult.
"Are... aise ghoorenge humko to Sultana kya, duniya mein koi bhi aap par yakeen nahin karega ki aap ne humse pyar mein padkar shaadi ki hai... aap kalakaar hain to iska ye matlab nahin hota ki aap ko acting bhi apne aap aa jayegi. Thodi practice to aap ko karni padegi"
"Tum acting mein Meena Kumari jo ho... poori duniya ko apne is bhole bhaale act mein phasa leti ho. Tumhare jaisi-"
"Haan haan... humare jaisi giri hui aurat, vagaira, vagaira. Aap ke paas aur kuch nahin hai humare baare mein kehne ke liye? Humesha wahi chaar shabd dohraate rehte hain. Waise hum Salman Khan ji ke zabardast fan hain to humare liye acting baayen haath ka khel hai. Agar aap ko seekhna hai to hum sikhaa bhi sakte hain"
"Mujhe tumse kuch nahin seekhna. Jis din tum meri life se humesha ke liye chali jaaogi tabhi se main chain ki saans le paaoonga. Tab tak tum apna kaam theek se karo... mere baare mein fikr karne ki koi zaroorat nahin hai"
Omkara's mouth was again running off without his consent. This seemed to happen more and more around this woman nowadays. He ended up saying so many things that he might never have, he should never have... but the filter in his brain that existed to maintain a semblance of civility seemed to stop working around her.
For a fleeting second, Gauri's eyes filled with so much hurt that it made him want to do so many things... apologize, soothe her somehow, take her in his arms and hold her close, protect her from every bad thing in the universe... but before he could even process that, her eyes cleared and with a resolute expression, she was taking a deliberate step back from him
"Humne aap ke saath contract sign kiya hai aur hum apne waade ke pakke hain Mr. Oberoi. Agar ho sake to aap humare takkar ki acting karne ki koshish kijiye apni Sultana ke saamne. Kahin yeh giri hui aurat apse aage na nikal jaaye"
With that she turned smartly and walked off in the direction of her room, leaving a slightly flabbergasted Omkara standing in the middle of the corridor, trying to figure out what had just happened.
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That's it for part 1... all four parts have been written and will be posted soon, so stay updated.
Any and all feedback is extremely appreciated!
Anupamaa
