If Only || AM FF *updated 28 Sep! Ch links on pg.1 - Page 6

 
The Mehra house was bustling with activity. Shruti Mehra had an annual reception to honour Indian women lawyers who made a difference. This year, she was presenting an award to Rishika Rai Choudhury for her dedication to women's rights. Shruti and Rishika shared a close friendship that went back many years. Much to their delight, their daughters Tanu and Gauri seemed to be following in the same vein.

 
Shruti was walking about trying to get the hired decorators to do the house up in the way she wanted.
"Excuse me? What do you think you are doing, hanging these large pieces of cloth all over the place? This is an important social event, not a party in some Ekta Kapoor serial. We're going for elegance, not grandiosity!"
"Sorry Ma'am, I'll tell them to change it," said Shruti's secretary and hurried towards the decorators.

 
Meanwhile, Tanu and Gauri were getting roped into helping with the decorations. They were double checking the catering details when Adi zipped past them towards Shruti.

 
"Mamma, you've made sure that everyone important has been invited, right?"
"Adi, I'm your mother. I don't forget something that crucial."
"Heh," he chuckled nervously, "of course. I just meant that… we should make sure all your staff have been invited."
"Of course!"
"I mean, including the team of lawyers at SAG…who all work very hard," he continued anxiously.
"Yes, yes Adi, everyone has been invited, and especially SAG lawyers, now let me get back to what I was doing."

"Bhaiyya dearest, don't worry, she is on the guest list," said Tanu from behind him.
Adi turned around and sighed. "Tanu, what's the problem now?"
"She is my problem," Tanu replied defiantly.
"Can't you let it go, Tanu? You are being way too quick to judge her."
Tanu rolled her eyes at this.
"Who are we talking about?" asked Gauri as she joined the conversation.
"Maithili Aggarwal," said Tanu in the most contemptuous tone she could manage.
"Uff, Tanu. Are you still angry about what happened weeks ago? Come on, yaar, and Maithili had a point you know," Gauri said matter-of-factly.
Adi raised his eyebrows at Tanu with an expression that said "now that makes sense." Tanu looked away in frustration.

"What's going on?" asked Ashu as he came up from behind his sister. He hadn't noticed Gauri standing there. If he had, he probably wouldn't have even come downstairs at all. Ashu was shy as it is, but got especially tongue-tied around Gauri.
"Hi Ashu! What a surprise, you've ventured out into the free world today!" Gauri teased him.
Ashu stammered and stuttered, averting his eyes to the floor.
"Hopeless case," Tanu murmured, referring to her brother Ashu, and walked away shaking her head. Adi heard this and let out a soft chuckle.
"Gauri, I think our Ashu can't stand having to spend his precious time with us lowly mortals. We must bore him oh-so-much. Right, bro?" Adi joined in with Gauri to tease Ashu.
"Heh heh," Ashu managed to fakely chuckle as he sharply jammed his heel onto his brother's toes.
"Ouch!," Adi reacted, wincing dramatically. "Okay, I get it, you want me to leave you alone with Gauri…theek hai, chalta hoon yaar," Adi said with a thick grin as the embarrassed Ashu's face turned bright red. "Bye you two," Adi waved at them as he walked away, still grinning.

Adi had made it upstairs to his room, and he was still grinning. True, he got a kick out of teasing Ashu about Gauri. But there was something else behind his grin. This something was the same thing that made his stomach flutter with excitement as he rushed to work every morning in anticipation of seeing Maithili. It was the same grin that her every smile brought to his face.

Recently he saw his life as having two basic parts – the part he spent with Maithili and the part where he waited to see her again. It had been two weeks since she had been working with him at his office over the arbitration, and they were gradually developing a friendship. It was taking her time, but it seemed that Maithili was letting loose around him a bit more. He took this as a sign that she trusted him, and that they were getting closer. Of course, there was more to it than just a friendship. Underneath all of it, there was the hot chemistry that always existed between the two of them. There was, quite unmistakably, a raw attraction to each other. He recalled what happened at the office yesterday afternoon.

Maithili and Adi were both on the same side of his desk and she was showing him some important case details. As she was talking, she absentmindedly pulled her hair back and lifted it, revealing her neck. She rested her hands on her head, with her hair in them. Her eyes and attention were fixed to the papers on the desk. Adi was standing close enough to her to notice the scent of her hair. He shifted his attention to the nape of her neck, which was now revealed underneath the hair. All of a sudden, Adi had an inexplicable urge to feel the back of her neck with his lips. He felt an uncontrollable desire to pull her into his arms.

 "…and so this other company policy came into effect last April, right Adi?"

 He knew she was saying something, but all he could think about was the sweet texture of her neck. He needed to kiss it urgently.

"Hello? Earth to Adi..." she turned to his face, quickly dropping her hair and waving her hands in front of him.
"Sorry. I-I…um, you were saying?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Fine. Yes. Just. Great. Carry on."
"Adi, why are you sweating so much?"
"I'm not sweating."
"Yes, you are." Without even thinking about it, she dabbed at the sweat on his brow with her handkerchief. She then moved the handkerchief to his upper lip, upon which tiny beads of perspiration had formed.

This was too much for Adi. Here he was fighting his desire to pull her towards him and lay her down on the desk in front of them, and she was standing inches away, innocently patting his face.
"Maithili…" he stared into her eyes. She looked in his eyes, casually at first, then with a growing seriousness.
"What?" she said in a weak voice that clearly showed how much she was taken off-guard by the effect their physical proximity and his eyes were having on her.
"I…your hair… it looks really nice today."
"Oh…it's just the usual--" she stopped when she noticed that he inched closer to her until they were almost touching. She held her breath, frozen where she was, forgetting everything she was about to say.

Adi leaned in towards her ever so slightly when a loud buzzing noise interrupted. Both of them jumped back at this.

"Sir, you have a call from Kajal Desai. Shall I take a message as usual?" It was his secretary Shivangi through the intercom.
"Yes, tell her I'm busy and take a message."

Maithili bit her lip, trying to collect herself and began to nervously rummage through their papers. Adi went to the other side of the room to grab a glass of water. For the rest of the afternoon, they had both pretended nothing happened, but they both knew very well that something did happen. And how long would they pretend, Adi wondered. She would be coming to the Mehra house today for the function. He knew she wouldn't miss it if his mom had invited her and when she probably knew that Rishika, their old professor, was getting an award. He wanted to see her. Talk to her. He wanted to do so much more.

"Maithili, you are not wearing that!" Kamal Aggarwal said emphatically when he saw Maithili walk out in a modest looking brown knee-length dress. "It's too boring, yaar. Wear something that will get all the boys at the party to swoon over you. Who knows what kind of eligible bachelors will be there? Hm?" he winked at her.
Maithili shook her head at her incorrigible father. "Papa, please kuch sharm karo. You know, in most homes the exact opposite of this conversation takes place between father and daughter."
"Beta you know I am not like most fathers and you certainly are not like most daughters." Saying this, he pleaded with her one more time to change her mind.
"Fine. I know how to shut you up," she said and ran off to change.

Maithili pulled out her mother's old cream-coloured tissue silk sari, which was still the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen. She wore it with a deep purple silk, sequined halter blouse.

When she walked out, her father's eyes moistened. "Ab to complain kaise karoon? Tum mamma ki sari pehen kar aayi ho."
"Yes, that's right. So ab no comments, okay?" she went to wipe off the lone tear that formed under his right eye.
"Haan haan.. theek hai, but aaj kal kaise blouses pehente ho tum log," Kamal looked confused.
"Papa, you've already made me change once!"
"Okay, okay. Tumhaare budhe papa ko kya pata hai, right?"
"Uff, chalo, we'll be late!" she pulled his arm and led him towards the door.

"What's the matter? Abhi tak aayi nahin?"
"Tanu, will you please shut up?" said an exasperated Adi.
"You know, you look really silly standing by the door. Everyone's looking for you in the party. Especially your ex-girlfriend Kajal Desai."
"What?! Kajal is here?" Adi shot Tanu a panicked look.
"Yes. No idea how she landed up here, but she's here, and she's been asking for you."
"Tanu, pleeease kuch karo and get her out of here!" Adi pleaded.
Tanu almost felt bad for her brother, whom she had never seen like this. But her ego got the best of her. "Kyon? Did you help me with the Maithili problem?"
"Tanu, Maithili is not a problem. She is… well, she's my friend. And Mamma's colleague."
"Yes, yes, I know. And Kajal Desai is no enemy of mine, so I don't care. In fact, I rather liked Kajal. At least she wasn't like the bimbo timepass girlfriends you had in college." Tanu walked off coldly.

Adi sighed sharply. Tanu could be such a brat sometimes. And what the hell was Kajal doing here? He hadn't seen her in over 6 months, but she kept calling him every now and then no matter how many times he avoided her calls. Just as he was thinking this, he saw Kamal Aggarwal get out of his car with his daughter. Adi's lips parted and he let out a slight gasp when he saw Maithili in a sari, but he managed to keep his jaw from falling. She walked with so much elegance and confidence that it tugged at him. He forgot all about Kajal, and drank in Maithili's beauty with his eyes.

Maithili caught Adi's eyes and smiled instinctively.
"Papa, there's Adi," she said, directing her father towards him.
"Hello uncle, it's nice to meet you," Adi said as he rushed up to a smiling Kamal to shake his hand.
"Hi Adi. I've heard so much about you. How's your mother doing?"
"She's fine, she's inside. Please come in."

Maithili and Rishika were deep in conversation when Adi stared from a distance. Rishika had already been given the award, and she made a short speech that everyone enjoyed. Now she was enjoying catching up with her old student Maithili. But Adi was disappointed that he still didn't get any time alone with Maithili. Even from this distance, he could see the way her lovely shoulders glistened in that halter top. His attention drifted towards her neck, where he almost kissed her…almost. A naughty smile came to his face at the thought.
 

A tap on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.
"Hi stranger, remember me?"
"Kajal," he said flatly, turning around. She was the last person Adi wanted to deal with.