The attender announced over the mike and Riddhima groaned in annoyance. This is what she hated the most and it always happened to her. Whenever she had to go somewhere, the flight would get postponed. Now what was she supposed to do for an entire day? She felt like going and killing the airplane people for doing this to her. She picked up her luggage and walked out of the airport, hoping to find the coffee place around the street empty.
Luckily, the coffee place wasn't exactly empty, but it wasn't crowded. She went to her favorite seat beside the window ' which had a beautiful sea view ' and ordered her favorite French Vanilla cappuccino. Being the book worm she was, she took out her favorite book, Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers and read it as she slowly sipped on her coffee.
All of a sudden, she heard someone pull the chair in front of her and sit down, breaking her focus as she looked up. Her eyes fell on a very handsome face and she quickly scanned his face. The man had beautiful ocean blue eyes, a sharp and pointy nose, mesmerizing dimples, delicious looking lips and neatly gelled, jet black hair.
"Excuse me? Who are you? And how dare you sit here without my permission?" Riddhima asked with a frown.
Wow, she was beautiful. That was the first thought that crossed his mind when his eyes fell on her face. She had deep chocolate brown eyes, an adorable nose, full and naturally pink lips, cute and chubby cheeks and long lustrous hair. Man, she was gorgeous. In fact, he hadn't seen anyone as beautiful as her in his life. And her voice. It was so soothing and melodious. It was like music to his ears. As his brain processed her questions, he spoke up.
"First of all, you're excused. Now time for your questions. My name is Armaan Mallik. And since I'm pretty sure you're not blind, I hope you can see that this place is full and that's why I am sitting here."
Damn. His voice is f**king sexy. She thought to herself, as she heard him talk. Looking around the place, she saw about twice as many people sitting there. How and when on Earth did so many people come here, she wondered. "I see you were really interested in that book." He said, trying to initiate a conversation, but Riddhima rolled her eyes and picked her book up again, forgetting all about him. Bored out of his mind, Armaan drummed his fingers against the table and whistled, making her close the book in annoyance. She closed her eyes and put up a fake smile on her face as she looked up again.
"Do you mind?" she asked annoyed and he looked at her.
"What? Oh no. What I do mind is that a beautiful girl like you is ignoring me."
"Are you like, trying to flirt with me?"
"That's what everyone else in this world calls it, but it's something totally different in my dictionary.
"Really? What is it in your dictionary then?" she asked, showing fake interest in his talk as she rested her chin on her knuckles.
"It's called complimenting a wonderful lady like you." He said cheekily while Riddhima smirked at his words.
"And I think you should stop 'complimenting' me because it's not going to work, okay?" Saying this, Riddhima stood up and left with her stuff.
Since she had about 24 hours till her flight, she thought to go and catch a train on a subway. She had to do some shopping for her relatives back in India. With this thought, she went to a subway and got on a train. As she read her book silently, her phone suddenly went off and she answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Riddhima. Where are you?"
"Muski, I'm in a train right now."
"What are you doing in a train? Aren't you supposed to be in the plane?"
"Yeah, but the flight has been postponed for some 24 hours so I'm just wandering NYC."
"Damn! Sucks to be you at the moment."
"Nah. Not really."
"Whatever. Anyways. Keep me in touch, kay?"
"Yeah." They said their byes and Riddhima hung up and looked out the window.
Riddhima Gupta. Age 24. Intern. Single. Yup. That was her. She lived in NYC and was now going to India because her parents had seen a few guys for her and wanted her to get married which definitely wasn't something she was looking forward to, but she didn't have a choice.
"Yo, Ms. Gorgeous." Riddhima turned her head and was surprised seeing Armaan there.
"Oh my God no. You can't be seriously. There is no way in hell I'm gonna spend an entire house with you.
"Sorry baby. You don't have another choice." Armaan said with a smirk.
"Hey. Don't call me that!"
"Don't call you what, baby?" He heard her curse under her breath.
"By the way, Ms. Gorgeous-"
"Riddhima. Dr. Riddhima Gupta." Wow. That's all Armaan could say. Beauty with brains. Quite a rare combination. Riddhima... Armaan... Armaan... Riddhima...
"Not bad. Not bad at all. By the way, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm a doctor too. Dr. Armaan Mallik."
"Good for you." She gave him a tight smile and looked out the window.
"Oh come on. I spent $10 on this thing to get to you and you're ignoring me? Not fair sweetie."
"You know that's called stalking? I can call up the cops and get you in in 5 minutes flat."
"You know you're a merciless heart breaker?"
"Yeah. Got a problem with it?" She asked rhetorically.
"Ouch. That was harsh." Armaan said mockingly as he held his heart. Riddhima just rolled her eyes knowing he was just fibbing. "Oh come on now! I'm not a rapist of anything that you're giving me that look!"
"Dude! You're a stranger! I don't know you! Why the hell am I gonna talk to you?"
"Well, that's how friends are made, you know? You start off as strangers and then you become friends. But you gotta tell a person about yourself first in order to know each other and to be friends. Right?" Riddhima thought about what he said. He was right. She was just taking his anger out on him. That wasn't right. She was just taking his anger out on him. That wasn't right. It was so unfair on them. Taking a deep breath, she smiled and looked at him.
"Okay. So my name is Riddhima Gupta. I live in NYC. I'm 24 years old. And... I'm going to India for my internship. Plus my parents have seen some guys for me. You know? For marriage and all? So I'll probably be married in a few months. After all, all the guys they've found are pure Bengolis and doctors like me, so yeah. Not fun, but can't say anything. I love my parents too much. So I'm gonna do this for them." Riddhima explained while Armaan's heart sank. She was gonna get married? But like she said, she didn't want this. She was just doing this for her parents. Maybe he had a chance. Wait. What? A chance? For what? He didn't even know her. Well, he knew some things, but that wasn't enough though.
"Wow. That's amazing." Riddhima smiled and nodded. "Okay. So what's your favorite color?"
"White." Wow. That was his favorite too.
"Favorite types of songs?"
"Rap, pop, and heavy metal." Damn. That was his fav too!
"Ummm.. birthday?"
"May 6th."
"Movie?"
"This Means War."
"Food?"
"Indian, Mexican and Chinese."
"Sports?"
"Basketball."
"Wow." That's all he could say. All of her favorites were his too! They would look perfect together. The perfect couple... W*F I am I thinking! I just met her and couple already! Slow down Armaan.
"Yup. Amazing right?" Armaan nodded.
"So. Have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"Ummm... no. No boyfriends." Armaan was surprised.
"Kiss? No come on. I know you've kissed before!"
"Nope. No kisses." Armaan's mouth dropped open in surprise, no, shock. She had never kissed before?! That was impossible to believe! She was untouched! Like, totally!
"Why?!"
"I don't know. Just haven't found the right guy yet."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm not gonna go around kissing anyone. My first kiss is gonna be with my Mr. Right." Armaan was surprised. Was she for real? Did girls like that even exist in the world anymore? Well, apparently they still did. Riddhima looked at him and immediately started laughing as she saw his shocked face as he stared in admiration. She looked so adorable when she laughed. As her laugh came to halt, she went back to her quiet mode and stared out the window and he kept staring at her. She was so beautiful... so pretty. On a normal basis, he would've used 'hot' or 'sexy' but he just had to use beautiful because the other words would be an insult to her and her beauty.
"You are so beautiful Riddhima." She immediately turned her hand and looked at him.
By the look in his eyes, she could tell he meant what he said. Yeah, he was a flirt, but she knew he wasn't flirting. She deeply and carefully scanned his eyes and was left speechless by the passion and intensity they held. Why didn't she see the depth of his eyes before? She felt like she was drowning in the depths of those blue oceans but she couldn't complain. It was like she wanted to drown in them.
It was no different on Armaan's side. He was totally mesmerized by her chocolate brown eyes. What was so amazing about them that he just couldn't look away? She had eyes that just made him melt. There were many people with eyes like hers, yet hers were just... different. Charming. Beautiful. As if someone had pulled her out of her thoughts, she immediately looked away from him and at her hands.
As she looked at her wrists, she was shocked seeing the time. Two hours had passed by! She looked up and saw that her stop was almost there and gathered her luggage and got off the train, hoping Armaan wouldn't follow her.
When she walked outside, she was mad seeing it rain heavily. How was she supposed to get to the airport now? Even the taxis there wouldn't take her anywhere. She searched her bag for an umbrella and luckily, she found one. Opening her umbrella, she walked out in the rain on the empty road. As she walked alone, she heard the roar of four bikes which circled around her as she heard them say things to her.
"Hey baby. Wanna ride?"
"Promise we'll make your day memorable."
"Hop on babe."
"Damn she is f**king sexy. I wanna f**k her now."
Riddhima was disgusted at the way those guys talked to her. She was really scared. There were four of those white body builders and she was the only girl there. What was she supposed to do now? She really wished Armaan had followed her.
"Look. I-I don't know you all. So let me leave. Please."
"Naww. That's just tooo boring. We wanna have some fun." One of the guys said and they all hopped off their bikes and they grabbed her hands.
Riddhima was shaking with fear now. This was worse than a nightmare. She screamed for help with tears streaming down her face but all they did was laugh at her helplessness. One of the guys scooted closer to her to kiss her while she shook her head, begging them to let her go and closed her eyes with fear. The next moment, she heard a scream and immediately opened her eyes and was shocked to see the guy that was trying to kiss her earlier moaning and groaning in pain on the ground. Raising her eyes, she saw Armaan rolling his sleeves up with a calm face, but she could see the anger in his eyes. He was m-a-d.
"Hey! Who are you?"
"Armaan Mallik. I'm her husband. So, if you try to touch my wife, I am obviously going to be mad. So the choice is yours. Listen to what I say and leave. Or... be the loser you are and get beat up by me. Your decision." Riddhima listened to him, totally amazed at what he said and saw him walk up to her. He pulled her close and pecked her lips, shocking her. Her body went numb as his lips touched hers. It felt as if someone had just electrocuted her.
"You bloody..." One of the guys came up to them with the intention of harming Armaan, but he caught his hand without moving his gaze from Riddhima's face and crushed that guy's hand, making his scream in pain. One of the other guys tried to free their man but Armaan punched them and used his favorite karate moves to defeat the guys. Like he had expected, all the guys were kissing the ground in five minutes.
All this while, Riddhima had just been staring at his body. He was so sexy... so desirable. The rain made his upper body visible to her. She could see his perfectly chiseled chest and six-packs through his white and now transparent shirt. He was perfect. Just, perfect. She felt this sudden urge to go and kiss him but reprimanded her herself mentally as she realized what kind of thoughts were crossing her mind. Totally confused at her emotions, she quickly walked away from the scene.
How could she even think like that? He was a complete stranger! She didn't know anything about him. Hell, she met him just four hours ago! How could those thoughts even enter her mind. She was going to get married very soon! But with a total stranger, another part of her said. It was true. If Armaan was a stranger, then so was that other guy that her parents had seen for her. But whatever the deal was, she couldn't say anything. They were her parents. Of course they chose someone that's correct for her. But then Armaan... She shook her head at her thoughts. This wasn't right. She made up her mind and started walking to the airport, which wasn't too far, when a hand stopped her.
