Posted:
hey guys!! all i can say is, i knew i cant stay away for long, especially when this new idea has been in my mind for long :D...ended the remaining two, and now my full focus is on this...of course, it's gonna be an AR fic (Armaan Riddhima) that is, there are so many names springing up, of couples, nowadays, i cant distinguish whose who :D anyways...so here goes the intro...I really hope u guys like it! Feedback, if you think otherwise, is, trust me, VERY much appreciated :) if commenting takes too long, just press the LIKE button below...easy and simple!thanks a ton...okay enough blabbering now...here goes! :)
Introduction:
She kissed his forehead warmly, affectionately, and let her lips linger on for a few seconds more. It had been a long time since she had done anything like that, simple gestures like that had long been dismissed between them; since when, she couldnt particularly remember. Ruffling his dishevelled hair lightly and with a final look on his beautiful features, she got up from his bed and went out of the room, switching off the lights and closing the door behind her. She then proceeded down the corridor and stopped outside a door; opening it, she took a peek in to the room and saw it inhabited with darkness, with a figure lying on the bed, breathing evenly. Good, that meant she was fast asleep, she thought, and closing the door behind her, stood aimlessly in the corridor for some seconds. Her eyes wandered over the walls, which were adorned with pictures; photographs that mocked her, haunted her, every single day. The pictures were the exact reason she couldn't sleep tonight, they were everywhere. It seemed like her whole life span was enamored into these photographs, which now successfully made her aware of the loss she had suffered. She could never forget him, he would always be a part of her, a part of her life.
Riddhima sighed loudly, and with some effort, pulled her shoulder-length hair into an untidy ponytail and walked towards the kitchen, pulling her sweater closer to herself. Reaching the kicthen, she fixed herself a cup of strong tea, almost mechanically. It was a method almost rote-learned, carried out too many times to have her put even a second's thought into what she was doing. Two teabags, half a teaspoon of sugar, and very little milk. Scaldingly hot water. Putting the hot drink to her lips, she walked out into the garden of her home, the garden her mother had dutifully taken care of since years. The cold air sliced through her, ripping her eyelids apart, stinging the eyes unmercifully. She sat down on the wet grass, her knees pulled up to her chin, her whole being slowly succumbing to the freezing cold. The only warmth that remained for a few minutes was that of the cup held in her hands. Slowly, the tea lost its heat, and then became disgustingly cold. And yet, Riddhima stared up into the sky. Counting what could not be counted, doing what could not be done. In short, being herself. She stared and counted inaudibly till her throat became sore and her eyes clouded with tears. A lump formed in her throat, and as she tried to swallow it, she almost choked. And when she took a deep breath, the cold air rushed into her, filling her to the extremities, and thats when the tears came. Somewhere inside, the grandfather clock struck midnight, and automatically, the day changed. Riddhima's eyes opened, and though the tears wouldn't stop flowing, and her mind was still numb, she realized what day it was. The day he had left her.
********************************************************
Another failed attempt. Another day gone by, dooming both of them into misery and anger. Frustrated as he was, he rode the car, aimlessly on the road, meandering from places to places. Flashes of familiar areas passed him by, yet they were unrecognizable today. He was beyond angry today, and it had probably been one of the worst sessions they both had ever attended. She had tried to hold on to him, to talk to him after it but he was so furious about the whole happening that for once, he couldnt put up with her pleadings which turned to accusations soon enough. He had had a rough day at work, the study load had increased, he wasn't feeling too well and to add to it, she had called him up in the middle of a meeting to remind him about their therapy session in the evening. And it had ended drastically, perhaps a perfect end to one of his worst days. As he accelerated the car, the clouds opened upon him and it rained, for the next few hours it kept raining and he kept driving. It was unseemingly cold even for the cursed city which was blessed with the worst weather known, and it definitely wasnt helping Armaan Mallik in cheering himself up.
When his car finally ran out of fuel, he stopped it in some parking lot he was passing by and got out. The cold got to him even before he took a deep breath; it struck to his throat and made him put his hands instantly to his mouth, to blow some warm air into them. He wasnt dressed for the occassion; naturally, with the day he had had, he hadnt thought of carrying a coat or a sweater with him. Dressed in a plain white cotton shirt and denim jeans, he wasnt protected enough against the cold. Ignoring the rain that pelted him and drained him wet within mere seconds, he started walking, his hands carefully resting in the pockets of his jeans, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and his body trying to adjust to the temperature. He lost track of time as he walked on, thinking over the past years. The years that had gone by, unhappily, sorrowfully, normally. The years that would never come back, and the moments which he wished he could have captured in them. Nothing could ever make them work, he knew that. Yet the pain of having lost her after loving her as much as he could ever love anyone, would not let him be at peace. She was with him, but she wasn't his. And as her voice echoed into his ears again, his numbed, cold mind made him realize a reality he had never been able to accept. She never had been, never would be. His.
**********************************************************
'Why isn't she here yet?'. He couldn't quite determine whether the words had been put as a question to him or were addressed to herself, for no eye contact, not even a slight tilt of the head towards him, was followed by her question-like statement as she looked around frantically in the crowd. Rarity was it in itself to ever find Heathrow Airport not hustling and bustling with people, for it was not one of, but the busiest airports of the world in terms of international passenger traffic. Unlikely as it would be, the airport swarmed with people, majority moving out of the Arrivals area, as 2 flights from other corners of the world and one from India had just landed, the latter having carried the said couple all the way from Mumbai to London within a passage of 7 hours.
Now, as they stood on the outskirts of what was the 'rejected crowd', according to his wife; the people whom no one had come to get from the airport, he pulled himself up on his toes to look over the heads of people to see whether some recognizable face could be seen in the crowd. Disappointed, he came back to his usual height and looked down at his wife, who fervently was typing out what he knew would be a hate message to her friend who had been responsible for this delay. Smirking to himself over her furious muttering under his breath, he mused to himself of how they had argued so much about this already, even before they had embarked the flight, for he had known that trusting any one of her friends was a bizarre idea, and had tried convincing her of letting his friend come pick them up, him being the more responsible kind. Nikki had, however, had her way in the end, as usual, and thus now they stood, courtesy her ideas and her friend's unpunctuality. What she wasn't aware of was that Abhi had already informed his friend secretly to pick them up, lest they be stranded on the airport, and that's what had happened. Dying though he was to say something to her, an 'i told you so' seemed like a very tempting phrase, but he decided to stay mum, fearing her wrath. As the message was finally sent, Nikki finally turned her face to look at Abhi with a nonchalant look and found him grinning at her, in spite of himself.
'What?,' she narrowed her eyes at him and question, a dangerous tone hidden in her voice, that he was, unluckily as it was, unable to distinguish.
'Hell hath no fury like a woman...,' What stopped him from completing his statement was not her narrowed eyes nor the smack that she rewarded him on his arm, but finally a face he recognized, a resemblance that was so clear he could not not ignore it. 'Damini?,'
Nikki turned again, this time turning from him to trace the source of his distraction, and found him looking at a woman who now walked towards them, a broad smile playing on her lips. Clad in a designer suit with a light blue shirt that showed from beneath the coat she was wearing to ward off the cold, she was undoubtedly a working woman, Nikki's slow mind registered and then she saw her straight cut shoulder-length hair and the very prominently black large eyes that stared at them, with a glint of happiness as she came to stood in front of them. As Nikki tried to place this woman's identity in her mind, she found herself looking at Abhi being embraced tightly in a hug by the said woman and him hugging her back. The image clicked, and she finally recognized who it was, if the name muttered by her husband a few seconds ago wasn't enough. This time, her face lighted up with a smile genuinely, as she saw the two friends meeting after what had been a separation of three years. As they parted from the hug, Damini initiated a conversation.
'Abhimanyu Modi!! LOOK at you...you are all grown up and all...,' Damini tried to make herself clear by making vague signs in the air as she signaled at Abhimanyu and smiled, and finding the right word, said, 'Married!!
Abhimanyu chuckled at her use of the word, and replied, 'That is not even an adjective Damini, but if you insist...you SHOULD finally be meeting the one whose had the privilege to marry this handsome hu...OWW!,' he halted, as Nikki frowned at him after having smacked his arm hard, and and she stepped forward.
"Hi Damini! Nikita...It's great to meet you finally! I have heard...
'So much about me, right? Why do I not expect something else from Modi? He was always besotted by me!,' Damini completed her sentence, winking at Abhi as he rolled his eyes at her, while Nikki grinned. She liked this woman already. They heard Abhi's reply as they started walking towards the exit.
'Yeah yeah...if only you'd not been so damn besotted yourself by the brooding looks of my friend, we, my lady, would have been a thing today,' Abhi shot back at her, and both woman turned to give him an exasperated look, together, which was obvious enough to him that what he had thought to be a whimsical cracker wasn't taken so by either party.
'A 'thing'? Seriously? Why hasn't his sense of humor improved over the years?,' Damini inquired, this time directly from Nikki, who grinned and merely shrugged her shoulder in response.
'Seriously, Damini, you can keep marveling about my antics later...as much as I know Nikki would love to do that....tell me, what are you doing here?,' his question, if not from surprise, then from the bluntness it imposed, made Damini stop in her tracks and turn to look at him incredulously.
'Duh! Abhi, this place here...,' Nikki gestured around her, 'it's called an airport. And she,' she further went on to point at Damini, 'has come to pick us up. How thick can you get?,'
Damini scoffed at him and then grinned at her reply, knowing what he had actually intended to ask yet had been misunderstood. 'Don't worry, Nikki, I am well aware of his 'thickheaded-ness,'as you call it..it's also an old trait! Anyways,' she turned to give a placatory smile to the receiver of all whims at the moment, 'I wasn't supposed to pick you up...only your 'brooding friend' informed me at the last moment that you guys were coming today. I assume he had to come pick you guys up...BUT as usual, some meeting sprang up and so...,' she put up a smile on her face, full of effort that was visible, and looked at both of them, 'I am here.'
Abhimanyu nodded back at her, grimly, lost in some thought as Damini lead them towards the parking lot, engrossed in conversation with Nikki. Honestly, this woman can make a rock talk, he thought to himself as he looked at Nikki chatting away freely. Once out of the warmth of the heated airport, he deliberated to himself quietly, noticing how so much had changed in the past 3 years, and as the cold wing slashed his face, he smiled inwardly. Welcome back, he whispered to himself as he set foot in to the city that had changed his life.
**********************************************
'Stay calm...stay calm...breathe....In, out...in and out...it's okaaay,' She practiced this mantra in her head and kept repeating it as her face displayed emotions totally different from what her mind wanted her to play. She smiled courtesy, a little too nicely, at the man seated in front of her, and took another large sip of water from her glass, twisting the handle of the glass a tad too tightly. The man, however, was oblivious to both the facial and mental commotion going on in her, and droned on about how his company engineered motors for water pumps and how his motors were more efficient than other motors and so on. Try as she might, she could not bring herself to take interest in his conversation, and no matter how much she tried to change the topic of discussion, it came back to the price rates of the motors in the market.
She looked at the man; who wasn't exactly bad-looking. In fact, he could be classified as a pretty normal looking guy if only he would give some style to his hair and stop dressing like a frigging 50 year old, with shaggy pants and an over sized coat. As he again went on about his price rates were lower than others, she took out her mobile phone, that had been put on silent mode since her exit from her office two hours ago. She was surprised to see 5 new messages and 10 missed calls.
Damn, she thought. NIKKI! How could she have forgotten....? I am going to kill Mike today, one for this ultimate disastrous date he set me up with, WITHOUT my consent, and two, because he didn't remind me about Nikki's arrival today. Assuring herself that those were reasons enough for her to leave now, she instantly got up.
'And so, as I was saying, the price rate...where...where are you going?,' the poor man looked at her bewildered as Riddhima finally got up from her seat with a jolt, and even before he had asked her, she had started wearing the coat that had been hanging behind her seat for the past half an hour they had been together. She shot him an apologetic look, and smiled warmly.
'Look, Luke...I am really sorry, but I have to rush. There's this extremely important thing I have to do! I really have to go...sorry! And thanks for the lunch!,' Luke was left looking at her mournfully as she ran out of the restaurant, not before dumping a few bills on the reception area. Money for her own meal, he concluded, impressed by this very different girl who had, unlike many others who had also run out on him for some 'important errand', paid for her own food. On a date. Shrugging, he went back to his now-cold steak and gobbled it down.
Meanwhile, Riddhima swerved her car out of the parking lot as she redialed the number Nikki had called from. When she got no answer there, she dialed Mike's, ready to blast his ears off.
'Hell-o, senorita. I am taking the date was a fabulous hit and now you are calling to thank me for this fantastic deed I have done...you are SO welcome,' Mike answered the phone, and started talking, as usual, even before she had said hi. He spoke as he looked in to the mirror, setting his hair right as the pub behind him bustled with people and his boss glared at him yet again for taking a call while on duty. He was, however, greeted by not a very friendly tone.
'I WILL KILL YOU!,' she screeched into the phone and he instantly pulled the phone away from his ear, 'I am warning you, Michael...if you ever, EVER, again dare to set me up with someone, YOU WILL DIE THAT VERY INSTANT!"
''Okay, you are clearly not in a good mood. I will talk to you later, baby...byyyyeeeee!,' he replied, in a sing-song way and put down the phone on her face. She cursed under her breath, and breathed in and out. So much so for having a gay friend, what else could you expect? But Mike was a sweetheart, she knew, and he had no bad intentions at heart when he had planned yet another date for her. Only, his actions had wavered, not his intentions. She smiled, despite herself, at the disaster the date had been, and before she knew, she was laughing. Laughing so hard, sitting alone in a car, driving randomly through streets, that she had to park the car aside till she stopped screaming. Her life had become a whole big cosmic joke.
When she had finally stopped laughing, she was about to redial Nikki's number when she herself got a call. It was from her office. Sobering up, she replied in a sober voice.
'Yes, Gwen?,' she answered, knowing it was her secretary.
'Ma'am, I wanted to inform you about your meeting with your new lawyer at Guy & Francon's, today, at 4.30 p.m. It's fifteen minutes from now.'
'Oh yes...thanks, Gwen,' she replied in a monotone, brought back from her cheerful mood to face the realities of her life.
'No problem, Ma'am. Would you want to know tomorrow's schedule too?'
'Nah, that's okay. I will see to that tomorrow....what's the name of this lawyer, again?,' Riddhima asked, starting up her car engine and putting the address for the reknown law firm into the navigation system.
"Errr, one second Ma'am,' Gwen said, checking her system, and then got back to her, 'Ma'am, it's Mallik....Armaan Mallik.'
********************************
:) here comes the new one, guys! As you might have guessed, if not by the part then by the VM below, you SHOULD...this is going to be, as hinz puts it, an 'intense' one, plan to yehi hai :P lets see what happens!! Anyways, I hope you guys like it as much as you liked my previous ones, and um sure um gonna be paying this one more attention, its been brewing in my mind for long....here's a glimpse at what it could be about, i'd love to hear ALL the feedback from you guys...the song is In The End (instrumental) by Linkin Park...and the vm is made by me *chuckles* pathetic as it is, please bear with it!! thanks a ton...(thanks to my personal technician :D)
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNp8efjTWzs[/YOUTUBE]
This goes out to..Karan Shraddha...happy anniversary guys :)....i was gonna post it some other day but today is 2nd Dec :D SO i just had to! God bless! and of course, to my crazy head nutters, whom i have pakaofied enough over this...:D 315 ya guys!!
p.s. seriously, if you are just going to RESERVE and NOT come back, dont bother :) trust me, coming from me, that sounds pathetic, i know...but...i believe in not wasting cyber space *chuckles*
p.p.s. I am banning everyone from calling me Kiran DI from now on :D um not that old, and i dont even act the age i am...SO, just Kiran will do...simple as that! :)<br><br>
p.p.p.s If you liked it, you know what to do :)
Kiran
Introduction:
She kissed his forehead warmly, affectionately, and let her lips linger on for a few seconds more. It had been a long time since she had done anything like that, simple gestures like that had long been dismissed between them; since when, she couldnt particularly remember. Ruffling his dishevelled hair lightly and with a final look on his beautiful features, she got up from his bed and went out of the room, switching off the lights and closing the door behind her. She then proceeded down the corridor and stopped outside a door; opening it, she took a peek in to the room and saw it inhabited with darkness, with a figure lying on the bed, breathing evenly. Good, that meant she was fast asleep, she thought, and closing the door behind her, stood aimlessly in the corridor for some seconds. Her eyes wandered over the walls, which were adorned with pictures; photographs that mocked her, haunted her, every single day. The pictures were the exact reason she couldn't sleep tonight, they were everywhere. It seemed like her whole life span was enamored into these photographs, which now successfully made her aware of the loss she had suffered. She could never forget him, he would always be a part of her, a part of her life.
Riddhima sighed loudly, and with some effort, pulled her shoulder-length hair into an untidy ponytail and walked towards the kitchen, pulling her sweater closer to herself. Reaching the kicthen, she fixed herself a cup of strong tea, almost mechanically. It was a method almost rote-learned, carried out too many times to have her put even a second's thought into what she was doing. Two teabags, half a teaspoon of sugar, and very little milk. Scaldingly hot water. Putting the hot drink to her lips, she walked out into the garden of her home, the garden her mother had dutifully taken care of since years. The cold air sliced through her, ripping her eyelids apart, stinging the eyes unmercifully. She sat down on the wet grass, her knees pulled up to her chin, her whole being slowly succumbing to the freezing cold. The only warmth that remained for a few minutes was that of the cup held in her hands. Slowly, the tea lost its heat, and then became disgustingly cold. And yet, Riddhima stared up into the sky. Counting what could not be counted, doing what could not be done. In short, being herself. She stared and counted inaudibly till her throat became sore and her eyes clouded with tears. A lump formed in her throat, and as she tried to swallow it, she almost choked. And when she took a deep breath, the cold air rushed into her, filling her to the extremities, and thats when the tears came. Somewhere inside, the grandfather clock struck midnight, and automatically, the day changed. Riddhima's eyes opened, and though the tears wouldn't stop flowing, and her mind was still numb, she realized what day it was. The day he had left her.
********************************************************
Another failed attempt. Another day gone by, dooming both of them into misery and anger. Frustrated as he was, he rode the car, aimlessly on the road, meandering from places to places. Flashes of familiar areas passed him by, yet they were unrecognizable today. He was beyond angry today, and it had probably been one of the worst sessions they both had ever attended. She had tried to hold on to him, to talk to him after it but he was so furious about the whole happening that for once, he couldnt put up with her pleadings which turned to accusations soon enough. He had had a rough day at work, the study load had increased, he wasn't feeling too well and to add to it, she had called him up in the middle of a meeting to remind him about their therapy session in the evening. And it had ended drastically, perhaps a perfect end to one of his worst days. As he accelerated the car, the clouds opened upon him and it rained, for the next few hours it kept raining and he kept driving. It was unseemingly cold even for the cursed city which was blessed with the worst weather known, and it definitely wasnt helping Armaan Mallik in cheering himself up.
When his car finally ran out of fuel, he stopped it in some parking lot he was passing by and got out. The cold got to him even before he took a deep breath; it struck to his throat and made him put his hands instantly to his mouth, to blow some warm air into them. He wasnt dressed for the occassion; naturally, with the day he had had, he hadnt thought of carrying a coat or a sweater with him. Dressed in a plain white cotton shirt and denim jeans, he wasnt protected enough against the cold. Ignoring the rain that pelted him and drained him wet within mere seconds, he started walking, his hands carefully resting in the pockets of his jeans, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and his body trying to adjust to the temperature. He lost track of time as he walked on, thinking over the past years. The years that had gone by, unhappily, sorrowfully, normally. The years that would never come back, and the moments which he wished he could have captured in them. Nothing could ever make them work, he knew that. Yet the pain of having lost her after loving her as much as he could ever love anyone, would not let him be at peace. She was with him, but she wasn't his. And as her voice echoed into his ears again, his numbed, cold mind made him realize a reality he had never been able to accept. She never had been, never would be. His.
**********************************************************
'Why isn't she here yet?'. He couldn't quite determine whether the words had been put as a question to him or were addressed to herself, for no eye contact, not even a slight tilt of the head towards him, was followed by her question-like statement as she looked around frantically in the crowd. Rarity was it in itself to ever find Heathrow Airport not hustling and bustling with people, for it was not one of, but the busiest airports of the world in terms of international passenger traffic. Unlikely as it would be, the airport swarmed with people, majority moving out of the Arrivals area, as 2 flights from other corners of the world and one from India had just landed, the latter having carried the said couple all the way from Mumbai to London within a passage of 7 hours.
Now, as they stood on the outskirts of what was the 'rejected crowd', according to his wife; the people whom no one had come to get from the airport, he pulled himself up on his toes to look over the heads of people to see whether some recognizable face could be seen in the crowd. Disappointed, he came back to his usual height and looked down at his wife, who fervently was typing out what he knew would be a hate message to her friend who had been responsible for this delay. Smirking to himself over her furious muttering under his breath, he mused to himself of how they had argued so much about this already, even before they had embarked the flight, for he had known that trusting any one of her friends was a bizarre idea, and had tried convincing her of letting his friend come pick them up, him being the more responsible kind. Nikki had, however, had her way in the end, as usual, and thus now they stood, courtesy her ideas and her friend's unpunctuality. What she wasn't aware of was that Abhi had already informed his friend secretly to pick them up, lest they be stranded on the airport, and that's what had happened. Dying though he was to say something to her, an 'i told you so' seemed like a very tempting phrase, but he decided to stay mum, fearing her wrath. As the message was finally sent, Nikki finally turned her face to look at Abhi with a nonchalant look and found him grinning at her, in spite of himself.
'What?,' she narrowed her eyes at him and question, a dangerous tone hidden in her voice, that he was, unluckily as it was, unable to distinguish.
'Hell hath no fury like a woman...,' What stopped him from completing his statement was not her narrowed eyes nor the smack that she rewarded him on his arm, but finally a face he recognized, a resemblance that was so clear he could not not ignore it. 'Damini?,'
Nikki turned again, this time turning from him to trace the source of his distraction, and found him looking at a woman who now walked towards them, a broad smile playing on her lips. Clad in a designer suit with a light blue shirt that showed from beneath the coat she was wearing to ward off the cold, she was undoubtedly a working woman, Nikki's slow mind registered and then she saw her straight cut shoulder-length hair and the very prominently black large eyes that stared at them, with a glint of happiness as she came to stood in front of them. As Nikki tried to place this woman's identity in her mind, she found herself looking at Abhi being embraced tightly in a hug by the said woman and him hugging her back. The image clicked, and she finally recognized who it was, if the name muttered by her husband a few seconds ago wasn't enough. This time, her face lighted up with a smile genuinely, as she saw the two friends meeting after what had been a separation of three years. As they parted from the hug, Damini initiated a conversation.
'Abhimanyu Modi!! LOOK at you...you are all grown up and all...,' Damini tried to make herself clear by making vague signs in the air as she signaled at Abhimanyu and smiled, and finding the right word, said, 'Married!!
Abhimanyu chuckled at her use of the word, and replied, 'That is not even an adjective Damini, but if you insist...you SHOULD finally be meeting the one whose had the privilege to marry this handsome hu...OWW!,' he halted, as Nikki frowned at him after having smacked his arm hard, and and she stepped forward.
"Hi Damini! Nikita...It's great to meet you finally! I have heard...
'So much about me, right? Why do I not expect something else from Modi? He was always besotted by me!,' Damini completed her sentence, winking at Abhi as he rolled his eyes at her, while Nikki grinned. She liked this woman already. They heard Abhi's reply as they started walking towards the exit.
'Yeah yeah...if only you'd not been so damn besotted yourself by the brooding looks of my friend, we, my lady, would have been a thing today,' Abhi shot back at her, and both woman turned to give him an exasperated look, together, which was obvious enough to him that what he had thought to be a whimsical cracker wasn't taken so by either party.
'A 'thing'? Seriously? Why hasn't his sense of humor improved over the years?,' Damini inquired, this time directly from Nikki, who grinned and merely shrugged her shoulder in response.
'Seriously, Damini, you can keep marveling about my antics later...as much as I know Nikki would love to do that....tell me, what are you doing here?,' his question, if not from surprise, then from the bluntness it imposed, made Damini stop in her tracks and turn to look at him incredulously.
'Duh! Abhi, this place here...,' Nikki gestured around her, 'it's called an airport. And she,' she further went on to point at Damini, 'has come to pick us up. How thick can you get?,'
Damini scoffed at him and then grinned at her reply, knowing what he had actually intended to ask yet had been misunderstood. 'Don't worry, Nikki, I am well aware of his 'thickheaded-ness,'as you call it..it's also an old trait! Anyways,' she turned to give a placatory smile to the receiver of all whims at the moment, 'I wasn't supposed to pick you up...only your 'brooding friend' informed me at the last moment that you guys were coming today. I assume he had to come pick you guys up...BUT as usual, some meeting sprang up and so...,' she put up a smile on her face, full of effort that was visible, and looked at both of them, 'I am here.'
Abhimanyu nodded back at her, grimly, lost in some thought as Damini lead them towards the parking lot, engrossed in conversation with Nikki. Honestly, this woman can make a rock talk, he thought to himself as he looked at Nikki chatting away freely. Once out of the warmth of the heated airport, he deliberated to himself quietly, noticing how so much had changed in the past 3 years, and as the cold wing slashed his face, he smiled inwardly. Welcome back, he whispered to himself as he set foot in to the city that had changed his life.
**********************************************
'Stay calm...stay calm...breathe....In, out...in and out...it's okaaay,' She practiced this mantra in her head and kept repeating it as her face displayed emotions totally different from what her mind wanted her to play. She smiled courtesy, a little too nicely, at the man seated in front of her, and took another large sip of water from her glass, twisting the handle of the glass a tad too tightly. The man, however, was oblivious to both the facial and mental commotion going on in her, and droned on about how his company engineered motors for water pumps and how his motors were more efficient than other motors and so on. Try as she might, she could not bring herself to take interest in his conversation, and no matter how much she tried to change the topic of discussion, it came back to the price rates of the motors in the market.
She looked at the man; who wasn't exactly bad-looking. In fact, he could be classified as a pretty normal looking guy if only he would give some style to his hair and stop dressing like a frigging 50 year old, with shaggy pants and an over sized coat. As he again went on about his price rates were lower than others, she took out her mobile phone, that had been put on silent mode since her exit from her office two hours ago. She was surprised to see 5 new messages and 10 missed calls.
Damn, she thought. NIKKI! How could she have forgotten....? I am going to kill Mike today, one for this ultimate disastrous date he set me up with, WITHOUT my consent, and two, because he didn't remind me about Nikki's arrival today. Assuring herself that those were reasons enough for her to leave now, she instantly got up.
'And so, as I was saying, the price rate...where...where are you going?,' the poor man looked at her bewildered as Riddhima finally got up from her seat with a jolt, and even before he had asked her, she had started wearing the coat that had been hanging behind her seat for the past half an hour they had been together. She shot him an apologetic look, and smiled warmly.
'Look, Luke...I am really sorry, but I have to rush. There's this extremely important thing I have to do! I really have to go...sorry! And thanks for the lunch!,' Luke was left looking at her mournfully as she ran out of the restaurant, not before dumping a few bills on the reception area. Money for her own meal, he concluded, impressed by this very different girl who had, unlike many others who had also run out on him for some 'important errand', paid for her own food. On a date. Shrugging, he went back to his now-cold steak and gobbled it down.
Meanwhile, Riddhima swerved her car out of the parking lot as she redialed the number Nikki had called from. When she got no answer there, she dialed Mike's, ready to blast his ears off.
'Hell-o, senorita. I am taking the date was a fabulous hit and now you are calling to thank me for this fantastic deed I have done...you are SO welcome,' Mike answered the phone, and started talking, as usual, even before she had said hi. He spoke as he looked in to the mirror, setting his hair right as the pub behind him bustled with people and his boss glared at him yet again for taking a call while on duty. He was, however, greeted by not a very friendly tone.
'I WILL KILL YOU!,' she screeched into the phone and he instantly pulled the phone away from his ear, 'I am warning you, Michael...if you ever, EVER, again dare to set me up with someone, YOU WILL DIE THAT VERY INSTANT!"
''Okay, you are clearly not in a good mood. I will talk to you later, baby...byyyyeeeee!,' he replied, in a sing-song way and put down the phone on her face. She cursed under her breath, and breathed in and out. So much so for having a gay friend, what else could you expect? But Mike was a sweetheart, she knew, and he had no bad intentions at heart when he had planned yet another date for her. Only, his actions had wavered, not his intentions. She smiled, despite herself, at the disaster the date had been, and before she knew, she was laughing. Laughing so hard, sitting alone in a car, driving randomly through streets, that she had to park the car aside till she stopped screaming. Her life had become a whole big cosmic joke.
When she had finally stopped laughing, she was about to redial Nikki's number when she herself got a call. It was from her office. Sobering up, she replied in a sober voice.
'Yes, Gwen?,' she answered, knowing it was her secretary.
'Ma'am, I wanted to inform you about your meeting with your new lawyer at Guy & Francon's, today, at 4.30 p.m. It's fifteen minutes from now.'
'Oh yes...thanks, Gwen,' she replied in a monotone, brought back from her cheerful mood to face the realities of her life.
'No problem, Ma'am. Would you want to know tomorrow's schedule too?'
'Nah, that's okay. I will see to that tomorrow....what's the name of this lawyer, again?,' Riddhima asked, starting up her car engine and putting the address for the reknown law firm into the navigation system.
"Errr, one second Ma'am,' Gwen said, checking her system, and then got back to her, 'Ma'am, it's Mallik....Armaan Mallik.'
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:) here comes the new one, guys! As you might have guessed, if not by the part then by the VM below, you SHOULD...this is going to be, as hinz puts it, an 'intense' one, plan to yehi hai :P lets see what happens!! Anyways, I hope you guys like it as much as you liked my previous ones, and um sure um gonna be paying this one more attention, its been brewing in my mind for long....here's a glimpse at what it could be about, i'd love to hear ALL the feedback from you guys...the song is In The End (instrumental) by Linkin Park...and the vm is made by me *chuckles* pathetic as it is, please bear with it!! thanks a ton...(thanks to my personal technician :D)
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNp8efjTWzs[/YOUTUBE]
This goes out to..Karan Shraddha...happy anniversary guys :)....i was gonna post it some other day but today is 2nd Dec :D SO i just had to! God bless! and of course, to my crazy head nutters, whom i have pakaofied enough over this...:D 315 ya guys!!
p.s. seriously, if you are just going to RESERVE and NOT come back, dont bother :) trust me, coming from me, that sounds pathetic, i know...but...i believe in not wasting cyber space *chuckles*
p.p.s. I am banning everyone from calling me Kiran DI from now on :D um not that old, and i dont even act the age i am...SO, just Kiran will do...simple as that! :)<br><br>
p.p.p.s If you liked it, you know what to do :)
Kiran
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