𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 [𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡]

ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ 102

"Bye," he kissed her cheek again, but did not exactly let her go.

Alia stared at him, waiting for him to remove his hands from her waist. "Hmm," she muttered dryly, "bye." If you did not understand her impatient ise an order wonder what could he understand. 

Arman placed a loud kiss on her forehead. "Yes, bye."

Frustrated with his lack of getting the point, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed away with a huff. "Let go."

"No,"

"Arman," she snapped, "if you want I can stay here but if you want me to leave then, I want to leave."

A smack came on her butt making her Yelp. "Hey!" She glared at him who winked and was about to say something before his phone rang.

He huffed before he kissed her cheek again and patted her bum. "Go now, I have to return to work."

She watched him walk past her and onto the desk where his phone was ringing. It had taken him seconds to slip from husband to the boss and the change in his voice was the proof of it.

Sighing softly to herself she walked out of the room and since she did not find Mandeep on the reception desk, she directly went for the lift.

It was only a matter of time, maybe minutes before she was back in the car and they were driving back home.

She felt irritated. There was something in her chest eating her away knowing that there was nothing to do at home and for the next 3 hours at least she will have to do deal with boredom.

"Rakesh," she addressed the driver, "take me to the mall."

Even if she had enough clothes for years there was no harm in window shopping. That would certainly be better than just skipping through movies on Netflix.

"I have not been given the instructions, madam." He glanced at her to the rear view mirror and Alia narrowed her eyes at him slightly.

Instructions? Who the hell gave him instructions? "I just told you what to do, Rakesh." Alia replied, only this time her tone was not as polite but slightly firm. "Take me to the mall."

Rakesh nodded and she caught the movement before looking away. Instructions, she wondered, what kind of instructions would he be talking about?

****

She paid for the clothes before taking the bags from the salesgirl. Earlier had realised that she had no pyjamas and as much as the silk nighties felt nice to wear, she needed some pyjamas. Desperately.

The next store to the current one that she just existed was Sephora. She had half mind to go there but then again, Armaan had put more than enough money in her account that she could actually spent it on makeup that she was not going to use.

Shrugging, she handed the bags at the security before going inside the store and starting from the corner.

Alia eyed each and everyone of them. Almost six years ago, she would have never passed an opportunity to secure and other brand's product but money has been tied and she had made it all disappear from her site.

Chuckling to herself, she grabbed an Anastasia foundation and matched it to her skin.

"You know that—" She heard a gasp, "Alia!"

Frowning at the familiarity of the voice, Alia turned around only for her eyes to widen. "Shivani?"

Totally taken aback, they both stare at each Other before finally breaking out of it and sharing a long hug.

"How are you?" Alia asked as she pulled Shivani impossibly close, "everything alright?"

"Uh huh," Shivani nodded right away. "I just came here to get the rest of our staff. I am planning to settle there permanently."

Ah, well. That dimmed her mood immediately.

Alia knew better than to expect anything out of this run in that they had at the mall. She had come here just back up her stuff in us back to the country that Alia was not going to settle in, so it made no sense to cling onto her.

"Do you want a coffee?" Shivani asked with a hopeful expression on her face. "You love coffee."

She did, but Alia was in no mood to drink anything with her. Yet, she made an effort. "Sure, I'd love some."

After a moment, they found themselves are cafe that had the sitting outside the mall.

"So," Shivani wiggled her eyebrows, "what have you been to nowadays?"

Aliya replied right away. "Nothing much."

"Really?" Shivani blinked in shock, "I really thought that your day is going to be much more interesting than mine. You were always the adventurous one!"

"No," Alia waved her off, "my day begins with giving a man has protein shake and then I make sure the breakfast is on the table with his mother and then I practically spend the day watching Netflix. Before I know it's lunch time and I go to his office to have lunch with him and then I come home." She sipped her coffee. "It is hardly 3 to four hours after which Arman arrives."

A frown settled on her face and Alia felt something bad in her stomach. Shivani had always been opened with expressions and the waves of disapproval were rolling off of her.

"That's it?"

"Yes," Alia nodded, feeling a bit defensive before she took a sip of coffee. "What more is there to be about it?"

"Umm," Shivani post for a second before leaning in, "do you not realise how you are spending your day?"

Alia have her a look. " What are you talking about?"

Shivani chuckled but Alia could tell it was anything but out of happiness. "Do you not realise that most of the time you spend is actually catering for Armaan and doing nothing for yourself?"

"You wake up on time and the first thing you do is probably get ready to go and get his protein shake on the way and then you layout the breakfast for the table and then you sit idle for for the entire day except for in between when you go and give him lunch in his office."

"My question is," Shivani shook her head as she said, "what are you doing?"