The Segment (Completed)

40. Our Thing

(Unedited)

Farrah sat in the editing booth for what seemed like the nth this week. Her eyes felt tired and she had the words from the video practically memorised in her head. It didn't help that both Rachel and George had completely opposing ideas as to the arrangement of the entire video. Rachel had wanted it to be grittier, vlog style where they didn't really cut out the rough edges. George on the other hand wanted things packaged beautifully; complete with a bow on top.

"Knock knock," she heard a male voice say and she frowned pausing the video on the monitor. Turning around, she first saw the takeaway cup in his hand and eyed him suspiciously.

"Is that chai from Dishoom?" she asked and beamed as he nodded his head in agreement. "Give it to me! Oh God you have no idea how much I need this," she said as she stretched her arms forward wriggling her fingers. He chuckled and stepped into the booth and passed her the cup.

With a chuckle he sat down opposite her bringing his own cup to his lips as he watched her. Farrah took the lid off and inhaled the aroma first before she took a tentative sip and sighed in bliss. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, "Is that all you brought? Just chai?"

"I'm sorry, I think my ears are playing tricks on me. Because what you should be saying is, 'O-M-G, Saif..you the amazing-est person alive, my favourite-est person in the world. So kind, so handsome...I love you'" he said mockingly in a girly voice.

She kicked his chair and said, "Amazing-est and favourite-est aren't real words."

"That's the only thing you're correcting, not the other-," Saif fell silent as his eyes landed on the monitors behind her. He couldn't help but frown.

Noticing his expression, Farrah's eyebrows were in knots as she turned to look at what had caught Saif's attention. Farrah blinked as she looked at the frozen picture on the monitor; it was of her and Richard. Richard was looking down at her and she at him, both frozen mid laugh. Her heart clenched as she thought of the last time she saw him and how he had looked at her. A kick to her chair brought her back to the now.

"Drink up, it's getting cold,"Saif said as he studied Farrah's face. She had gone from tired looking when he walked in, to happy and bantering with him, to sad and back to smiles all in a matter of minutes. If he wasn't looking at her as closely, he probably would have missed it. But who am I kidding, he thought to himself, I can't fucking stop myself from looking at her. There was something there he knew, with the bloke who was on screen with her.

"Sun (Listen), you've never mentioned it...who is it that you're 'seeing'?" he asked curiously, his fingers tracing the rim of his cup.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked setting the cup down.

"Chal, naam hi batade (well, just tell me his name)," he said kicking her chair playfully.

"Why?" she said laughing exasperatedly.

"Well, I should at least know if he's real or not," he said laughing at her raised eyebrow. "So that I can decide, if I should risk it or not," he leaned closer to her and she pushed herself back into the chair.

"Risk what?' she asked with narrowed eyes.

"My balls," he chuckled as she gaped, "For you know, when you kick it when I make a move." He continued chuckling as she huffed. Using her index finger, she pressed the point between his eyes on his forehead and pushed him backwards glaring at him as he laughed.

"I'm sorry, I've...I've arrived too early," Richard said tightly at the entrance to the editing booth; "I seem to be interrupting a private moment". Farrah shot out of her seat and faced Richard, putting as much distance as possible between Saif and herself without being too obvious. From the corner of her eye, she saw Saif stand as well.

Richard had his jaw clenched; as he saw the takeaway cups on the table. Very much similar to the one that he brought for her. He looked at Saif and saw a calculating look in the other man's eyes. Richard knew that he had already seen the takeway bag in his hand.

"Your Highness, I...I...wasn't aware...that you were coming in today," Farrah stuttered, as she felt her face flush in embarrassment. Richard had seen that; he had seen Saif flirting with her. She knew she didn't owe him any explanations, they weren't even together. Not only was she embarrassed, she felt guilty; so fucking guilty, like he had caught her cheating on him. She heard Saif clear his throat next to her and she snapped into action.

"Your Highness, this is Saif; my friend. Saif, this is..." she trailed feeling awkward.

"Prince Richard," Saif said and smiled, extending his hand towards the prince. Richard nodded in acknowledgement as they shook hands.

"George asked me to take a look at the videos and to decide which style to air," Richard said in form of an explanation as he slipped his hand into his pants pocket.

"Right," Farrah breathed, "he..um...he didn't mention anything to me." And neither did you, she thought a bit bitterly. "It's not really done yet."

"It's quite alright, you can show me the raw edits first," Richard said in a measured tone.

"I guess that's my cue to leave," Saif said with a small smile. He walked passed Farrah, and as he was about to leave, he rapped on the door to get her attention. "Let me know if you need me for any Chai runs, yeah," he said with a wink before leaving.

There was tense silence in the editing booth as Farrah looked behind Richard, at the door where Saif has stood and said his parting words. She could see Richard's jaw muscles flexing. It was Ben's huffing and puffing that broke the silence in the booth. He looked like he ran here from somewhere.

"Hey Farrah, I see you've already got your tea," He huffed trying to catch his breath. "Here, Rich got you something to eat as well. But I forgot it in the car."

"Bin it, Ben. Or you can give it to someone in the building. Ms. Khan has already gotten her tea from someone else," Richard said in a clipped tone.

"No, don't bin it-," she stopped as Richard made to grab her outstretched hand, preventing her from taking the takeway bag.

"Leave it," he said, anger seeping into his voice as he dropped her hand as quickly as he had grabbed it.

"Richard...he's just a friend," Farrah said, closing her eyes as she breathed deeply.

"That's not the point," he said looking up, his hands on his waist as he tried to calm himself. He looked at her, meeting her gaze and said vehemently, "That was our thing-". Richard didn't get to finish his sentence as George, Rachel, Mark, and Will arrived at the same time and crowded into the editing room.

With a clap of his hands, George said, "Okay, let's get to work people we only have 15 days left before going on air."

***

Happy Valentine's Day, you lovely lot.

A surprise update for today.

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