The salty wind creased my cheeks as the setting sun cast it's golden rays upon me. A cool breeze from the sea ruffled its way through my raven black hair as I inhaled a breath. The sound of the waves crashing against the sea rocks below was a melody to my ears. I could barely focus on the people walking past me as I let my eyes feed onto the beautiful scenery before my eyes; the scenery of the sun setting beyond the ocean's horizon, while the clouds blushed in shades of red.
I have always been a sucker for sunsets. Something about the day reaching its end and the night comes down to meet that end has always been a romantic notion to me. Like a romantic tragedy. And didn't the world love such type of stories? Because last I checked, they did.
I was lost in my surroundings when a hand grabbed onto my shoulder and jerked me back to my senses. Panic shot through my veins as I turned around startled, only to feel a flood of relief when I saw the familiar face of Aahan Kapoor.
"Jesus Christ! You scared the crap outta me for a moment back there." I said, shaking my head.
"Oh, did I? I'm sorry to have disturbed your daydreams." He shot back, tugging on his duffle back over his shoulder as he struggled with a suitcase and backpack in each of his hand. "I would have left you to your escapades, if it wasn't for your two large suitcases holding me down, woman."
"It's a backpack and a suitcase." I corrected him immediately only to be shot by a glare from his side. I smiled sheepishly, taking the suitcase and the backpack from him. "Technicalities, but you already knew that. So big day, ha!"
He sighed, nodding his head and mumbling under his breath as he commanded me to follow him. I shrugged him off, turning to look at my hotel.
Taj land ends were exactly the same, as I had observed it in its pictures. It was enormous and beautiful, overlooking the sea prominence and standing tall and board in all it's might. The exterior of the five-star hotel was mostly made of glass and its surroundings consisted of a neat man-made hospitable environment.
This wasn't the first time I had seen it. But it was the first time I would be setting my foot within its interiors.
A huge part of me was excited. This was exactly what I had been longing for. A city adventure.
But a tiny part of me was scared. This was a whole new world for me. The one I read about in books and magazines. And to be living in it was both intimidating and exciting at the same time to me.
It wasn't long until Aahan had checked us in. I stayed quiet the entire time. Too afraid and nervous to say anything. What if I screw this up? Self-doubt was beginning to eat at the edges of my brain.
The interior of the hotel was as beautiful as it was outside. Everything in here screamed expensive and money. I was overwhelmed with nervousness and excitement as I followed behind Aahan. Upon entering the lift, he finally spoke, breaking the silence between us.
"Why did you bring so much stuff?" He said.
"You don't expect me to go on seven dates with nothing on, do you?" I joked as he hit the button of the sixteenth floor of the hotel.
"You do know that you can't wear any of that, right?" He turned to look at me.
"What?"
"Did you even read the contract papers saloni?" He cocked an eyebrow at me and I bit onto my lower lip. In all honesty, I had not. I hadn't even looked at the contract papers. I didn't even know what Aahan wanted me to do on this project. I was way too caught up in my daydreams.
No wonders, I annoy him.
"I didn't," I said, in all honesty, and he groaned in frustration as he leaned back on the mirrored wall of the lift.
"Oh, Saloni." He said. "What am I going to do with you? What was I thinking?"
"Hey!" I protested.
"Don't you hey! Me Saloni." He snapped, leaning towards me. I looked up at him to match his gaze and held my ground. Every time he said my name, my heart momentarily stopped. Every time he said it, it felt different and it this case it felt angry. A powerful spell that made my knees weak. But I didn't let it affect me. I stared back at him.
"This isn't a child's game." He said, his breath fanning across my cheeks. "There are procedures. There are rules and regulations we have to abide by. I thought you liked things planned and, and systematic."
A pause, followed by a sigh. "This is a big opportunity, okay? I could have given it to any other woman. But I gave this opportunity to you. You're getting paid to work yes, but work means hard work in this business. There's a company we have to answer if we fail in this project. You know that, right? Would you want to be answerable for any loss caused by us to the company or sponsors? Would you?" He scolded me with an intimidating voice, something that made my own voice disappear.
"I..." I wanted to say some things, but at that very moment, I didn't exactly know what. So I said the next best thing, admitting defeat. "I'm sorry."
"Well you should be, I expect very professional behaviour from you. We're working together now."
"I just..." I paused, "I still don't understand everything that's on this project. I thought we could go over this together."
"This is the adult world Saloni, you do things on your own." He said in a matter fact tone. I tried to protest when he cut me off with his words. "I can't spoon feed you everything. This is the city life you dream so much about. Catch on to it, small-town girl."
I don't know if it was his words or the tone of his voice that set me off, or both. But it did.
"Got it." I paused, looking away from him. "I will make no more mistakes, Aahan Sir."
It had to be one of the first few times I said his name and didn't call him a jerk, dumbass, or any other sort of vulgar addresses. Yet, the way I said it was enough to display my emotions. His name came out like a harsh insult. Something I didn't plan to do, but the anger in me did.
Silence loomed over us until the double doors of the lift slid open on the sixteenth floor. I gathered my belongings carefully and stepped out of the lift, daring to look at Aahan in his eyes again. Something dark lit behind his long eyelashes.
Staring at him set my body on fire. His gaze never left my face and I had to look away. Suddenly, very much aware of the sweat travelling down my spine, I moved uncomfortably on my feet. I was waiting patiently for him to move. He had the keys to our rooms after all.
It felt like forever before Aahan stepped beside me and handed me the key card. I memorized my room number and the lock combination, swiftly moving away from him.
Only when I had crossed halfway through the hallway, I dared to look back at him again. He was following, of course for our rooms were assigned right next to each other. But he was still staring. And if I wanted to remain sane, I had to get away.
Wasting no time, I quickly unlocked the door to my room and stepped inside.
***
"Open the door, Saloni." Aahan was pounding furiously at my door. I turned the volume up, of the music playing on my phone to drown his voice out from my surroundings. I had to focus. I had to. Systematic and a planned life. That's the way of it. That's how you live life.
My room was a spectacular one. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the level of comfort it provided; a level I have never experienced in my life before, but eventually, I did. I sat crossed leg onto my bed while the contract paper laid neatly over the comforter of my bed. I had a notebook and a pen in my hand as I went through the documents. Clause by clause, the sentence for sentence. Everything was starting to make sense. And my hand moved in the flow of the music, making notes of everything.
A word document laid open on my old busted google nexus tablet that I still managed to work with. A table was drawn into it, full of details. The rows and columns assigned as per job and requirements, rules and regulations, content and media and so on. I was down to my itinerary when the pounding on my door increased.
Afraid, he'd disturb the neighbours or worse, damage the expensive oak-wood furnished door, I leapt out of double-sized bed and let him in. He had changed from his jeans and checkered shirt to a track-pant and loose t-shirt outfit. His hair looked messier than usual self, but I didn't question it. I was down to my cotton shorts and an oversized t-shirt with a messy bun myself; who was I to judge him and his outfit at this hour.
"Look, about before..." He started to say but I waved a hand, shutting the door behind him. I walked back towards my bed, taking my previous position and shutting the music off. I looked at Aahan and cocked an eyebrow at him as he moved uncomfortably on his foot.
"It's okay, you weren't harsh or anything." I nodded and started working back on everything.
"No, seriously I feel bad. It's been like, only two days since I dragged you into all this..." he paused, sitting on the edge of the bed while examining my work. "You've pretty much caught on to everything. Wait, are these suggestions?"
"Yeah, while going through everything I came up with the main events for our content and the budget and everything else, then I started getting ideas that could help the overall success of this project. So I started to pen them down. It all fits." I nodded, flipping the page of the contract before writing down another point.
"It's been two hours." He blinked in surprise, staring blankly at me. I shrugged, smiling to myself. This was me. This was my power. Even if it did exhaust me quite a few times. I only smiled at him, "Planned and systematic."
"Saloni..." Aahan said, but I paid him no mind. At this point, I was feeding off the time available to me, to the monster called waste. I had to get this done. I had to. But, Aahan stood as a really handsome obstacle to that. "Saloni, look at me."
"It's okay, I'm fine."
"Saloni." This time, my name sounded like a sweet endearment escaping his lips. It stopped the movement of my hands and caused my eyes to shut. When I opened them again the world was beginning to heat up around me. I turned to look at Aahan who looked worriedly at me. I tried to move my lips in a smile, but this time I couldn't.
The room was completely enveloped in silence, with only the sound of the waves crashing against the seashore at a distance taking over the room. I didn't dare say a word. I didn't.
But then Aahan's hand moved in a swift and gentle movement, capturing my feminine and soft hands in his masculine one. The brush of his skin against mine sent a jolt through my bones. I dared not breathe louder than I could anymore for that moment. And when I tried to get it in control of my breath, it only hitched back down my throat as he squeezed onto my hands very gently.
"I'm sorry for overwhelming you, for being so harsh on you." He said, his coffee-coloured eyes bored into mine.
"It's... fine." I managed to say when all I wanted to do was snatch my hands away from his.
"I mean it, Saloni." Stop calling me that, I beg you. I could feel the trembling goosebumps dotting my skin. "It's just...this project is supposed to be my big break. It means a lot to me."
"Okay." I nodded. My eyes scanned his facial features. The way his eyebrows were knitted together in worry for me. The way his eyes looked sad. The way his thin lips looked pink as he moved them to speak. The way his jawline moved. The way his hairline besides his ears met a now growing stubble beard. Everything. Everything that made him Aahan Kapoor. And then I squeezed his hands and softly entwined his fingers with mine. Shocking, both him and me.
"Saloni." He said, breaking me out of my reverie. A blush crept its way across my cheeks. And my hands felt warmer. So did the rest of my body the next counting minutes.
"It's okay." I cut him off. Pulling my hands away from him immediately. "I did need to catch up to city life. Indeed, you're right. Time is less and work is more."
He stared at me for what felt like the longest. As if he could see through my lies, which I was sure he could given the situations before. "Seriously, I'm fine. Going over the procedures really helped."
"Okay. That's good, then. As long as we are good." He nodded, getting up from my bed. I nodded enthusiastically, trying my best to let the awkward moment pass on. "We're good!"
"Cool, then I'll see you tomorrow morning. We have a meeting before we set you up for the vlogs to kick off." He explained, to which I nodded again giving him a thumbs up. Seriously, what was wrong with me all of a sudden?
"Alright then, be up at seven. The meeting is at nine am. I'll meet you in the hotel lobby." and then he was gone. And my breathing was returned back to its normal pace. I felt an overwhelming urge to cringe at myself. And at the same time, I felt guilty.
What was I thinking squeezing his hands and entwining our fingers like that? He had a girlfriend; a complicated relationship if I had to be technically and honest. But it still counted as something if he was still troubled by it.
I couldn't understand Aahan. He was rude when we first met. Which made me hate him. And then he was sweet the next time we met, which made guilty to have misinterpreted him. And now when I was finally setting some mutual ground with him, he had once again pushed me over the edge with his rude behaviour. Was I right when I judged him first, after all? But then he apologized and we just held hands.
I couldn't understand Aahan. But if I was being a hundred per cent honest here, I would have to admit it was me that, I couldn't understand anymore.
I couldn't understand myself anymore. For I was doing things I've never thought about doing before crossing paths with Aahan Kapoor.
A/N: I would love to thank everyone who has helped me achieve 1k views on this book. All those who have given me feedback and fantastic supporting comments. This milestone is dedicated to all of you. Thank you!
Q: what do you think of Aahan and Saloni's bond? Is there something going on or is it just one-sided?
Also, we are close to the main event of the book! The first part is gonna have 20 chapters, so hang on! A chapter left before saloni goes crazy.
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE + COMMENT. THANK YOU FOR READING