by Mahi Jay
‘You mean I can’t indulge in drunken orgies and loud parties any more? How am I ever going to get through these two months?’ he moaned with a straight face.
She stared at him, mouth agape, wondering if he actually meant it. She was for once lost for words.
‘Maybe you’d take pity on me and help me?’ he suggested, arching his brows and leering at her.
Nina burst into laughter. She knew he had a wicked sense of humour and she had fallen right into his trap.
‘You creep,’ she scolded laughingly.
It was Aadith’s turn to stare. The sight of her laughing unselfconsciously with her head thrown back mesmerised him. She seemed so alive, he mused. Their eyes locked and the air suddenly turned thick with tension.
When a sexy female voice called out Aadith’s name, it was as if she had been doused in a bucket of cold water. The owner of the voice was a stunning willowy young socialite and she promptly draped herself over him when he rose to greet her.
‘Aadith, darling! I truly missed you at the party last night. Why didn’t you come?’ she asked as she cast a dismissive glance in Nina’s direction.
The woman looked as if she had stepped right out of the pages of Vogue and Nina’s own business attire placed her well below the socialite’s orbit of competition, thought Nina ruefully. Though why should she want to be considered a threat to Aadith’s attention? she wondered in surprise.
‘I’ve been a bit busy and no doubt there were a dozen other men vying for your attention,’ he returned suavely.
The girl pouted prettily at his backhanded compliment and murmured throatily, ‘Oh, no, you know that’s not true.’
Nina felt her heart crashing painfully in her ribs when Aadith put a protective hand in the small of the woman’s back to turn her towards Nina.
‘Meet Nina Shah, my publicist,’ he said, gesturing towards Nina, and then added, ‘And this is Sanjana Gill, a friend.’
Both women merely nodded at each other and smiled briefly. Nina couldn’t bear to look at the pair of them. The way the other woman was looking at him adoringly sickened her. One minute Aadith looked at her, Nina, as if he wanted to devour her and the next he was paying court to some coquettish female smiling up coyly at him. She felt disgusted.
The second the other girl was out of earshot Nina snapped, ‘How convenient … This time you didn’t bother to mention that we were old friends and not just business acquaintances.’
Aadith’s face darkened in response as he retorted curtly, ‘You can’t have it both ways, Nina. Either you accept that we do know each other and have a shared past, lousy as it may be, or choose to ignore it completely. I will not tiptoe around you trying not to hurt your sensibilities. What happened between us is in the past and I suggest we leave it right there and move on.’
‘No doubt it’s easy for you to forget the past. I must have been one of simply hundreds of women you have kissed and then discarded without a second thought,’ she accused, furious that he would even dare to mention it when his behaviour had been so despicable.
‘I seem to remember a different version of it. It was you who threw yourself at me and you who refused to speak to me after I declined to take advantage of your innocence. I certainly don’t understand how you became the aggrieved party here,’ Aadith bit out.
‘If you think I’m still the same gullible idiot I was then, you’re sadly mistaken. You couldn’t wait to share my folly with all your friends, could you? Made you feel like a hot stud, did it?’ asked Nina pointedly.
Aadith was enraged. He couldn’t believe she thought so cheaply of him. He had chalked her reluctance to work with him to that one disastrous evening long ago. He’d never imagined she carried a deeper grudge against him over an imagined slight.
‘I don’t know where you got the idea that I shared it with my friends. I’ve never had the need to kiss and tell. Ever. Not then and not now,’ he growled.
Nina felt bewildered. There was a sincerity in his words that rang true. She could not bring herself to ignore the truth in his words. He had been a popular boy even then, while she had just been a nobody. A boast involving her would hardly have raised his reputation.
God, this was so confusing, she thought desperately.
But Aadith was not done yet. ‘Why would you think that I had told my friends about you?’
Nina cringed inwardly and wished she had not started talking about the past. Going through it had been humiliating enough but talking about it and finding out that she had been even more of a fool than she had thought was excruciating.
‘Your then girlfriend, Monica, told me you’d all had a good laugh about it,’ said Nina quietly. All the rage she’d carried about Aadith’s behaviour in the past now seemed pointless.
‘Monica?’ exclaimed Aadith in disgust. ‘Just to be clear about this, she didn’t become my girlfriend until much later—after I left Pune, in fact. We were just hanging around then. Although now, I can see all too clearly why she would have played such a dirty trick on you—she could be pretty vile sometimes.’
Monica was a mistake he sorely regretted. The only good thing to come out of that relationship was he’d learned exactly how much to trust a woman. Not at all. What Nina said just now reinforced it all over again.
‘A young, gamine girl whom I’d previously only thought of as my friend’s kid sister started drawing my attention. She must have caught my interest in you and decided to protect her “future”, as she called me then,’ said Aadith, looking at her sincerely.
‘Monica spelled trouble from the word go but I didn’t realise it until it was too late. This is just one more in her long list of transgressions.’
Nina coloured at his frank statement of interest in her and lowered her eyes shyly. To know that she had captured his attention then was like an aphrodisiac to her. Her heart started thumping madly in her chest. She felt herself melting under his hot gaze.
‘Nina, look at me,’ commanded Aadith softly.
When she raised her eyes to him, all the hostility she’d harboured against him was gone. There was only a soft vulnerability in them. Aadith felt a strange protectiveness take hold of him.
Desire and attraction he could easily handle, but this new, softer emotion was gripping in its intensity. He didn’t want to feel anything more for her than affection. Anything more spelled trouble, he thought in alarm.
‘Let’s start over. I’m sorry I hurt you unintentionally. It would be better if we forget the past ever happened. I would like us to be friends first …’ Aadith entreated.
Nina acquiesced and replied, ‘I would like that too.’
Though she couldn’t help wondering about his unfinished sentence. Friends first …? Then what? Did it mean he wanted to move beyond friendship? Did he feel the same unrelenting pull that she did?
Nina shook her head tiredly. It was too much to ponder about, after the roller coaster of emotions she’d experienced over the past two days. When the waiter chose that precise moment to present their bill she was relieved.
‘I’ll get to work on the campaign and meanwhile please clear your schedule for at least a week or so at the end of the month for it. I suspect it is going to be a tight run to get it all done in time.’
‘I have no doubt you’ll pull it off,’ assured Aadith firmly.
Nina asked to be dropped off at the office. She thought a bit of work would help to keep her mind off him.
‘Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything,’ instructed Aadith as he waited for her to gather her handbag.
‘Even if I’m going to interrupt an evening with your darling Sanjana?’ queried Nina impishly.
‘I’ll definitely take a rain check on her if it is for you …’ he said breezily and left in a quick spin of his car.
Nina’s laughter died on her lips. She had asked for it, she thought miserably. Just because he had been interested in her a long time ago didn’t mean he was now. And even if he was, his reply just now had made it abundantly clear that sh
e would be one among the many girls he dated. There would always be someone eager to take her place, she thought sourly.
Nina felt oddly unsettled for the rest of the day. It was bad enough he made her feel things she’d never felt before, but even worse was the fact that he made her look back into her past, a place she’d never had happy memories about.
She could still remember the day Aadith had come into her life. With working parents who’d had little time to spare, she had vied with her brother for their attention. But for them she had always been an afterthought, an extra after their perfect male child, ignored for the most part.
That was when Aadith had entered her life and occupied her every waking thought for the four years they had been neighbours, thought Nina morosely. She smiled to herself as she thought back to that time. She had been a total wannabe then, with her shortly cropped hair, tattered jeans and ratty tees.
Being the same age as her brother, Aadith had quickly befriended him and hung around the house frequently. He’d often teased her about her weird assortment of friends all going through various stages of rebellion. For someone as starved for love as she had been then, the little attention that Aadith had thrown her way had proven to be her downfall. She’d developed a massive crush on him.
Well, she certainly knew how that had ended, thought Nina sadly. He was even more popular and handsome now than he had been before and she was still the same inexperienced, albeit better looking than before, normal girl next door.
The ending looked decidedly predictable. Unless she kept her head and her heart safe she was going to end up seriously hurt again, thought Nina resolutely.
CHAPTER THREE
THE FOLLOWING DAYS were a whirlwind. The ‘Wishing Star’ contest was heavily publicised along with the movie. With the weight of a major production house behind it no expense was spared to promote the picture. Hoardings, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, Internet, every media tool was used to capture the public’s attention. It soon became the talk of the town. Entries flew in from all over the country. Young and old alike wrote in and it soon became a very difficult task just to choose a few out of the multitude of responses. The contest had captured the nation’s imagination and they were now eagerly anticipating the movie as well as the contest results.
Nina spoke to Aadith on and off to keep him updated about the progress of the various promotional activities they had undertaken. Both of them kept their conversations brief and professional. As the star of the movie as well as the co-producer he had a lot on his plate trying to keep an eye on the post-production activities and fulfil his promotional obligations. There didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day for him to catch up with all that needed to be done, yet at odd times he found himself wanting to see Nina again. Deciding to pay her a visit, he rang her office and was informed by Mrs Dutta that she would be working late with her team.
Nina rummaged in her bag for a piece of paper where she’d made a note about the campaign. She needed it for the meeting. Despite its bulging size, her bag was perfectly organised with everything neatly compartmentalised and tidy, as was her desk. Nina knew she was compulsively neat but it was a habit left over from her childhood days, which she couldn’t seem to break. Trying to be the perfect child did leave its mark, thought Nina ruefully as she found the slip. Everything about her screamed order, from her perfectly styled hair to her perfectly pedicured toes.
Shortly afterwards she headed into a small conference room where she had called in her usual team of people to help her iron out the final details regarding the campaign. Payal, a young junior executive, was the first to enter the room and she was grinning from ear to ear.
‘I still can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were friends with Aadith Varma!’ she gushed. Nina rolled her eyes in exasperation.
‘Payal, we were barely more than acquaintances, don’t make it into something bigger,’ retorted Nina lightly.
‘Some people have all the luck in the world,’ sighed Payal unrepentantly with a dreamy smile. ‘Had I been in your place I would have just m—’ She broke off as the rest of the team filed in one after the other.
Nina made a note to herself to ensure that she kept Payal’s contact with Aadith minimal. Payal was a naive innocent who would probably end up getting hurt.
When the rest of the team had taken their places around the table she quickly explained the time constraint they would be working under. Just then a discreet knock sounded on the door and Aadith Varma stepped in, looking über cool in faded denims and a linen white shirt that fitted his body like a dream.
‘Hi, everyone … I had an evening free, so I thought I’d drop in to discuss a bit more about the campaign and check if you required anything from my side,’ said Aadith casually as he strolled in and took a place near the head of the table next to Nina.
Stunned surprise greeted his entry but within a minute everyone around the table save Nina was clamouring for his attention. Nina watched in wry amusement as Aadith took it all in his stride. He was at his charming best as they all introduced themselves to him.
His eyes met hers across the table and he felt a wave of pleasure. When his hungry gaze fell on her lips where a slight smile was hovering, he felt a jolt of desire rock him. He wanted nothing better than to take her into his arms and kiss her senseless, he thought impatiently.
Nina’s skin prickled with awareness when she caught sight of Aadith devouring her with his eyes. She cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.
‘Mr Varma, it’s generous of you to offer your time. As you know the contest has been generating a lot of positive media attention towards both the movie and you, so I’d say it’s certainly been a step in the right direction.’
‘A lot of people from the industry have commented that the contest is creating the right buzz, so I am glad it’s working,’ added Aadith.
‘Since you’re here, it will be easier to work out the logistics that will work for you, Mr Varma,’ announced Nina.
Aadith glared at her as she reverted back to the formal use of his name. His eyes promised swift retribution.
‘As far as logistics are concerned it would be better if you restrict all events relating to the contest to the metro cities. Security reasons apart, effectively managing the limited time we have will not be possible if far flung places are also included,’ stated Aadith decisively.
There were vigorous nods all around. ‘Since we are choosing the top three entries we can restrict the venues to Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. That way it would seem as if we’ve covered the length and breadth of India,’ she finished.
‘Have you chosen the top entries?’ queried Aadith.
‘We wanted to portray love through the ages, so we’ve decided to choose a young, a middle-aged and an older couple,’ chimed in Payal with shining eyes.
Aadith’s eyes clouded for a minute. ‘Ahh … Love through the ages …’ What a load of drivel, he thought bitterly. Hadn’t his father and he experienced firsthand that love was just another word for convenience? He knew love never stood a chance against money.
‘Ah, eternal love … how appropriate for the movie,’ he exclaimed sardonically. ‘Nothing sells as well as the idea of perfect love, does it?’
Nina caught the note of bitterness in his tone. It seemed as if the others found something amiss too because Payal immediately asked, ‘Why, Mr Varma, don’t you believe in happily ever after?’
Aadith flashed an unrepentant smile at her and replied, ‘Let’s just say I believe happily ever afters work better in movies.’
Payal let out a strangled gasp. She had certainly not expected her favourite romantic hero to be a total cynic. Nina’s heart turned cold. If she had wanted further incentive to stay clear of him, there it was. She had it from the horse’s mouth that he didn’t believe in love. She couldn’t deny to herself that there was a burning attraction between them, but to give into that would be utter foolishness.
Aadith continued smoothly, ‘If you let
my assistant know the exact dates when my presence is required, he will ensure it is cleared.’
Nina passed out a sheet of paper that contained the probable dates that they had pencilled in. Her fingers grazed his as she did so, it was the merest touch yet it felt as if he had been scalded. He stared at the sheet blankly. He couldn’t think beyond the tingling touch of her fingers. Was he so desperate that the most innocuous and fleeting touch could arouse such a heated response from him?
He couldn’t have stopped himself had he even wanted to; he needed to touch her again. Now. As Aadith passed the sheet back to her he stroked her palms with his fingertips. Nina jerked her hand back as if she had been stung.
Oh, yeah … she felt it too, thought Aadith in satisfaction.
What was wrong with her? He’d only touched her hands yet she’d felt as if he’d run his fingers along her entire body. She groaned to herself. This physical need he’d awakened in her was driving her crazy, she thought exasperatedly.
Aadith’s deep voice broke Nina’s reverie. After ironing most of the details out, he stood up to leave. He turned towards her casually and raised an enquiring eyebrow. ‘Nina, could I have a private word with you …?’ Her heart lurched.
She followed him out with all eyes in the room glued to her back. Her heart was racing in triple time. She didn’t want to be alone with Aadith. She didn’t trust him, but even worse she didn’t trust herself around him. Her legs felt wobbly as she made her way to her office.
Aadith pushed the door and held it open, deliberately leaving very little space for her to squeeze through. She had to brush past him to enter and that brief contact sent shock waves rippling through them both. The moment the door closed behind him Aadith caught her by her hand and gently pushed her against the wall. He moved closer so she was firmly wedged close to his hard male body.
Nina gasped in surprise as she looked up at him with a curious mixture of fear and desire. She wanted to pull away sharply but the strong pull of attraction that had been simmering between them from the beginning held her still.
