The front door opens and Rudra enter Saumya’s flat.
Saumya’s now showing, Rudra pulls her in for a hug, “thanks” she replied.
“What are you thanking me for?” Rudra asked his face wet with faint droplets of sweat.
“For meeting up with Bhavya yesterday” Rudra said as he put his bag on the floor and flopped on the couch, “Just for coffee.”
“Yes,Bhavya from college?” Saumya said wearily from her seat at the table,taking out their toasted sandwiches.
“How many Bhavya’s do you know?” Rudra scoffed,water-bottle in her hand.
“Why did you meet up?” Saumya asked,she kind of knew the answer but wanted to hear it from him.
“I needed to talk to her,” Rudra said. “To tell her about us.”
Saumya’s face softened and she stood up, walking over to him.
“That wasn’t necessary” She took his hand, linking their fingers together.
Suddenly she scrunched her face, in pain and Rudra rushed forward, enveloping his arms around her.
“Saumo, what’s wrong” She held him tight and then went limp as her head fell against his shoulder.
“Saumya…..Saumya…..” Rudra shouted as he quickly put her on the couch and rushed to get his phone that was charging on the kitchen counter.
“A mistake” Bhavya said her eyes red and make-up visibly stained by tears as she looked at the screen of the tablet monitoring the inside of Saumya’s flat.
3 hours earlier
Bhavya pushed her coffee cup away and sighed. “It’s not always bad. People fight. We can try again”.
“We can’t be over, Rudra” she whispered, her eyes burning unexpectedly as her shoulders slumped.
Bhavya reached over and tried to hold his hand but Rudra pulled his hand back and hung her head.
“It was a mistake” he whispered.
Bhavya’s eyes began to grow watery as he looked away, staring at the rim of his cup.
“Mistake” She repeated.
“I am getting married” he said roughly.
“Married?” Bhayvya echoed.
“To Saumya,” Bhavya asked questioningly.
“Yes” Rudra nodded and cleared her throat. “Never thought you’d be the married type.”
“Neither did I.” Rudra said.
Bhavya went cold all over “Because she’s pregnant” she added in her mind as she faked a polite smile back at him.
She took a sip of her coffee and the air between them went tense.
“A family man, huh?” Bhavya choked out as she glanced down at her cup.
“Yes,” he said quietly pushing his coffee cup away.
“What happened to your police career?” Rudra asked.
“There’s no police career” Bhavya finally said.
“Just didn’t work out.” She lied.
Art studio
“Is this the color right?” Omkara asked a group of young aspiring artists who he was giving a talk to.
Gauri flashed a look at her husband, “That good Omkara ji, play this game.” She thought as she motions some of the people to move out of her way.
“I can’t wait to see what he does next” a girl said.
“Why on earth did he want me here at this studio with him” Gauri thought to herself as she wandered off to look at the other exhibitions.
She glanced back at Om who looked all authoritative, proprietorial as he was standing in front of the painting.
“I like it better when the person I am painting’s eye speak from a painting” Om said as his eyes followed Gauri as she aimlessly looking at some abstract art sculptures.
His dark eyes running past her to the young man approaching; he watched as the guy smiled graciously then his smile slowly turned into a sly smirk as his eyes scanned her body. Gauri bites her lip suddenly before he could rationale his way for her actions,his mind was clouded by jealousy.
His blood quickly began to boil as he saw her smiling back and sort of enjoying this unknown man’s presence “So Mr Oberoi have you considered a subject for your next commission or project?” one of the group asked.
“Mr Oberoi?” the one guy repeated but Om wasn’t paying any attention to them ,he was more interested in what Gauri and this guy was talking about and the group picked up on this as their eyes slowly drifted towards them too.
“Are you going to use her?” One of the girls asked and before he could think “Yes, after careful consideration I have chosen, my wife, Gauri as my next model.” the words echoed in the empty gallery.
A palpable shock of disappointment was seen on the girl’s face that asked the question, but not more of a shock than the shock Gauri got when she heard his statement.
Gauri smiles at last but at that moment she straightens up, Om’s face open up like clouds, his hand automatically rake through his hair.
Office (Shivaay and Anika)
Shivaay opens the door to his office, and finds Anika standing at attention with papers in one hand and coffee in the other. His office looks perfect.
“You’ve got a conference call in thirty, a staff meeting at nine.” Anika rambled off.
Shivaay Cancel the call, move the meeting to eight,
“Oh and I got Rai to do sign the deal.” Shivaay stated as he picked up some documents.
“Nice job.” Anika replied.
“When I want your praise, I’ll ask for it. Is Sharma here?” Shivaay ranted.
Much to Anika’s surprise, “Was this even the man she married?” Anika thought.
“I’m sure,he is.Do you want him on the phone?” Anika asked a clearly angry looking Shivaay.
“No need, we’re going to his office. Grab your pad.”Shivaay ordered.
Anika calmly backs out of the office… and enters her office. …the moment she saw him turn to look out the window; she ran to her computer and sends an instant message to the office
“The BEAST is here.”
As the message spread through the office, the office came to life as everyone in a cubicle picks up their phone and resumes their imaginary conversations.
The past weeks Anika has built some sort of relationship with the staff and they seem to respect here for her work.
Shivaay comes out to Anika’s desk. He notices a note with a heart on it and a B next to it. He took special notice of the hearts and that “C”.
“That’s cute.Who is this C?” Shivaay inquired
“What?”Anika replied nonchalantly, she saw Shivaay looking at the note and knew what he was talking about.
“Anika, get Sharma’s files” He ordered waiting till she left her office and following after her.
As soon as she turned the corner in his small boardroom; he pinned her against the wall “Do you need little distractions to get you through the day?” he asked as he let his cheek graze hers.
“Uh…” was all Anika mind could throw together as a response.
“Shivaay, we had late night …ok early Morning; I don’t have time for this.” Anika stated.
But Shivaay just got to his knees and slowly pulled up her shirt.
“No…No, Shivaay I’m serious” her lips trembling when she said that, seeing her like that he could not restrain himself any longer.
He started to gently caressed her legs slowly moving up “Shivaay, what are you doing?” she gasped when he seductively squeezed her thigh and biting her inner thigh; while planting kisses every now and then.
Anika felt her heart beat so hard she was afraid it was going to jump out of her chest. Her breath caught in her throat.”Oh Shit!” she hissed, feeling desire pool between her legs, “Shivaay,Please!”
She started to lick her lips nervously, and then she bit her lower lip in fear of moaning out loud, as her excitement was now building up fast.
Shivaay on the other hand groaned softly as she licked her lips. “Well Anika it’s your fault, you had that note on your table and I’m just following orders” he murmured as his lips started kissing their way up her neck.
He grinned wickedly as he nuzzled her neck and he nibbled her earlobe.
She had totally forgotten about her note, “order”. She feared that she was just seconds away from giving in to him and his ruthlessness but she had to admit that it was absolutely heavenly his sudden assault.
The way his lips send shivers through her already sensitive body, almost taking her to ecstasy.
Then as if nothing happened Shivaay starts walking off. “What the f**k” Anika thought but quickly straightened her skirt and buttoned a few pesky one that opened during the attack.
Out of breath she caught up with him in the hallway, “Anika ,I need you to focus, you’ve got notes with hearts on your desk, unkempt hair and a wrinkled skirt .You need to look the part of my PA” he said looking like a blue-eyed beast.
Their eyes met and he gave her a devilish grin and she knew he was just putting up a show, after all he was the reason she looked a mess.
Night time (Oberoi mansion)
Walking towards the bedroom from the pool Gauri heard someone mumble and as she turned from the dark hallway, she saw Om staring at blank canvas in front of him; talking to himself.
He then stood up and walked over to refill his glass; the night sky irradiates the golden brown liquid in his glass.
A dim glow of hot amber is seen illuminated from the window as smoke curled through the air; leaving dense cloud lingering in the proximity of the bedroom window like fog on a humid night.
“You need to speak to her, if you don’t you might go out of your mind.” he groaned there was so much conviction in his voice that there was no denying he meant it.
**