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On impulse, Naina held it against herself in front of the mirror. It would fit perfectly. She smiled at her reflection. Further inspection revealed no note but a velvet case that made her heart thump. She opened it to find an intricately twisted white gold necklace with delicate white stones that would glimmer against her skin.
Zara had already offered to lend her an outfit, although Naina had refused. She should’ve known Zara wouldn’t simply leave it at that.
With the dress and jewelry in hand, she didn’t even have the excuse of not having anything good enough to wear to hobnob with the A-listers.
She’d been prepared to have a fling with the sexiest Bollywood star in history three days ago. She’d even talked about the script ideas she had for the project with Zara just yesterday. After months of grieving for her father and having lost her way for a while, she’d finally found her stride.
She wasn’t going to spend tonight moping in her room. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t good enough for Vikram Raawal.
She was good enough for herself.
He hadn’t thought she would come. He had fiercely hoped though and that had been a distasteful experience. He’d never in his life hoped for someone else’s actions to make his day better.
But then Naina had already changed so many things. Burned so many assumptions he’d lived with down to the ground. The challenge lay in understanding which emotions could be managed or willed away and what needed to be indulged, within the limits he set for himself.
From the moment he had seen her on the flight, laughing with Ajay, he’d known things were changing. Day after day, he’d been telling himself that this lingering...madness, because he still wasn’t sure what to call it, over his innocent, too-good-to-be-true assistant would go away.
It hadn’t. And to continue to lie to oneself was both foolish and dangerous. When he’d seen her late at night alone with Ajay, he’d realized that the time to do nothing had already passed. If he didn’t act quickly, he would fall into a pit of his own making.
If he didn’t take things into his control...his emotions would begin to rule him. His everyday life, from the smallest minutiae to the biggest decisions about family, career, even the house he lived in, would become ruled by his need for her. His entire life would be defined by how he felt rather than what he did, at the mercy of someone else’s fickle emotions and that was unacceptable to him.
Not that he believed for one second that Naina was fickle.
I was only half-alive before that night at the ball...God, the woman had no idea how incredibly addictive her particular brand of honesty was. Of how easily she shackled him with those artless words. She wore her heart in her eyes and Vikram wanted it so badly. He wanted how she looked at him to last forever, he wanted to be the hero she thought he was.
He saw now what an utter disaster it would have been for Zara and him to get married. They’d never been attracted to one another and he could only thank God she’d had the sense to turn him down. It wouldn’t have been the explosive minefield of his own parents’ marriage, to be sure. But there also wouldn’t have been an iota of challenge in it either. Not a single spark of this excitement he felt as he stood there just contemplating what Naina would say next.
Or do next.
He and Zara were too alike. Too controlling. Too used to having their own way to let anything exciting grow between them. Maybe even too flawed for life to be anything but another cycle of that rote existence that had been gnawing at him of late.
All he needed to do now was course correct. A marriage where his heart wasn’t involved but his body was, where he was absolutely certain of his wife’s loyalty and trust...that was the ideal solution for him. Naina was the answer he hadn’t realized he needed. She made all the dissatisfaction, the lingering restlessness of the last year disappear like sunlight cutting through fog.
Admitting it to himself brought an intense relief shuddering through his body.
In just a few short weeks, she’d made him uncomfortably aware of how possessive he could be, of how much he wanted to rearrange her entire life and everyone revolving around her in their comfortable orbits, just so that she could never be hurt again. Of how much he wanted to protect her from the world, and sometimes even from herself. What better way to do it than to look after her for the rest of their lives?
He’d spent three days keeping his distance from her, weighing the odds and ends of the entire thing and finally reached a decision, a decision that would serve both of them well. Once he made up his mind, Vikram never regretted or second-guessed himself. Never looked back.
All that was left was to convince her.
He stayed behind a pillar and watched her as she flitted from group to group on Ajay’s arm, looking like a beautiful butterfly.
The silky yellow dress was perfect for Naina’s petite figure, and the diamonds at her throat only emphasized the sparkle in her eyes. He loved that she was wearing an outfit that he’d particularly chosen for her. It was an underhanded way of getting her to accept it, thinking it was from Zara rather than him, but he’d so wanted to spoil her. Wanted to give her everything she could ever want.
Even here, among so many beautiful people, there was something innately different about her. Something that snared his attention from the moment she walked in and held it. Not that he doubted his attraction to her, or the depth of his need for her.
She was his. Only his.
Naina was more than glad she’d come tonight. She’d thoroughly enjoyed the performances by some of the most noted Bollywood stars and musicians. Had laughed her heart out at one comedy skit that had satirized Vikram amongst other actors and actresses.
Naina had enjoyed drinking champagne that tasted like rainbows, eating delicacy after delicacy dripping in butter, dragging poor Ajay to the dance floor and shaking it up to some fast numbers.
She’d spotted Virat, who’d flown in for the show, and waved at him from a distance, not eager to impose. He’d walked over anyway and hugged her, genuine affection in his eyes. She’d even been a reluctant witness to the awkward tension when Virat and Zara had come face-to-face. Vikram must truly have the emotional range of a spoon if he thought these two simply didn’t like each other. Naina felt as if she’d been standing in a minefield of unspoken words and longing.
Through all the excited gasps and unbelievable star sightings, she was aware of where Vikram was every single moment. Aware of her speeding pulse any time he was nearby.
It was supposed to have been only a fling if he’d agreed, wasn’t it? And yet, she constantly felt as if she’d lost more than that. More than just laughter and the chance for some spectacular sex.
