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Rohan’s phone rang.
“Sorry, Jiya,” Rohan said, lifting his phone. “I need to take this call.”
He left the table and moved a slight distance away. Jiya observed him. Dressed in a navy suit, a black shirt and a black tie, his dark hair swept back over his wide forehead, and with that delicious day-old stubble on his chiseled cheekbones, Rohan Bali was beyond gorgeous. His dark charcoal eyes further added to his dashing appeal.
She’d known his brother since she was a teen, and only recently, she’d learned that Rithwik and he were twins. They both had been adopted by Tara and Varun Bali at different times in their lives. It was some huge family secret that had come crashing out when Rithwik and Aisha had gotten engaged, and no one, not even Raashi and Keya, spoke about it, no matter how much she’d asked them.
Hence, she didn’t know all the details. She’d even tried to search for Rohan on the internet in the past. But there wasn’t much she could find, except for an old article mentioning his parents’ accident and that they’d died in it. The only thing she’d found was information on Rithwik, where it was mentioned that Rohan was older than him by ten minutes and that Rithwik had been adopted by Varun and Tara Bali soon after his birth and had lived in Mumbai with them. Rohan, on the other hand, had been brought up by his birth parents—Varun Bali’s younger brother and his wife, Vaibhav and Diksha—in Delhi. They had died in that accident when Rohan was a teenager, after which he had gone to stay with Varun and Tara. They had adopted him formally only recently. There had been no interviews on Rohan or from him either. He was clearly very private and reclusive.
She observed Rohan. Although Rithwik and he looked similar, their temperaments were as different as night and day. While Rithwik was like a bright sunny day, Rohan had this darkness around him, which cloaked him like a blanket.
She knew all this via her own observations and through her friends, Rhea and Shauna, and from whatever they’d been able to gather through their various conversations with the others in their common circle of family and friends. Rhea and Shauna were her brother-in-law Sameer’s younger twin sisters and her closest friends. Through them, she’d met Rohan for the first time at Rhea’s wedding.
Jiya continued to watch Rohan as he spoke on his cellphone. He was rubbing his lower lip with a finger, moving back and forth as he listened to what the person at the other end was saying. He was so mesmerizing to look at that she couldn’t shift her eyes from him.
Bloody hell. She still couldn’t believe he was standing in front of her. When she’d quit her job and decided to take the next flight out of Scotland, she’d only managed to snag the last seat, a first-class one at that, on a British Airways flight via London. For a moment, she’d contemplated spending so much money, but the need to get home had overridden her sensible thinking, and she’d gone ahead and taken it.
At that time, she’d only wanted to return to Mumbai, to her sister and hug her niece and nephew tight. Just being with her family made all her worries disappear, and the truth was that she was worried now.
Quitting her job had been easy. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, which she still believed was absolutely right. She didn’t question that. However, as time passed, anxiety began to settle in the pit of her stomach. And then, as more time passed, the anxiety became like a big ball that was now bouncing around in her belly.
While she knew a lot of influential people, thanks to her sister and brother-in-law, she didn’t want to take their help to gain employment. She wanted to find a job on her own merit, without Sameer or anyone else pulling strings to ensure she had one. Sitting here and reading an old, much-loved romance novel on her Kindle had been her way of calming herself. And then she’d looked up and found Rohan watching her. The ball in her stomach had then begun to bounce for an entirely different reason—him.
His presence always had that effect on her, like she was standing on the precipice of something, and she only had to take a leap, and she’d find what she’d always been looking for. It was strange and didn’t make any sense, but that was what she felt when she was around him.
Her lips curved. She’d never, even in her wildest dreams, thought that while waiting for her flight home, she’d have a chance encounter with Rohan Bali—the guy she’d had a massive crush on since the second she’d laid eyes on him a few months ago. Prior to that, she and he had never been at the same social occasions together. He hardly ever came for Rithwik’s functions, and she’d travel a lot for her work and missed a few of them too.
Rohan Bali ticked all her boxes of a fairy tale prince.
He was rich…check.
He was gorgeous…double check.
He was broody and silent…triple check—just the kind of man who appealed to her.
He was kind and a good human…quadruple check.
She knew that because she knew how he’d helped Rithwik resolve his issues with Aisha before they got married, and more recently, he’d been instrumental in Rhea and Nirvaan finding their happiness.
He was indeed a perfect romantic hero—a fairy tale prince—even though he didn’t believe in love and romance. Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure that he was even interested in her. Their conversations in the past had been rushed as if he was in a tearing hurry to get away from her. But today, he seemed rather calm and relaxed. Their conversation so far had been quite interesting and very honest. She liked that…a lot.
“Maybe I like you enough to talk easily with you.”
His words from earlier brought a smile to her lips, but they did not allow her to hope that he was indeed as attracted to her as she was to him. So far, he’d not shown in word or deed that he was even remotely interested in her in any way beyond that of her being an acquaintance.
She sighed. She wished she had some more time to chat with him and find out if there could be something more between them. She checked the flight chart on the screen on her left. Unfortunately for her, her flight would be boarding in less than an hour.
Suddenly, Rohan’s eyes locked with hers and stayed. Her breath hitched. His charcoal gaze smoldered, looking more dark grey than black. What if she’d been wrong? What if their attraction was…mutual? What if she’d gotten it all wrong, and he was interested in her in the way a man ought to be interested in a woman? What if she took a chance to see where this attraction led?
Rohan blinked, looking away from her and she finally released the breath she’d held.
Her heart sped. By a random stroke of luck, they were here, together at an airport lounge, away from the peering eyes of all the common people they knew. Especially, Raashi and Keya. Both of them had ordered her to back off from him when she’d hinted about her curiosity for him in the past.
Unfortunately for them, she never took kindly to orders, especially when they didn’t come with a proper explanation. But one thing was for sure, Raashi and Keya didn’t like this man, and the feeling was mutual from Rohan’s side too.
Raashi and Keya were the sweetest women she knew and hardly ever showed hostility towards anyone except for him. On the other hand, Rhea and Nirvaan doted on Rohan. So, she had two opposing views of him from the people who mattered to her the most.
