FF: Tales of the Heart|VirMan|CH 1 - 23 (Thread 1) - Page 39

 "Virenji." Jeevika changed her earrings to more exquisite ones, she rubbed her ear lobes and poked the end into the hole and fixed it in with the grip. She then wore the other silver earrings on her other ear.

 "Yes Jeevika?" Viren walked towards her, seeing her struggle with fixing the back of the necklace. He brushed her hair back softly, the tips of his fingers leaving soothing traces on her skin. He held the two ends of the necklace and turned the hook so that it remained in place. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that it was perfect. She turned around to see her husband staring lovingly at her. She blushed slightly. She looked into his eyes. He placed his arms over her shoulder and pulled her in. She stood motionless as he slowly kissed the top of her forehead. He tilted her head up and leaned towards her lips before she pulled away.

"Can you believe that today is Virat's roka?" She said smiling, teasing her husband a little.

He sighed, and moved towards her. "Here I am trying to romance my darling wife and she's talking about my brother? This is not fair." She giggled as his lips indented into a smile. "I'm owed a kiss, don't you think?" Jeevika blushed as Viren came close to her, his cheeks touched hers until he moved slightly to touch her lips. He pulled back and looked into her warm eyes. "Much better." He grinned.

Jeevika smiled and placed her arms around his shoulders, mimicking what he did before. "Accha, so you got what you wanted. Next time I won't be that lenient."

"Oh really?" He pulled in again. Jeevika laughed and pushed him away. She blushed, the red showing on her cheeks.

"Okay," She breathed, regaining herself from the laughter. "Where is Virat anyway? I didn't see him before."

"Hai, again my brother? And he's probably around somewhere; I was talking to him before."

"So what, Virenji. After all, he is my pyaar devar right?"

"Oh really? And me? What am I to you?"

She blushed again, and hugged his chest. "My pyaar pati." She gushed. Viren brushed her back, closing his eyes.

"And you're my darling wife." Jeevika pulled back and looked up into his eyes. She loved him for everything that he showed, not everything that he had. She wanted nothing more than to be in his arms and forget about the world.

Virat twiddled his fingers, hesitating thinking about the evening ahead. He looked at his bed, where his white sherwani laid. He gulped, knowing that in a few hours, he'll be betrothed to Maanvi. For the rest of the world, they would be one. He walked up and down the room, wondering what to do – he really needed to talk to her but wasn't able to just go out unnoticed, and not especially right now. He thought for a bit, before opening his wardrobe and picking out a dark coat. He instantly wore it, before getting out a hat and a scarf. He looked out of his door, making sure that no one was around, a failing attempt seeing as the Palace was always swarming with servants. Thankfully, there was no one there. Virat stood back into the room and closed the door. He wore his hat on his head, covering his ears before opening the windows. He placed one leg out and then the other, using the pipe on the right to ease his way down. It was his childhood trait, whenever he felt as if he wanted to escape, he would jump out of his window and just run. Except this time, it was to find Maanvi.

"Rajkumar Virat!" A voice called out. Virat hissed and turned around slowly to see one of the guards looking peculiarly at him. "Sir, where are you going? Aaj aapki roka hai." He hesitating, clearly not feeling comfortable in questioning a Prince.

"I'll just be back, okay?" The guard nodded and Virat turned back to walk away. He stopped before turning back. "Listen, don't tell bhai or anyone that I'm gone, well not until they ask okay?"

"Tik hai, sir. Jaise aapi marzi."

"Thanks." Virat walked into the car park, where a number of cars were stored. He found his – a black Alfa Romeo – and jumped in. Quickly placing the key into the lock, he ignited the engine and pushed onto the pedal. He placed the scarf around his face, covering his lips and partly his nose. It was broad daylight, and Virat didn't want anyone to see him. He glanced at his watch, there was four hours left before the roka. He had to meet Maanvi before then.

Virat contemplated about what to do. To reach Maanvi's house in Oceanah meant that it would half an hour that meant he had about an hour and a half before he had to go back to the Palace to get ready.  "What to do? I don't have much time on my hands and I have to talk to her, at least before the roka." He looked over and fixated his eyes on the road, driving as quickly as possible but making sure he didn't go over the speed point. The tall buildings and the white furnished Palace grew smaller, fading into the distance. As Virat drove on, he noticed the trees becoming greener, and the soft sound of the birds singing in the background was heard. There was a slight wind hissing and whooshing as the car bumped against the atmosphere. As the car drove onto the brink of the district, the sun transitioned into the sunset: it's warming red, yellow and orange melted into one. Over in the distant, the horizon met the sea, the radiating beach was the highlight of Oceanah.

"Welcome to Oceanah." Virat drove past the sign, smiling as he glanced at the time. He was early.

The streets at this time were unusually quiet. Except for a few people, the area was completely desolate. Virat drove along the bumpy roads and jerked left into the corner. He drove the car onto the main road when the engine suddenly started to gurgle. The noise surprised him as he glanced at the fuel tank and noticed that it was still half full, he wondered what was wrong with it. The car suddenly stopped as the engine quietly died down.

He looked at his phone, intending to call for a mechanic but it was out of charge. "Oh shoot!" He cursed and opened the door. He got out, and looked around for help. "Now what to do?" He thought. His frustration emerged into relief as he saw a car emerge from the highway. He waved his arms as to stop the car.

"Can I help you?" The windows rolled down and the driver – a young woman with bright red lipstick smiled. She looked at him, eyeing him up and down. She tried to see his face but the hat and scarf prevented her to.

"My car has broken down and my phone's out of charge." He said worriedly.

The woman opened the door and got out. Her long legs were showing skin in the tight white mini dress. She brushed her hair back and flicked it, as if a way to be seductive. "Who is he?" She thought curiously. "Seems…like a mysterious sort of guy."

"I'm Sam." She greeted, holding out her hand for him to shake.

Virat hesitated before shaking her hands back; the warmth of his hand enticed her as she clenched onto it harder. He looked at her smiling almost pretentiously at him. He gave an uneasy smile before managing to wriggle out of her grip. "I'm…" He stopped, not wanting to give out his identity. "I'm…" He struggled to think of a name. "Ajay!" He said, nodding his head as a way to assure himself.

"Well, Ajay." She hissed his name, pouting her lips. "Nice to meet you. So, your car is broken right?" He nodded. "I'll call a mechanic for you. Okay? Just for you." He agreed and moved out slightly, affected by the lack of personal space. As he did, he caught a whiff of her cheap perfume. The smell, or stench rather was intoxicating in a bad way. She was almost the same height of him, thanks with the help of the stiletto heels. He found himself glancing at her hair; it was brown with blonde streaks, completely fake altogether. He looked away as she saw him looking at her and they eye locked. She smirked before talking on the phone. She said 'goodbye' and ended the call.

"The mechanic will be here."

"Thanks." He said as he twiddled his thumb waiting in the awkward silence. He wondered what Maanvi must be doing, whether or not she was enthusiastic about this.

"Ajay?" Sam called out. Virat who was in deep thoughts, failed to hear the calling voice. "Ajay?" She called out again. Virat was pulled back into reality as he noticed Sam, who was a few feet away was now close to him. So close, that he could see her bleached white teeth.

"Hm?" He asked, stepping back a bit.

"Nothing I was just wondering…when do you want to go?" She bit her lips, and licked it.

He wondered what she was talking about but before he could reply, he was distracted by the headlights of a car entering the scene. A man came out, the mechanic and picked out his tools before asking Virat about the car. The mechanic looked into the engine, and about ten minutes went past before the car started working again. Virat breathed a sigh of relief as he thanked the man and gave him some money. As the man left, Virat faced Sam and thanked her for her help.

"Thank you so much, I don't know how I can repay you." He said honestly, he was glad that know he was able to meet Maanvi. He put his hands into his pockets and pulled out some notes and offered it to her.

Sam laughed softly. He frowned, why was she laughing? He noticed how her laughter was nothing like Maanvi's, in fact it sounded almost evil and cruel. She shook her head, "You're so funny Ajay." Her voice suddenly turned deeper as she gored into his eyes. "I don't accept money just like that."

"Meaning?"

She tiptoed (well pretended to anyway as she was tall already) into his ear and whispered slowly, emphasising each and every word. "Come let's go to a hotel."

He took a step back, shocked at her words. At once, everything started to make sense. The clothes, the cheap demeanour, and her strange behaviour.  Virat hissed wanting to get away quickly. He felt sick to the stomach, he disliked women like this, cheating women. He gulped, trying to swallow the vomit that was on the edge of his throat and started to get back to his car.

"What happened Ajay?" She asked. "I thought you wanted this? I mean seriously, the broken car, the phone? Please."

He shook his head. "I can't do this."

She smirked and opened her purse to get out a piece of paper and pen. She wrote something and handed it to him, "Bye, Ajay." She blew him a kiss and walked off into her car and drove off. Virat hesitated, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't get right of the image in his mind: they had seemed so similar. Sam and her. Without thinking, he pushed the paper into his pockets and ran into his car. He quickly started the engine and drove, anywhere but out of here. He swallowed his saliva to moisturise his dry mouth. He felt sick. He didn't want to think of her, not today, not ever. Not after what she did. Virat looked into the car to find his packet of cigarettes but couldn't find any. He drove faster, reaching a small supermarket. He jumped out, fixed his disguise and walked into the shop, his body became weaker as he didn't get something to inhale.

He walked swiftly passed people, the elderly man looking at the fruits, the woman looking at the pots and pans and a young man, about his age talking on the phone. Virat shivered, not just from the anxiety but the fever that he had suffered the day before. He sniffed, as a cold sting went through his body. He walked over to the counter and asked the server for a pack of cigarettes. He watched from the corner of his eyes as the young man was behind him in the queue, holding a basket and a box of strawberries in his hands. The server gave Virat the cigarette and his change, and he quickly leapt out – his hands starting to shake.

Virat walked quickly trying to remember where he had parked his car. He pushed the change into his pockets, and accidently dropped the paper that Sam had given him. He groaned and walked even faster remembering where the car was parked.

"Excuse me!" Virat heard a voice calling out. He stopped, wondering who it was. Virat turned around to see that same young man looking at him curiously.

"Er, yes?" He stuttered before sneezing. The sneeze had managed to make his scarf looser. He sniffed as he started to shiver again.

"This fell out of your pocket." The man showed Virat the piece of paper with Sam's number on it. Virat shook his head at once.

"No thanks." He said with a slight hint of disgust. "You can have it."

"Huh?" The man asked, completely confused.

Virat shook his shoulders, before taking no notice of the man and started to turn away to walk off. However, his luck was cut short and he slipped on the crack of pavement and fell flat onto the ground. The man at once helped him up as Virat's disguise became undone. He got up with the help of the man and shook the dirt off his clothes. As he groaned and rubbed his head, from the pain of the fall, the hat came off revealing Virat for what he truly way: Prince Virat Singh Vadhera.

The man stared at him shocked, "You?!"