Murderer & Princess

3. Aryan's birthday.

Happy reading!

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She got dressed for the party and sent Rohan a text saying that she is ready. At around 8 PM Rohan showed up at her place and she went down as soon as she received his text. She informed her mom she was leaving and went to Ayush who was sitting in the hall. She told him she was leaving for a friend's party. He nodded at her and asked her to be safe. She noticed he was also dressed so she asked him where he was headed, he just replied saying a friend's place. She nodded, feeling a little hurt at his behavior, but let it go.

She walked out and saw Rohan standing waiting for her. She apologized instantly and sat in the car. He nodded and smiled. They sat and it was awkward for a couple of minutes, but Rohan couldn't bear it and said, 'Okay, enough of this awkward silence, can we talk? I have been waiting to meet and talk to you. Look, you know in the office everything will be professional, but I wish to be friends with you because I haven't had someone work with me, who is as sorted as you are. You aren't unaware of what has been written about in the news and I know it. The fact that you have shown zero interest in my personal life, and you aren't getting that in the middle of our work speaks a lot of your maturity. I don't have a lot of friends, Kaira. I see a friend in you for some reason, and if you okay with it, could we be friends?' He looked at her with hopeful eyes. 

She turned a little to face him properly and said, 'Rohan, I'll be very honest with you, when I told you that I would like to talk to you fact to face, I didn't know why I said that. I had no idea what would I be even speaking about it. But now, I think I have made my decision. But before I tell you what my decision is, I need you to know that I had a fight with my brother today because he is not pleased with me working with you, and I want to prove it to him that my work life has got nothing to do with your personal life and I also want him to realize that you aren't what news has to say about you.' 

Rohan looked at her in absolute shock but immediately recovered from the shock and said, 'Oh, don't worry, that's going to be very easy for me. Now, back to the topic?' She smiled and said, 'Yes, I would like to build a friendship with you. I am immediately not going to be your friend since I know literally nothing about your life except for your name and vice versa. It would take some time to be good friends, but I guess we have plenty of time for it, right?' He gave a wide smile to her and said, 'Absolutely, we do have that plenty amount of time.'

She sat comfortably and looked outside the window. She looked at him and asked, 'How do you know Aryan? Have you known him for long?' He smiled at her and said, 'Yes, I have known Aryan longer than you think I have. He is my childhood friend. I have just 2 friends, apart from you Kaira. Aryan has been the closest, while the other one, whom I hope I can introduce you to today, is that friend of mine, who looks at me and knows how I am feeling. These two are the most precious people in my life.' She smiled and said, 'I have such a friend too, Jia. She isn't the biggest fan of you, I'll be honest, and the only reason being, she is overly protective of me. I'm sure she'll flip her s**t when she finds out that you are my "friend" now, no offense to you, okay? I have known Jia for maybe as long as you have known Aryan. I think, she's come to a point where she thinks I am her child, and I don't even know why. She's nice when you are close to her, but she's fiery if someone messes with me.' 

He smiled as he could clearly see the love she had for her. She might not have said it, but he figured out that she was equally protective of Jia as she is of her. He wished he could at least have half the respect she has for Jia, from her. He was curious about one thing so he being straight-forwarded asked her, 'Kaira, I have had millions of people working for me, and people around me waiting to know who is Riya. You have the golden platter laid in front of you to ask me anything, and yet you haven't seemed to be interested in it?' She smiled and said, 'That's the thing with friends, Rohan. We don't seem to ask things everyone wants to know. It might not be the right space for me to ask you about it. I'm sure it is a sensitive topic for you. I'll wait for the day I build the trust with you that you'll come to me and talk to me about it. If I ask you today, you might probably even give me the answer, but you might not be absolutely comfortable sharing it with me right away, you might even be dicey that I might go and tell someone. I wanna build that trust with you first.' 

He was so thankful she didn't question him. He always thought that a friend is answerable to every question you ask a friend. It was time he understood that's not how friendship works. They reached their destination and Rohan asked her to wait up for a moment. He went to her side of the door and opened it for her. He offered her his hand to hold, she looked up and smiled while holding his hand. She had worn and black slit gown which looked absolutely stunning on her. While walking inside Rohan told her, 'You look beautiful, Kaira.' She smiled and said, 'Thank you, Rohan. You look absolutely the same, as you do in office.' He just laughed it off. They walked in and as soon as Aryan saw them he came towards them and hugged Rohan. Kaira and Rohan wished him while he thanked both of them with a wide smile. He looked towards Kaira and said, 'Damn, you look absolutely stunning. Why are you here with this boring man?' Rohan gave him a stern look which he royally ignored while Kaira giggled slightly at this and said, 'Well, I'm out here with a friend, attending another friend's birthday.' 

As soon as Aryan heard that, he turned to Rohan and gave him a questioning look, while Rohan gave him a "last warning" look so Aryan just nodded. This went unnoticed by Kaira so they all walked to the hall of the venue. As they did, Kaira went to get herself a glass of wine. The second she went a little far away from them Aryan looked at Rohan in shock and said, 'Are you out of your mind? All your life you choose not to make friends and the day you decide to make one, she turns out to be the sister of Mr. Ayush Vedant? What's wrong with you? You know how protective her father and brother are, of her. Jesus, I run out of words for your stupidity.' Rohan looked at him annoyed and said, 'I know she is Mr. Vedant's sister. I don't choose to make friends on the basis of their sibling or father. If I would, you'd not be my best friend today, and you know it.' 

Aryan nodded and said, 'Of course I know that, Ro. What if this friendship would put you into a tricky position? You're ready to lose a friend if that happens?' Rohan just gave him a sad smile and said, 'At this point, I'm used to losing people, but I have a strong feeling I won't lose any more people in my life, I don't know why, but yeah.' Aryan gave him a comforting smile and said, 'I hope so, Rohan. I have been praying you to get that, for longer than you can imagine.' Before Rohan could say anything he received a harmless punch on his stomach and as soon as he saw the face of the person, he immediately hugged him. The person said, 'Rohan Ahuja is emotional? Whoa, this is some intense scene, what's the gossip?' Rohan looked at him shocked and said, 'Is my life a gossip to you?' He laughed and said, 'No. Your life surely isn't gossip to me, but the person making you this emotional is. I'm sure that person has some major skills, that made you emotional, my brother.' Aryan and he looked at each other with a smirk and Rohan said, 'Well, hold on, I'll introduce you to "that person".' 

Rohan went from there in search of Kaira since it was long she hadn't returned. He saw her coming out of a room near the bar counter. He looked at her a little worried and asked her, 'You okay? Been long since you came back, I thought I'd check up on you.' She smiled and said, 'Thank you, for it. I am fine. Actually, some wine dropped on my dress, so I just went to clean up. All good now.' He asked her if she wanted to go home if a lot of  wine spilled but she refused since it wasn't a lot. He grabbed her hand and said, 'Okay great, now come with me to meet my other best friend. The one, I wanted you to meet. I'm so glad he showed up today.' Kaira smiled because she knew he really loved his friends though he would never agree to it. They reached and Rohan tapped the back of the person who was standing with Aryan since he was facing the other side. As soon as he turned, Kaira lost all the colors of her face. Her eyes instantly filled with tears and before they could fall out, she walked away from there, towards the exit. 

Before she could exit the gate, Rohan grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a garden that was right beside the exit. He asked her concerned, 'Kaira, what happened? Why did you walk off from there with tears in your eyes? What happened?' Before she could say anything, the person walked in and said, 'I know why. Because she is mad at me. Are you that mad at me, Kaira?' Kaira gave him accusing looks and said, 'Am I not allowed to be mad at you, Mr. Ayush Vedant?' Yes, the person is none other than Ayush, Kaira's brother. 'Did you actually fight with me? How could you?! You knew since day 1 that I am working with your friend, and yet, you fought with me? In all these years, you never fought with me? And today suddenly decided to fight with me?' Before she could rant more, Rohan came in between and said, 'Kaira, I was the one who asked him to keep the fact that he and I are best friends, away from you. I wanted to tell you about it. I asked Ayush to hide it from you, I just didn't expect he'd fight with you. I'm sorry, Kaira. This won't happen again, Kaira. Forgive a friend?' Before Kaira could reply Ayush jumped in between and said, 'What did you just say? A what?' Rohan glared at him and said, 'You'd want to rather shut your mouth than have a broken nose. You had one job, Ayush. Damn, I am at a loss of words for your stupidity. We assumed you to be the smartest of us. Stupid fool.' 

He turned to Kaira with hopeful eyes and she said, 'I forgive you, Rohan. It's not your fault. He should have known where to draw the line.' Rohan made her look at him and said, 'Hey, hey. He's still smarter than Aryan and me, Kaira. Forgive him, it's okay. He won't do it again. Plus, he loves you much more than he loves your mom and Tia, you know it, right?' (Tia is the person Ayush likes but hasn't realized it himself) She nodded and smiled at him. He turned to Ayush and said, 'Fix this. I'll be waiting for you two inside, with a smile.' Ayush thanks him with his eyes and Rohan just gave a small smile and walked away. Ayush looked at his reiterating figure and his eyes filled with tears. He was thinking, how a guy, who portrays has no emotions and is said to have no attachment to any relations or understand them, tried to fix things between a pair of siblings, and not out of guilt, but out of love and concern. He didn't have any relationship to cherish, and he knew the pain of it. He made sure his best friends never ruin that for themselves. Kaira noticed his tears and asked, 'Bhai, why are you crying? I forgive you, please don't cry?' Ayush smiled and hugged her saying, 'I don't want such easy forgiveness, kiddo. I went too far today. I am sorry.' She nodded in a no and said, 'It's okay. Genuinely. Why are you crying but?' He pulled out of the hug and said, 'He pretends like he doesn't care about any relationships, to the world, kiddo, while he just fixed one and went away like it was nothing. He values relations more than any of us because he is deprived of them. Aryan and I pray every day, that he gets everything he wishes for. He doesn't deserve the life he got.' 

She looked at him with a proud smile and said, 'It's funny how he's a different person to the world, but so real towards you and Aryan.  I'm sure it wasn't that easy for him to love you this much, Bhai. I'm so glad you put in the efforts for him.' He smiled but remembered Rohan mentioning her as a friend and asked, 'Why did he call you a friend? Rohan never calls anyone a friend. What's going on, doll?' She smiled and said, 'He wanted us to be friends beyond the office, he asked if we could and I said, yes. Who would want to lose out on having a friend.' He smiled and was happy with her decision. As much as people thought Ayush would be overprotective of Kaira and maybe not let her be friends with him, but this was more about Rohan. He deserved friends more than Kaira did, and he couldn't be happier than this, for Kaira being his friend. He knew she'd be the safest with him, after himself and their dad. 

On the other hand, Rohan walked in super annoyed and took a glass of whiskey from Aryan's hand. He questioned him about his annoyance. It was rare that Rohan got annoyed. Rohan just gulped down the whiskey and said, 'Ayush is a f*****g moron. Can you believe he fought with Kaira only because I asked him to keep it a secret from Kaira that he and I are best friends? The "Ayush Vedant" fought with his sister. Since his childhood, he has only been singing songs of his love for her, and like a douche, he fought with her today. What if Kaira doesn't forgive him? He would lose one of the purest relationships, Aryan.' Aryan gave him another glass of whiskey and said, 'You have forgotten the convincing powers Ayush has got. Plus, hasn't he always told that Kaira could never be mad at him, no matter what. They'll fix it, don't worry.' He just mouthed an "I hope so". Before they could continue with their conversation, one of the clients turned up and they got busy talking with him. In a few minutes, Kaira and Ayush walked back into the party and they were smiling. Rohan had one of the most relaxed smiles on his face after the longest. Ayush looked at him and mouthed him a "Thank you". Rohan smiled and mouthed back "anything for you". 

Rohan saw Kaira standing alone, a bit away from them so he walked up to her. She smiled at him as she saw him towards her and said, 'I forgive you, Rohan. Bhai can sometimes be stupid, so of course, I don't blame you. I understand that you considered that as your space to tell me about you and bhai.' He smiled and thanked her. He offered her a glass of whiskey, and she accepted it. He gave her an impressed look so Kaira questioned him with a look and he said, 'Well, didn't expect Ayush to be cool with you drinking especially whiskey. Every time he mentioned you, I could notice the protectiveness he has for you.' She laughed and said, 'Oh, it was a task to get him to just relax and understand I am an adult with the sense of drinking. I don't go out drinking every other day, but it's very occasional and he eventually did settle down, since dad asked him to. Dad understands that we would never misuse the freedom he has given us and knows I don't have friends who'd let me go overboard, so yeah.' He smiled and Kaira could notice a kind of longing in his eyes. She knew it wasn't the time to ask yet but she knew she could at least tell him something comforting so she said, 'Rohan, the longing in your eyes, they'll get fulfilled. Kind of like a gut feeling.' Before he could reply to her Aryan called everyone since he'd be cutting the cake.

They walked towards Aryan and he looked at Kaira with fake tears saying, 'I believe you came here for my birthday, not for Rohan's. Expect you to spend time with me too. He might be your latest friend, don't forget old ones.' She laughed and said, 'Stop being so dramatic, Aryan. Of course, I will spend some time with you. You've been busy with your guests. We'll have a dance after you cut the cake.' He smiled and nodded in a yes. He soon cut the cake and gave it to just close ones. The music started playing after that and Aryan asked Kaira for a dance to which she gladly accepted. They went to the dance floor and started dancing. Aryan asked her, 'Kaira, if I may ask, what did Ayush tell you that made you so upset?' Kaira told him everything she and Ayush spoke and he looked at her shocked and said, 'Are you serious? What's wrong with him? Oh god, I can't believe Ayush would be so over-dramatic. I'm sure Rohan will surely gift him a few punches for speaking to you that way.' She looked at him confused so he told her that Ayush would always tell them about his love for you, and if he could say such things to you, he really did go absolutely overboard. 

They were just talking some random stuff, about work and Ayush, when Rohan came and asked Aryan if he could have a dance with Kaira to which he smiled and went to get himself a drink. Kaira was a bit awkward since she was going to dance with her boss. He read her expression and said, 'Kaira, I'm not your boss here, loosen up.' She smiled and started dancing with him. She told him to let go of what Ayush told her since everything was fine between him and her now. He nodded because he didn't want to make it a big issue since it was all fine between her and Ayush. While they were dancing, Rohan decided to start the conversation so he said, 'You think Ayush will ever ask Tia out?' She laughed and said, 'I am not sure. Considering he doesn't even accept it himself. You were telling me how close you and he are, to each other. If you both are that close, why don't you make him realize?' His smile faded a little but put on a smile again and said, 'I tried once, but due to reasons I couldn't just do it. I was planning on doing it anyway. I don't want Tia to run away and find someone because your stupid brother is shy.' It wasn't like Kaira didn't notice the change in expression, but because he tried to hide it she didn't want to make it awkward.

They were dancing when Ayush came and interrupted them and told them that he's leaving as he is going to meet Tia since he came back today itself. He asked Rohan if he could drop Kaira back home to which he nodded. He hugged Kaira and asked her to reach home and drop him a text while Rohan craved for what they had, but he let go. Ayush hugged Rohan and left from there. Rohan and Kaira also moved to sit at the bar counter. Aryan walked to them and they all ordered shots as Aryan insisted. They had the shot and were sitting when Kaira spoke up and said, 'Guys, I think we should plan and make bhai realize that he is totally into Tia. What say? And what better people to ask than two of his best friends!' Rohan and Aryan looked at each other and nodded. They decided to think of the right plan and not take any impulsive decisions. They finally decided to have dinner, and since a lot of guests had left already, they could sit and eat peacefully. In a way, Rohan was so happy that no one knew Kaira is his PA, otherwise, he knew he'd have eyes on him, with unwanted looks. Kaira would have felt so conscious of herself. He knew that Ayush trusted him when he told Rohan nothing as he got to know that Kaira was hired as the PA of Riya Enterprises. He couldn't let his best friend down. More than his PA, or his friend, Kaira was more of Ayush's sister to him and he knew how much his best friend loved his sister. He wasn't ready to mess things up and lose people from his life.

Kaira, Rohan, and Aryan sat down for dinner with their plates. They were randomly chatting when Aryan asked Kaira, 'So, Kaira, you studied in London? How was your experience there? Was it fun?' She got excited and said, 'Oh my god, Aryan, you have no idea how much fun I had. It was such a new and different environment for me. Definitely college experience was good in India too, but it was so different there. You know, my dad or bhai weren't there to pamper me. It was kind of a new world. Forget dad, you know it was so hard to convince bhai to let me go. He was so scared to let me go. He assumed his little sister couldn't survive on her own, but well, she totally proved him wrong. It was like I had to do everything, it was difficult initially but it eventually became a habit. Plus, I used to do an internship there, in a cafe, since I didn't wanna spend dad's money on all my personal expenses. It was more like, I wanted to get the experience of working hard to earn some money. That time period actually made me feel so blessed for what I have. The fact that I have a family and they're with me to take care of me, made me feel more blessed than a few. I realized, how difficult it is, for someone, to not have a family.' 

Aryan instantly made a blank face as soon as Kaira said that. She was engrossed in talking so she didn't realize how both Rohan and Aryan's faces fell. They covered it up with a small smile and to lighten up the mood for Rohan and himself, Aryan asked her if she had any hookups there. She looked at him shocked and said, 'Are you mad? I went there to study. I surely had a lot of yummy-looking male friends but hookups? None. Plus, if bhai were to even hear this question, he'd have straight up killed you.' Aryan gave her a sad look to which she smiled and said, 'Don't feel sad for me, Aryan. I am happy with the way I am living my life. Plus, bhai is protective of me for the right reasons, so I am totally cool with it. For example, if it wasn't Rohan today, he wouldn't have left me alone. He trusts you both. If he trusts someone, he'll let me be with that person even at 2 in the night.' Rohan smile and asked her, 'You love your brother a lot, don't you?' She had a very child-like smile on her face and said, 'More than love, it is admiration and respect for him. The fact that he is protective but also gives me my space, makes me respect him much more than I already do. I have friends whose brothers are so overprotective that they don't have a space of their own. I wonder how suffocating that is, you know?' Rohan nodded and said, 'Absolutely, it's a blessing to have a sister. It is understood why you are protective but so overprotective that your sister can feel suffocated is crazy.' 

Aryan didn't miss the void in Rohan's voice, and this time Kaira didn't either. She kept her poker face as it is. She knew it might get intense if they continue the topic, so she said she'll get dessert for everyone and went from there. There was complete silence between Rohan and Aryan too. Neither of them knew what they had to speak. Before this awkwardness could continue, Kaira came back with some dessert and she could sense the awkwardness so she was just talking about the college in London. They could understand the effort Kaira was putting, so they let everything go and were just listening to her patiently. They decided to disperse. Rohan told Aryan that he has to drop Kaira back, so he'll leave. Aryan dropped Kaira and Rohan at the gate and bid them goodbye and thanked Kaira for showing up. She hugged him and wished him again before she got into the car. Rohan went to him and before he could say anything, Aryan pulled him into a hug and said, 'We're buddies, Rohan. Nothing or no one can change what is between us. Talk to Kaira, she might just switch up your mood. We'll meet tomorrow and discuss what's been up.' He smiled and hugged him tighter. He warned Rohan to be nice to Kaira and not channelize his emotion in the wrong way and he nodded in affirmation. 

Rohan got back to his car and started driving. There was complete silence in the car so Kaira asked Rohan if she could turn on the radio to which he nodded. She turned on the music and for some reason, she did not want to go home and wanted to spend some time with Rohan and make sure he is feeling okay so she turned to him and asked, 'If you don't mind and if you don't have any other plans, could we go to the beach?' He gave her a questioning look so she just told him she didn't feel like going home yet so he nodded and took the route to the beach. They reached the beach and it was pleasant weather. Kaira kept her footwear in the car and got out of the car. They walked till almost the water and they found a spot to sit down. They sat down with some distance between them. Kaira started the conversation as usual and said, 'Rohan, I know you are not expecting this from me but I noticed you felt a little uncomfortable and sad when I was talking about family. I am sorry, I should have kept certain things in mind. I understand that you feel a little void when someone talks about family, and I have noticed it. I am yet not going to question you anything and I don't expect you to tell me anything. I felt it was necessary for me to tell you this and that's why I got you here. I want you to know that you have friends who are like family. I could see it that bhai and Aryan consider you as their family, and now me too. I am choosy with friends, and the few friends that I have, they're like family to me. You want the warmth of a family anytime, Aryan and bhai will always be there, and the day you are comfortable with considering me as a family too, I'll be there. Lift up your mood and be happy you have such friends. I am not saying this because you are my brother's friend, but because he is your friend.' 

He was shocked by everything she said and had no idea what he had to say because he was not at all expecting this. He looked at her and she just gave him a comforting smile so he just said a thank you in response. He felt a different emotion after what Kaira told him. Maybe now he understood why Ayush finds her so intellectual and smart for her age. It was more of her experience.

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Hey guys!

I hope you had fun reading this and liked it. It would be a great help if you could drop in any suggestions or any comments below in the comment section.

Long time, I know. The next update will be soon, I guess.

Love,

Janvi Jain