-The Coffee-

"Welcome to Kapoor Residence, Ms. Shah." I mentally slapped myself for coming with him. I looked at him and he was already staring at me with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Why are we here?" I asked, trying to ignore his malicious gaze. I asked despite knowing, hoping ignorance will somehow change the fate.

He ignored me instead and drove further through the gate that opened, this place was huge..Most of the houses were modern but this mansion looked like some modern Indian Palace. It was a perfect combination of traditional Indian and modern American architecture, with a blend of Spanish architecture probably to honour his mother's half Spanish decency.

"Why are we here?" I asked again as he parked the car in front of the mansion's entrance. From close, it looked more elegant and bigger.

He got out of the car and in a blink opened my door.

"Don't fake chivalry, answer my question." I frowned while he practically dragged me out of the car.

"You just can't keep quiet, can you?" He asked with irritation clearly audible in his voice.

"No. I deserve to know why we are here." I tried sounding confident but probably failed.

"Just follow me and keep quiet." He commanded in his authoritative voice which made me want to smack him but instead, I decided to do as told, it was his territory after all.

I followed him inside and oh gosh was it beautiful! This place is a real palace. And I could very easily spot the king and queen of this palace, Mr. & Mrs. Kapoor.

Someone just tell me this is the part where you start hallucinating because of the hangover you had an hour ago!

They looked engrossed in something and I took the chance to turn around and run away but Vivaan held my arm in a tight grip.

"You are not running away this time." He hissed at me, all I could do was to look at him with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy? You said we are going for a coffee! This by no means--" I was in the middle of my sentence when I was interrupted by a very high pitched girly voice.

"VIVAAN!" The loudness of the voice gave me a headache again, and when I saw the source of this over-excited voice, I could make out Vivaan cursing under his breath.

This girl looked like she walked straight out of the runway, a true blue-eyed beauty. Her dress was bright yellow and for a second blinded me with its brightness. She was beautiful if that does justice to her. Her hair was in a messy bun and her make-up was perfectly applied.

Great! I met a model while I look like a half beaten zombie. 

Life, why you so unfair?

I looked at Mr. & Mrs. Kapoor whose eye was now trained on me. Vivaan held my hand and walked towards his parents and the unknown model-like girl. He greeted his parents and I just stood there rooted to the ground not being able to comprehend what was happening around me.

Suddenly Mrs. Kapoor hugged me and greeted me, I was just too stunned to say or do anything. A hug was the last thing I was expecting from her!
Instead of doing anything, I just kept on staring at Vivaan who in turn was being stared by that girl.

"We are so happy you came by, Ruchi." Mrs. Kapoor said cheerfully as she broke the hug.

"It is a great surprise for us that you accepted the invitation." Mr Kapoor's voice was emotionless, if he was angry with me for running away he didn't show it.

"For me too," I mumbled. Vivaan glared at me, or well I glared at him.

"Let's move this to the garden." I now know from who Vivaan inherited that thunderous commanding tone, his father. 

~~***~~

We proceed to the garden and I was still curious about this girl who was clinging onto Vivaan like a leach probably whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

Why do you even care about this girl being so close to him?

 I mentally shook my head and directed all my attention towards the beautiful garden full of flowers. Roses, tulips you name it and they have it. I wanted to pluck one of the roses but I refrained myself from doing so.

I stopped in my tracks when I felt a hand around my waist, I tried to jerk it off but couldn't. I glared at the disrespectful man beside me and he looked back at me with a glare that clearly said Dare-To-Question-Me-And-You-Are-Dead-Meat.

"What the hell you think you are doing?" I hissed, making sure to keep my voice as low as possible.

"Enjoying the view of my garden with my fiance." The way he said 'my fiance' resulted in a very uncomfortable sensation all over my body. I was thoroughly disgusted.

"For the last time, I am not your fiance. Engrave this fact in your brain." I hissed and he just smirked.

The mood of enjoying the beauty of the garden was now gone. We settled onto a round table, I was sitting opposite to the girl who for some reason was glaring at me. I was sitting between Vivaan and his father. There was a distance of one chair between Vivaan and that girl, which I am sure was a deliberate mistake.

Soon we were served with coffee and other refreshments, it was delicious but the tensed atmosphere didn't let me enjoy anything.

"Ruchi, just in case if you're wondering, this is Stella McCartney" Mrs. Kapoor said as I nodded at Stella and she faked a small smile.

McCartney..McCartney...and then it hit me McCartney Enterprises, a billion-dollar business, when did I start having coffee with these billion-dollar people?

"She is the heiress to McCartney Enterprises." Mrs. Kapoor continued and I just nodded. There was a smug smile on Stella's face and her expressions clearly asked me to see the difference between us.

Soon there was an uncomfortable silence until Mr. Kapoor decided to break it.

"Ruchi, today we just didn't invite you here merely for a coffee." I eyed him warily as he continued, "You see, your act of running away was a big blow for us and your parents." He stopped and stared at me with a poker face. 

These Kapoor men know how to rock a poker face without a doubt. I wonder if it actually benefits them while playing poker.

"We were enraged for sure, but we also understood your dilemma. We all were worried sick about you. Your mother and father went through a lot. Your act had a very fatal effect on your mother's health. Your parents and us, we were very distraught. " He sighed, and a long silence ensued. I stared at him, my mind was running riots.

Was I surprised by all this? To be honest, No. I knew my parents would be left shattered by my act but I tried to keep it at the back of my mind. Listening all this from Mr.Kapoor only made it a hundred times worse. 

This was the moment which I feared, this was the moment that I wished would never come. I wished for it to never come but here it was, threatening to blow me away. I could feel tears threatening to spill, I was afraid to blink. I could feel all the guilt and regret that I tried keeping away from me all these three months coming to hit me all at once. I felt Vivaan's sympathetic gaze on me.

HE! He was the reason for all this. I was angry at him but still, his gaze was comforting. It was not him, but just the thought of someone being there which comforted me. Mr. Kapoor sighed again one more time and then continued.

"But, we all have decided to forgive you. You are young and when one is young, decisions are taken on impulse. We forgive you for your impulsive actions and hence you have one more chance to prove that you are worthy of our forgiveness. We are not asking you to marry him again. But we are asking you to maintain a friendship here. I want you both to maintain a friendship like your parents and we did. Marriage is now no more an issue." He finished and I could not believe it, neither could Vivaan who I am sure gasped at this announcement. 

I looked at Vivaan and he was expressionless, there was no delight but no sorrow either. We both didn't look at each other for the rest of the time.

I wanted to cry but I drank my tears back along with the coffee. I wanted to say something, anything but words escaped me and I decided, maybe it is for the best. 

There was a sad expression on Mrs. Kapoor's face and a moderately happy one on Stella's. I have to be blind in order to not see how pleased she was with Mr. Kapoor's announcement. Soon enough, afterwards, there were talks of business to which I didn't pay any mind.

After the coffee, we moved back to the living area, where Mrs. Kapoor, Stella and I were seated whereas the Kapoor men were nowhere in sight.

"I am sorry for all this, Ruchi." Mrs. Kapoor gave me a small smile.

"There is no reason for you to say sorry, Mrs. Kapoor. I should be the one apologizing." I said, genuinely feeling sorry. I am aware of how much trouble I've caused, feeling sorry was the least I could do.

"Please call me Karina, And I should apologi...." She was saying something when her phone rang, she looked at the caller I.D and excused herself.

Suddenly Stella stood up and glared at me, instinctively I stood up too.

"You are not at all worthy of Vivaan." Her voice was so contemptuous, it surprised me.

"I never said I am," I replied calmly but she was nowhere near calm.

"You really thought you will steal Vivaan away from me, didn't you? Let me tell you, you do not have a chance with him in a thousand years! Just look at yourself. You are just a low-lying human not even worthy of the dirt on the ground of this place." Her words enraged me to no end. Nobody was so rude to me before.

However, somewhere, her words had an underlying current of uncertainty. Her tone suggested hate but something about her was so unusual, I decided I didn't want to waste time arguing.

"I am sure you are very much worthy of Vivaan Kapoor, Stella. After all, only you would appreciate a man-whore like him. You can keep him all to yourself. If I wanted to steal him, I wouldn't have risked running away. And I am sure, I am much more worthy than dirt or else why do you think Mr. Kapoor would invite me here." I calmly responded.

"How dare you talk about Vivaan like that? You don't know what a gem of a person he is. Although I should thank you for running away, freeing him from constrains of this arranged marriage. But I am sure if it weren't for his parents he would've never looked at a girl like you." She finished.

 I stopped myself from giving any sarcastic replies. She definitely is one of those zero IQ heiresses whose brain are in their knees.

I was in the middle of rolling my eyes when Karina came back and engaged us in a conversation regarding the latest book on Health and Fitness. And to my surprise, Stella is not dumb as I presumed her to be. Pretty knowledgeable, if you ask me, and not at all ignorant.

However, being a foodie, their conversations only bored me and made me crave some pizza. I wanted a break away from this conversation about Liquid Diet and its effects, so I excused myself and went onto my way to find a restroom in this big mansion.

~~***~~

I was on my discovering-the-restroom spree when I heard some recognizable voices arguing. I don't eavesdrop normally, but my curiosity got better of me and I walked towards the source of the loud voices. They were coming from somewhere at the end of the hallway.

"I don't care what you think!" I could make out words from behind the closed door.

"Stella was not supposed to be here. I know you are just doing this to irritate me!" Vivaan screamed and there was some shattering of glass from what I could make out. Ouch!

"What do you want, eh son? I freed you from the marriage arrangement, and you're still throwing tantrums and vases?" His father's voice was much calmer.

"Try this in front of others who don't know you. I am not going to be a pawn in this game of yours!" Vivaan yelled loudly and there was some more muffled conversation which I couldn't make out...can't they both be a bit loud so I could listen?

I realized that I should probably just go on my way to find a restroom before someone catches me eavesdropping and thinks of me as some freak.

I walked a few steps when I heard the door behind me closing with a bang, I turned around and there was a red-faced Vivaan Kapoor, who looked reasonably enraged and well, I was reasonably scared too because of that. He walked towards me and I took a step back. This continued till I couldn't move back and there was another door behind me.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was dangerously low, as he put his arms on the door around me to stop me from escaping.

"I..I was finding the restroom." I gulped, my palms were sweating. He looked so angry.

"Tell me the truth." His eyes were dark brown, almost black with the fury of a storm in them.

"I am telling you the truth. I lost my way and ended up here." I told him what was partially the truth.

"What did you listen?" His voice was so intimidating, I was afraid that I would just pee my pants.

"No-Nothing!" I said, he looked at me for a long minute in which my heart stopped working 10 times.

Suddenly he pulled me beside him by my waist and started dragging me, I could feel heat his body was emitting probably because of anger. He was fuming and I hate to say this, but I felt extremely comfortable because of the warmth.

This was very wrong but can you blame a cold girl for feeling comfortable in warmth? Even if that warmth is technically hot anger of a man you hate? I mean I wasn't the reason for the anger, there was no reason for me to not benefit from its heat.

He kept on dragging me and I was angry now.

"Why do you think you can just drag me wherever and whenever you want?" I asked thoroughly irritated with his commanding-self.

We stopped in front of a door and Vivaan opened it for me. He dragged me further into what looked like a guest-room, from how inhabited and cleaned it looked. He released me from his grip in front of another door and opened it for me.

"This is the restroom. I want you out in 3 minutes." I huffed as I entered and locked the door. What the hell is wrong with this man? Who he thinks he is?

I did my business and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess yet somewhat presentable, my kohl was slightly smeared and I looked terrible on the whole. Stella was somehow correct, I am not worthy of a place like this..at least not right now in this condition.

I opened the door and there was a tap on my forehead.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed in pain and glared at Vivaan who looked at me amusingly.

"I was just knocking to let you know 3 minutes are over but seems like you do have a sense of time, unlike I assumed." He said and I just stabbed him in my mind.

"You are the biggest idiot I've ever seen in my whole life!" I half yelled angrily and made my towards the living area with him behind me still having that amused look on his face.

Stella glared up at me but I ignored her. Mr. Kapoor was also sitting there now, besides Karina and I decided it was time to leave.

"Thanks a lot for the coffee and the talk, Mr. Kapoor and Karina. Now I think I should take my leave." I said as we exchanged goodbyes and I briefly thanked them for forgiving me.

"I will drop you home," Vivaan said and after 5 minutes we were on the road.

~~**~~

"I hope you know that you have to talk to your parents now." He said breaking the silence. I was in no mood to talk about it now.

"And I hope you know that I hate you," I replied and looked outside the window ready to ignore whatever he has to say. To my surprise, he kept quiet. Well, it was for his own good, the way he tricked me today, I can't promise to not kill him at the first chance I get.

Soon, he stopped outside my building and then it hit me.

"How do you even know my address? I never told you!" I said.

"Wow, you really are a tube light." He said and then just looked away, rolling his eyes.

After glaring and waiting for him to say something, I opened the door and slammed it shut loudly. I hope it got a dent! I walked into the building without a glance backwards.

I repeated every moment of today in my head and decided to call my parents..well not now, I will eventually but certainly not right now.

I didn't have enough courage yet. I can't handle to listen to same words from them that I did from Mr. Kapoor's. My mother's health concerned me, but I can't bear to listen that I was the reason behind it.

I can't bear to listen to my father's disappointed voice right now. I just can't bear to even think about anything.

I decided to let sleep take over me as I think of the ways to talk to my parents and stop my tears.

____________________________________________________________

I wrote a longer chapter I guess, any views? give them to me via comments :D

And do vote for this story! If you can please go back and vote for each chapter if you think this story deserve it.

I am planning to make a storm out of Ruchi and Vivaan's life. What do you think?

And what do you think of Stella?

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Thanks!