RECAP: Ano went to a bar to hang out with her friends after work and ended up meeting Sunny. His disrespectful insistence annoyed Ano to the point she dumped liquid on him. Then she left the place right away.

17. Snowy Night
Something felt right. Right in my heart.

"C'mon! Take me home!"

I screamed at my car for the fiftieth time. It was the most useless piece of trash produced by mankind and it had to fall in my hands. In addition, I had given my driver off today for some stupid reason, and now, I was stuck in the middle of a snowstorm.

It was all Roshan's fault for taking me out! I would've been home by now had I gone with my original plan.

I had underestimated the amount of snow we were getting. This particular car of mine wasn't suited for this weather. I ended up on the side of the road dying of hypothermia (not really) as I attempted to call my mother's secretary. He usually arranged solutions to my problems.

Too bad there was no reception in this weather. When the phone did work, no one picked up. Eventually, the battery died.

I abandoned the car and trudged through the snow. There were a few cars coming down slowly on the opposite side of the road. I waved for help until one car stopped.

The driver offered me a ride home but I told him my work address not home address. People here knew about Aashiyana and I didn't want this guy to know I was rich.

I could be kidnapped.

Unfortunately, he was one of the decent folks here and dropped me off safely.

I thanked him numerous times.

I ended up back on the sets, dusting off snow on my Moncler Grenoble fur trim puffer jacket. As I went to the lobby, I was taken aback by a familiar figure, staring at an abstract painting on the wall.

"What are you doing here?" I asked bewildered. Shouldn't he be home?

Ashar stood in a plain black jacket paired with black jeans and thick snow boots, his hands shoved in his pockets.

At the sound of my voice, he met my eyes. "Finally," he said relieved. I returned it with a questioning look. "You mom's secretary got your missed calls and the voicemail that your car wasn't working. He tried to reach you but your phone's dead, I guess." I nodded. "When he told me, I offered to come pick you up from work but this place is as stranded as a desert."

Never had I thought I'd be delighted to see Ashar out of all the people.

"Let's go home!" I said smiling.

"No can do. The governor declared a state of emergency." He shrugged. I stared into his serious brown eyes which remained truthful. Before I could protest I didn't care, he continued, "I'm not dying, and I can't let you die either. I don't wanna be widowed so young."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "You'd rather be a divorcée?" I couldn't help but ask.

"It's a trend nowadays," he said. I plopped down on an uncomfortable chair. He took the one across from me as if we were waiting in a doctor's office. "My parents got divorced when I was young, so I'll be following in their footsteps."

That was a valuable piece of information I suppose. I didn't know much about his past yet. My people were still working on that.

"They didn't love each other?" I asked hesitantly.

He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back. "Apparently, if you can fall in love, you can also fall out of it. It's quite terrifying." He said it so casually that I believed he didn't care much for his parents' separation.

But I was wrong.

"You must've been hurt," I stated.

"Believe it or not us serfs have thick skin and a high pain tolerance." He joked.

"And empty wallets," I added.

"Not all of us are born with a silver spoon in our mouths," he retorted not unkindly.

"Not my fault my daddy worked hard to become a billionaire." I shrugged proudly. He didn't bother fighting over the subject and I didn't have the energy to. I checked the analog clock on the wall. "How long are we staying here?" I inquired hugging my coat tightly. The heat was barely on in here to save electricity.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I told you the blizzard caused a state of emergency. We'll get fined heavily we go out on the roads now."

"I'll pay the damage," I said immediately.

"You wanna get points taken off your license so you can get it suspended? Be my guest." He had a way with words which made me look stupid.

"I can't believe I married you," I muttered.

"Oh please, you don't know how lucky you are," he said shaking his head as if I was missing out on something. "I was an irresistible bachelor prior to your mother's marriage charade. Girls fought over me."

"Fought over what?" I asked curiously. "You have no redeeming qualities whatsoever."

"Please." He leaned forward slightly as if sharing a secret. "I used to work at a gym. You could probably tell from my body." He flexed his biceps slightly and resumed, "An obese teenage girl joined the gym, and I was her personal trainer. Mind you, she was double my weight. Nevertheless, I took the challenge to help her lose a hundred pounds."

"Did she?"

"She actually came down to a hundred and twenty pounds, beginning at three hundred."

"Great story," I said unimpressed by him. Losing weight was a struggle and a completely mental thing. "I'm sure she asked you to marry her afterwards."

"No, she asked me out and I rejected her," he said looking remorseful.

"Because she was fat?" I asked feigning a horrified look. "Wow Ash, I expected you to be a little less harsh."

"Ash?"

"You call me Ano."

"Fair enough." He let it go and continued his depressing saga of rejecting a girl. "Anyways, I didn't say no because she had been obese but because she was so beautiful. I needed her to realize her independence and built more self confidence and self love." He acted like he was so selfless. I had to stare him down to tell me the truth. "Also, her dad was in the secret service and I didn't want him to shoot me."

"I'm surprised the daughter of a secret service agent didn't shoot you herself," I said. His tale could be used in a future movie plot of mine though.

"Actually," he started reluctantly, "she dropped a fifty pound dumbbell on my foot. So . . . "

I took a minute to absorb the information before erupting in laughter.

"Hey, love hurts," he said smiling too.

"S-she dropped a-a dumb-bell on y-your foot." I was dying of laughter at his sour expression.

"It's really not that funny," he said gravely. "I'm still paying the medical bills for the foot surgery."

"You should've married her," I said trying hard to stop laughing. "That's the perfect start for a love story."

"It was." He agreed, his eyes pointedly looking at the ground. Something had changed in his expression as if the story that followed the dumbbell incident was less humorous. As I waited for him to offer more information on the subject, he completely dismissed it.

I legitimately saw a fleeting expression of sadness upon the mention of the story.

I too stopped laughing realizing how long it had been since I had actually laughed like this.

Something felt right.

Right in my heart.

Maybe Ashar wasn't as awful of a person as I assumed him to be.

Silence soon filled the empty lobby of the studio. Ashar pulled out his phone to notify his sisters of the situation. He urged them to finish their homework before we got home.

After he hung up, I turned to him.

"Don't you get tired of acting like their mom all the time?" I asked curiously.

"Don't you get tired of acting condescending all the time?" he asked annoyed.

I didn't realize that was how the question came across. When I remained speechless, he seemed to have realized I actually didn't mean to sound like a jerk. Sometimes I just came across that way. Not my problem.

"I'm doing the best I can," he said quietly. "If I don't help them build good habits now they'll never learn. One can never be too tired of acting like a parent to people he loves."

I absorbed his words and concluded, "You're going to be a good dad."

He seemed surprised by my response. "Look, we only agreed on the fake marriage. I understand we are alone right now and you think this is your chance. But I'm not having kids—"

I grabbed a magazine nearby and threw it at him. "Disgusting!"

"Don't blame me," he said innocently. "First, you obsess over my eyes. Second, you say I'm gonna make a good father. Don't know what survival and mating instincts are going through your head . . . "

He literally pulled his collars together as if hiding his innocence or virtue. As if I was about to pounce on him.

"Ridiculous," I mumbled. "You can't even take a compliment. Serf. All men are the same. First Sunny, now you."

His eyebrows went up.

"Sunny?"

I sighed. "Don't ask."

"Was he here?" Ashar asked calmly but I could tell he wasn't thrilled to hear his enemy's name.

"No and never mind him. I handled it well," I told him proudly. "He won't come near me ever again."

"What did he do, Anmol?" he insisted.

"What's your equation with him?" I asked leaning forward.

Before Ashar could respond, which was unlikely, all the lights turned off. I moved my hands around to see if it was the sensors but nothing happened.

"Must be because of the snowstorm," Ashar said quietly. "Is there place in here where it might be warm? We don't know how long we are going to be here."

"Let's go home before we die of hypothermia," I suggested.

"Ano, have you seen the snow outside?" he inquired. "Have you seen my car? The car's radiator might blow up in this weather. We'll definitely die of hypothermia in the middle of nowhere in this weather."

"Don't tell me you came to pick me up in your junk car."

He was silent in the darkness.

I was about to make a snide remark but resisted as it was me who ruined his car on my birthday. I didn't realize the car was coming to my doorstep in the future. What a turn of events.

I prayed to God this snowy night would be short lived so I can go home.

Spending time with Ashar hadn't been so awful so far though I had to admit.

I huffed. "The only option is to go to the costume room where the clothes can give us warmth."

"Lead the way, my lady."

He turned his phone's flashlight on and followed behind me like a shadow in a horror movie.

• • •

A/N

Haal kya hai dilon ka?
What's up?

I thought maybe I should update.

Whatya think?

K-K-Kiran