Arayna Oberoi

Facing the canvas, twirling the pencil in my hand and staring blankly out the window, its been a while since I've had to take a pause, collect my thoughts and maintain my demeanor. I sigh as I see Steven leaving, it definitely wasn't easy hiding and acting nonchalant in front of him when he kept staring right into my eyes as if trying hard to break my pretense.

The alcohol that night had made me weak and vulnerable, I forgot all my boundaries, all my guards were let down. I had shown him the piece of me that I thought had died six years ago. I had changed for the better and it had to stay that way. I was never the person who turned to alcohol to drown the pain, but that night I don't know what took over me, alcohol seemed the only option to not feel that stupid ache in my heart and that tight knot which I tried so hard to swallow but to no avail to not breakdown again.

Recognizing him and remembering that night in front him would only mean being vulnerable again and Ari can be vulnerable but Arayna Oberoi cannot, she is not weak and will not give anyone the privilege to walk all over her again. I take deep breaths as that night, the past starts to take over my mind, sitting on the chair I lean my head on the back of it and close my eyes, its as if the entire room is spinning and my head feels dizzy.

Dex senses my discomfort and is quick to rush towards me and jumps on my lap, with his paw he lightly caresses my face. I open my eyes slowly and look at him, he has been my strength because I know even if everyone turns their backs on me, he never will. I ruffle his fur and tickle his neck and he lays his face on my shoulder and just like that I feel better.

I can't be thinking about all of this now, there lies an issue at hand. What would that woman possibly want? Does she have some personal grudge against Mr and Miss Richards or is it something against me? Whatever it is, my company's name is dragged as well as Evelyn's, oh no how could I forget...Evelyn. She would definitely be disturbed seeing the news.

I pat Dexter's back and he jumps down sitting near my chair snuggling close to my legs. I quickly call Evelyn and it keeps ringing going to voicemail, her recorded voice clear on the other end,

Hello if you're calling Miss Weber and Heyaa if you're calling Evie. Miss Weber is probably busy in a meeting, if anything urgent please send a mail she will revert as soon as possible and if you're here for Evie she is probably sleeping after a long day at work send a text and she will reply asap. You can leave a voicemail but she always forgets playing them. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I roll my eyes at her recorded message, this is the first time I get to her voicemail, she always receives my calls, this makes me more worried.

I try calling her again and then again. She finally receives the call on fifth try and I speak impatiently "Where the hell have you been Evelyn and what kind of voice mail message is that? I have told you several times to take a separate number for work calls, your voicemail mesaage is so unprofessional. "

"I don't think my message is unprofessional, infact everyone says its rather amusing." She says chuckling lightly on the other end.

She sounded absolutely normal, she is not affected by the media, or she still doesn't know about it. I think its the latter.

"Hello, Arayna you there? What is the matter, you called like 5 times,? I am sorry I was on that date and left my phone in the car." she asks worry laced in her tone.

"Well, take a guess, its none other than Steven Richards, who has already made this day super eventful by gracing our company with his presence three times in a day," I say evidently sarcastic.

"He showed up again, to your office this time. What did he want? What did he say? How did he even enter? After you fired the security I made sure to get everything locked up before I left. The security agency will atleast take a day to deploy new guards. Are you okay?" She says hurriedly panicking now.

I sigh at her outburst "Evelyn breathe, where are you right now?"

"I am at a park with Carlo my date, just heading home now. Do you need something?"

"Send your location to Kim, he will come and take you home."

"Why do I need your bodyguard, whom you rarely take with you to come and take me home? You are really scaring me Arayna."

"The paparazzi, the media will all be crowding near your building right now. I can't risk you getting mobbed," I say quickly explaining about the leaked video.

"Oh my god! Steven came and lashed out at you and I missed all of that. Oh no! Wait, I am on TV, arguing with Steven Richards," she says a little paranoid. Its weird how she switches from being playful to being all worried.

"Arayna, I promise I tried my best to take care of the media, I don't know how all of this happened. How bad is it? I haven't seen it yet," she continues.

"Evelyn, its not your fault. We will sort this out and I will not let anyone point fingers at you. Right now, take care and get home safe. Get in touch with Kim, I have already messaged him, he is ready to pick you up. Message me once you're home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Later at night, while in the shower my mind drifts to the events of today, meeting Stellary and then Steven, his anger and then I think about that night not once did it seem like he could be this impulsive, rude and aggressive when he is angry. Human nature is so complex, we behave different in different situations, its difficult to speculate how a person would react when he is angry when you have only seen his happy and cheerful side.

Wiping the foggy mirror I stare at myself, I stare at my dull brown eyes. People say lips can lie but eyes, they never lie, they are a reflection of your soul but my soul is impossible to find and to read, I don't let my eyes betray me, I did my best to keep my calm, not let him suspect anything, I don't know what took over me when he was leaving, 'Anger ruins everything, Steven, relationships, lives, everything', these words ring in my ear, how did I let it all slip. His anger hits home, it reminds me of so many things that I have long left behind that I am running away from even today.

Stellary Richards

The entire night went by tossing and turning in bed, its insane when you so badly want to sleep and just forget everything, get lost in some weird dream thats the very time when sleep betrays you. Somewhere in the early mornings my mind is finally tired of all the thinking and I fall asleep.

The strong smell of dark chocolate and strawberries wake me up and I see Steve bringing breakfast in my room, he gives me a small smile seeing that I am awake.

"Go freshen up, I'll set up the breakfast. Its Steve's special waffles with dark chocolate and berries." He says winking at me.

My stomach growls loudly reminding me I haven't had much to eat since yesterday afternoon. I skip to the washroom quickly brushing my teeth and washing up. By the time I come out of the ensuite bathroom I see Mitch entering my room, he walks directly towards me kissing me on the cheek he says, "Good morning Stella, sleep well?" I see worry in his eyes about yesterday's events. I give him a big smile showing I am alright.

Mitch then looks at Steve and playfully adds, "I nearly forgot the Richard's tradition of having breakfast in Stellary's bed, took a detour from the kitchen."

Steve rolls his eyes, smacking Mitch on the head, "This is only for me and Stell, go cook your own," he says pointing to the breakfast that Mitch is almost about to attack.

"No need to be so mean, Pal," Mitch says acting hurt.

I roll my eyes at the two and start to dig in, I am hungry, period. These two can keep bickering all day.

"Look who is talking about being mean, Mitch you were the epitome of 'mean' yesterday at Zainav Fashions, Steve says quoting the words mean.

"Hah, you should be thankful to me for that, you would never be able to apologise otherwise. Stella trust me, he couldn't even say the word sorry. I swear apologising was the toughest things he has done," Mitch says laughing at Steve.

I don't know what all exactly happened there, but by their aruguing I can say Mitch gave a pretty tough time to Steve yesterday and he clearly deserved it.

"You guys, keep fighting I am going to finish this all alone. Its so good," I say licking the dark chocolate on the fork.

We have our breakfast having light hearted discussions, talking about our childhood, in my room sitting around a small table kept on the bed. Fortunately my bed is big enough, or else these two giant humans would never fit.

Almost done eating, I decide its time we talked about yesterday. I knew for a fact they were both trying to avoid the subject so as to not upset me but talking about it is important, there is a lot to discuss and sort out.

"Steve, Mitch I was thinking about inviting Arayna for dinner. A lot happened yesterday and intentionally or not I am responsible for all this mess. I don't want to have any misunderstandings between us, she is a wonderful person and deserves a proper apology. Steve you need to do properly apologise again, you did go all out twice at her company." I say looking pointedly at Steve for the last part.

Steve clears his throat and says, "You're right Stell, a lot has been said and done wrongly. A dinner would be a good thing to clear things out. We need to deal with this Susan issue together, I don't want anymore misunderstandings to be created because of her."

"Stella, I think you should also invite Evelyn, umm..I mean Miss Weber, afterall she also deserves a proper apology, her face was all over the media yesterday for all the wrong reasons," Mitch says thoughtfully.

"Sure, we should invite her too, but there's no need for you to be there. Its an apology dinner from me and Stell, you haven't done anything wrong." Steve says, his expressions look like he is trying to get a reaction out of Mitch, more like he is teasing him.

Mitch looks taken aback by Steve's response and he is just about to say something when I interrupt him, "Stop being so mean Steve, Mitch is family and he doesn't need an invite to be there."

Mitch looks beyond happy at this, making me a little suspicious, "You're the best Stella."

Steve rolls his eyes at Mitch and tells me, "Stella it will be best if you call and speak to Miss Oberoi."

I check the time, its almost ten, thinking its the best time to call, so that she can schedule her dinner plans with us. I pick my phone to dial Evelyn's number, she picks up on the fourth ring.

"Hello, Miss Richards?"

"Hello, Miss Weber. How are you doing?" I feel embarrassment creep in thinking about yesterday's events, feeling sorry about how it must have made her feel. She's always been sweet to me everytime we spoke, whether on mail or in person.

"I am doing great Miss Richards. How about you?" She too sounds empathetic probably thinking about how my friend betrayed me.

"I am good, thank you. Could you please connect me to Miss Oberoi?"

"Give me a second, I'll check with her," with that the call goes on hold, I wait patiently and after a few minutes I am connected on another call.

"Hello, Good Morning Miss Richards," Arayna speaks in her usual professional voice. She doesn't sound hostile or upset, just her usual self, thats a relief.

"Miss Oberoi, thank you for speaking with me," from the corner of my eyes I see Steven roll his eyes at me for being so formal.

I continue, "I need to speak with you, regarding yesterday, too much has happened and I feel deeply responsible for it. It would really mean a lot if you accept my invitation for dinner tonight at my place."

Mitch grabs my attention by throwing a pillow at me, catching me off guard and mouthing Evelyn. I throw the pillow back at him and motion him to keep quiet.

"Miss Richards, its really not necessary. I do not hold you responsible for any of it. As for your friend, she will get what she deserves and your brother has already apologized enough."

"There are somethings that need to be discussed, regarding Susan. It will be best if we deal with it together. She was my friend, even I need answers. Lets not give her another chance to create misunderstandings," I say trying to convince her.

She speaks after a pause, probably thinking about what I said, "Okay Miss Richards, I will be there for dinner."

"Thank you so much Miss Oberoi. Also, please convince Miss Weber to join us for dinner, she has gone through a tough time because of us, consider this as an apology dinner."

"Evelyn will be there with me, I assure you."

"Thank you so much Miss Oberoi, even after all this, you are willing to put it all behind, even go ahead with my dress, I'm really grateful."

"As I've said before, none of it is your fault and I have this intuition Susan did all of this to spoil our relation, I can't let her succeed."

"Steven is trying his best to track her down, I hope we come up with something soon."

We say goodbyes, I hang up the phone and show thumbs up to both Steven and Mitch. They both have this weird smile on their faces. I am sure Mitch's smile has something to do about Evelyn, I need to warn him.

"Mitch, I don't know what is up in your head but you're not messing with Evelyn. I am aware about your player ways, keep her away from all this," I say sternly.

"Stella, you're hurting me, I have never purposely hurt or played with anyone's feelings and you know that," Mitch says sounding offended.

I sigh and touch his shoulder not intending to hurt him I say, "Mitch, I know you are always clear with whoever you've been and they know what they're getting into but eventually they end up getting hurt. Its the same with both you and Steve. You date, you get bored you move on, not everybody is capable of that. I am just saying not Evelyn, it anyways violates our code, you both promised to not get involved with any of my friends or acquaintances."

"Hey, don't bring me into this Stell, you know I haven't even been with a woman for more than ten months now." Steve says raising his hands in surrender.

"That's because you haven't been able to get over 'her'. The worse part is you don't even know her name. But I have to give it to you though, not getting laid for ten months is definitely new for Steven Richards, this woman must really be something that no other girl appeals you these days." Mitch says with a smirk, talking about the woman Steve met in Paris ten months ago. I wish he finds her soon, he really has been thinking too much about her.

I see Steve getting irritated with Mitch, they both have this tension between them since yesterday, before Steve blows up again I interrupt them, "Enough you two, don't you guys have work to do. You're already very late. Be sure to come home early, we have guests over. Now, get out of my room," I say pushing them out and closing the door, they really can be a handful but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hola!

I know I have been updating like really slow, but I've started working and getting the time to write is not easy, so please bear with me.

This was kind of a filler chapter not much happening, I know, sorry.

Anyways, an apology dinner, think about all of them on a dinner table, Arayna and Steven, Mitch and Evelyn and Stellary, what do you expect to happen? Tell me!

You know, clicking that star button lets me know you've read and liked it and it instantly brings a smile to my face....so do that?!