Beauty and the Beast ;)

"Women who aspire to be as good as men lack ambition, sweety... i've been rich and i've been poor too...trust me.. rich is anytime better.. money gives me enough push to make myself work harder" Vedika said to her only frnd and only business partner Swati... when she asked her to chill out and to relax and not work that hard. Swati soon gave up and left.Vedika continued to work on her wedding collection, she had a deadline...Wills Fashion Week was just 3 mnths away, and she had to prove herself and bring her design label "GODDESS" in the forefront.Vedika had tooo much of dark memories inside her. Her past had made her bitter.Soon her thoughts drifted to her past...Her father passed away early, her mom single handedly raised her and her sister... she still remembered living in strict financial constraints......her long time fiance' had broken d engagement because he no-longer "fancied" her..He found a much thinner and much prettier looking female. Everybody around her started pushing her to get thin, but she wld rubbish it by saying "getting thin would hardly be a revenge, success was the best revenge".. but frankly she never wanted to be thin...she was happy the way she looked.She never wanted the guy to love her for the way she looked but for who she was inside.

It was nearly midnight when Vedika decided to call it a day and go home. It was raining heavily since evening. Vedika called for the lift...all she wanted was to go home get into her pyjamas.... and have yummy daal chawal..and vanila oreo ice cream she had got yesterday. If anybody asked her abt her love life..she wld always say "she's romancing foood" she loved foood,food was her only stress buster.She waited for the lift to discend...she could see d voltage fluctuations...because of d heavy rain....she just hoped she reached home safely. The lift finally came...door opened and she saw a man standing. she was tooo tired to look at him properly. she stood facing d door. Few seconds later...d lift stopped and lights went off too, the only source of light was a small red emergency bulb. She turned to look at d man standing with her, she couldn't make out the face just a set of broad toned shoulders...sparkling teeth and he was way too tall. "Don't worry lifts gonna start any minute, now. Mumbai never has power failures" said the man.

 "Yeah...i know...but the electricity was fluctuating all evening...i hope watchman knows we r stuck" said vedika....sad , disappointed and hungry.They checked the emergency phone in d elevator...even that wasn't working. Vedika wanted to scream. But instead she just sat down. The guy sat beside her. She became skeptical a about that guys intention. She shifted to make some space between them. Immediately she heard a very nice deep throat laughter. Laughing the man said " I would have been really interested in getting close to u...but lift is not something i fancy and i'm too tired to do anything tonite. She smiled and thought "even if she was not in the lift...he would still not look at her...that was only reserved for good looking..thin people".They both sat in silence. Finally the guy said "What were you doing here in this building this late". Vedika wanted to snap at him, but with great difficulty she controlled her temper and said "i was working...". The guy said "i wasn't really working..i was just thinking to where my life was going..." immediately she cut him short and she said "now we r frnds???? pls boss, i have my own troubles to deal with,than to hear ur sob story" Again came the silence. This time vedika apologised "I m sorry, i shouldn't have snapped at you. I m just tired too, and frankly extremly irritated. I could have been home under my blanket watching You've got mail and eating my oreo-vanila ice cream" with that came a deep sigh from her and echoing grumbling sound from her stomach.This time she really hoped this lift fell and she died. Soon came the same sexy deep laughter.The Man pushed a plastic bag to her side.."you hungry????...you can share with me.. now that we don't know how long we are stuck here". She wanted to say she wasn't that hungry...but her stomach grumbled again....now she was beyond shame...she accepted food. He opened his boxes... it was pretty scrumptious meal...she wondered how wld one person have this much of food.But then lucky her she is not going to sleep hungry tonite. They had food silently.After all done, she felt much better and light. Food truly was her stress buster. She thanked him for the food.

Now they really started talking...they spoke about varied things..about how they both hated to go to pubs and discos. That man found pubs and discos very loud..while vedika thought the discos were for crazy people..She found it hard to believe people actually paid money to dance in a barely lit room...shdn't people get paid for dancing.???? Coming to the topic of food, she found the man sitting beside her equally in love with food.. both loved rice and chocolates. He said, it was rare to find women who appreciated food, everybody around him seemed to be green tea lover..and on a constant diet. They spoke about their fav movies books..he was into gangster and action flicks was not into reading books, while vedika was into romance...be it books or movies. Vedika told him about her love for clothes...she simply loved touching materials while the man with her smiled and with chuckle he said "he was minimalistic...when it came to clothing".He then told her that in his off days he just wore his fav shorts. thats it. They both laughed and lost the track of time. Immidiately dey saw lights flickering back. and d lift started moving.

For the first time Vedika saw him. She kept staring at him.... To vedika it seemed she had seen him somewhere but didn't know where. She thot maybe in the lift.. or may be in the building's corridor. She smiled at him and she saw him smiling at her tooo. The door of the lift opened...she saw the lights flashing from all direction..There was a chaos..nearly 100 people standing there and everybody was looking at the Man standing beside  her...flashing their camera lights...before she could think...she felt her hand was grabbed by that man...he was taking her along through the building enterance to d parking lot..Vedika was too dazed to understand what was happening. She saw a huge car, the kind she had never seen. Before she could say anything she was bundled in d car, and the car left the building. She couldn't stop looking at him ...he just smiled., and then he finally asked..."where did u live?" .She gave him her address like an hypnotised person.....she just kept staring at him.Finally she asked "Who are u?" He looked at her embarassed and replied " You'd know in tomorrow's newspapers" and he frowned...after that they travelled silently and he dropped her to her place and left.

Vedika was sooo tired...she reached home and she undressed in daze...she cldn't get that scene out of her head..where 100's of camera flashing all at once...the chaos and the face of that stranger, with an apologetic look..She didn't sleep that well.. she kept tossing and turning all throughout the night. Next day morning..she thought of all the last night's actions as a dream...she got up and did her daily chores and den with a cup of coffee she sat to read the papers...the front page of a prominent newspaper had her picture with that stranger, who's suppose to be a superstar of hindi movies Aarav Khurana. "Ok that explains...why his face looked soo known" she thought. With that thought her phone rang. She picked up and the lady on d opp. end said " Did u know Aarav Khurana""Were u with him b4 u were stuck in the lift?" "r u guys having an affair" with these questions Vedika cut the call.Immediately her phone rang again, this time it was Swati..she was screaming on top of her voice... Vedika couldn't get a word ..only thing she got was ..."SWITCH ON THE TV" . She switched it on to find that news channels were flashing d video where Aarav was holding her hand and  walking... the heading of the story was "Plain Jane with prince charming" second channel said "Cinderella story"  ..both the channels decided that they were having an affair and were together even before they were stuck in d lift. She wanted to scream W*T*F*.....this can't be happening. Her family called up...even der were calls from distant relatives.. she avoided all calls. Finally there was loud banging on the door. She got scared hoping the newspaper guys didn't land up at her door. It was a man in watchman's uniform...must be a new guy...she opened the door...this man came inside the house....she opened her mouth to protest...but d guy removed his moustache and d cap...it was none other than Aarav Khurana himself. Aarav looked d same apologetic like the night before. But all she wanted to do was strangle him, but then she felt sorry for him too, his reputation wld be in tatters for being linked with plain grl like her.

Vedika started "I don't know call up all the press guys and tell them u r having an affair with dozen of other grls..but i m not one of them" Since morning my phone hasn't stopped ringing...everybody i knew had called me up...all news channels r talking abt me...pls Aarav get me out of this mess...I have a fashion show coming up...its one of my most important thing in my life...i can't screw it up because of bad publicity" Aarav looked sad . He got up and went to Vedika and he said "If i say anything its gonna make matters worse,let the news die down naturally" "Till then what am i expected to do....sit inside the house...because everybody is standing outside mine" she fumed. This was the first time she saw a smile on his face. She was furious now "It might be a joke for u Mr. Superstar...but its my work thats gettng affected and my life thats getting screwed royally by your highness". This tym Aarav couldn't control himself , he bursted out laughing..uncontrollably. With this Vedika pushed him out of her house and banged  shut the door.

The next whole week was terrible..wherever she went..paparazzi followed her. There were nearly 100 calls everyday from some or the other magazine. One newspaper even described them as the new beauty and the beast...and no prizes for guessing who was who. She was hating every minute of it. She couldn't go anywhere without being followed.There was a continuous buzz around her.She even over-heard women saying "what did Aarav  khurana looked in this girl..she's sooo ordinary". Finally she got so fed-up with everything....so the next day when a reporter called up...she told him that she had nothing to do with aarav khurana she was engaged to be married with someone else.. Things became very peaceful after that. But Couple of days later Aarav visited her designing studio...which was just couple of floors below and asked her if it was true that she was engaged. She told him that in order to get rid of the undue attention she had to lie. She continued working. Aarav went and stood beside her and he asked her "Why can't u be my gf? Why do u hate me soo much?"Vedika left her work and looked at him suprised."I just wanted to tell u I love you, since the time we were in that lift and ur stomach grumbled...i didn't see u....i didn't know u..but i loved u. When i saw you looking all frightened when u had ur first encounter with the paprazzi all i wanted to do was protect u from them. U were never gogelled eyed by my success..for the first tym i was treated as a human and not a star." With this Vedika looked at him and den she said..."No...i have fashion week coming up and i want alll d attention on my dresses and not on my personal life."Aarav looked at her coolly and then left her.

Months passed, Vedika worked day in and out. She just wanted her designs to be special. But everytime she got into the lift, she would think of Aarav, and the wonderful time they had stuck in d lift. She never ever discussed Aarav and her proposal with anybody but with her best friend Swati, and she thought Vedika was stupid.Even her ex-fiance wanted to be back with her...but she refused, suddenly she had no hard feelings for him. She had finally moved-on. Her thoughts would drift to Aarav every now and then, but then she knew  it was for the best. Finally the D-day came. It was her day and she swore nothing wld go wrong, her bridal collection wld be appreciated. Models wearing her designs started walking the ramp. She was too tensed  and too nervous. Finally with her show -stopper Red and Zari lehenga she walked and bowed... she wore flowing flower print dress. She knew she looked good. There was a roaring applaud from the d audience.She was asked to speak, but she passed. She was tooo excited to say anything. She just smiled and she left.On the backstage, she saw Aarav standing with the bouquet, and he said"Now the shows over, can i renew my proposal?" She smiled and she hugged him...he hugged her back.

"If the love is restricted on beauty, its no love at all. Love is much beyond and above superficial beauty"

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All the stories are a rough draft. All stories are a work of fiction. The characters do not exist, except in the mind of the (blogger)author. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. no part of this blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechnical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the blogger (author).