Page 15 of Always? Forever.
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" I exclaimed.
"Hey! This might be my only chance to get married ever! So ask me nicely!" She retorted defensively. I couldn't help but wonder why she would think this might be her only opportunity. She was stunning, intelligent, and worked for my mother, which was impressive considering my mother's hiring standards.
With a resigned sigh, I got up from my seat and knelt in front of her. "Give me your hand," I whispered-shouted, trying to keep the attention we were attracting to a minimum. We were, after all, in a Starbucks, and I was on my knees.
“Why” she asks confused and a little taken aback
“I’m trying to ask you to marry me so give me your damn hand” I whisper-shout again, so we don’t gain a lot of attention but at this point, it seems impossible because we are in a Starbucks with me on my knees, geez.
She hesitantly gave me her hand, and the moment our skin made contact, I felt a surge of electricity pass between us. I was sure she felt it too because her expressive face couldn't hide the sudden change. Her eyes darkened at the touch, and somehow, I knew that asking her to be my fake wife was either the best or worst decision I'd ever make.
Chapter 11
Samaira
Kartik hesitates but does as I say. He gets on one knee and tries to fake propose to me in front of several people, in Starbucks! I try to hide my smile but at this point, it’s impossible to do so. No matter how much Sugarcup annoys me, he is kind of cute. But no, I can't find him cute. We both are nothing alike and I am quite sure he won’t fall for me. Why do I know that? Because I know I am not the kind of girl, guys fall for.
Also, the fact that time and again it has been proven by the fact that the guys I manage to fall for are nothing but playboys who don’t give a damn. Well, it’s not entirely their fault, I think I am attracted to such guys because of the books I read. Bad boy turns good etc etc. ugh I am getting distracted, this might be the only chance that a guy proposes to me I should focus.
But to be honest I wouldn’t prefer a public proposal I rather have it be an intimate moment. I don’t know why I said yes to this stupid fake marriage plan of his. Maybe that will get my parents to back off till I make it in my career at least start it the way I want it to be. He seems like a nice guy, and I made it quite clear I won’t get physical with him and it’s not like I’ll be marrying a stranger, it's my boss's son! I am surely living in one of my novels. I zone back into reality where Kartik is on one knee, at my eye level as I was sitting, trying to ask me to marry him. I give him my hand. He goes on to make a big show of clearing his throat. I roll my eyes.
"Samaira Bhatt, will you marry me?" he exclaimed dramatically.
"No," I replied, tongue in cheek, enjoying the playful banter. He narrows his eyes, a clear question in his gaze.
"Tell me what you love about me, and I'll give you a chance, maybe," I teased, maintaining a lighthearted tone.
He sighs mildly amused, takes a deep breath looking right into my eyes before speaking, “Samaira, I can spend the rest of my life without you in it, I’ll live..’ I open my mouth to say that, that was a shitty way to propose to someone even if it’s fake, but he raises his hand to silence me before continuing, ‘I am saying I can spend my life without you but I don’t want to, I rather have you in my life even if you continue to drink the so-called coffee, even if you think I’m the most annoying person on this planet, but I promise to annoy the shit of out of you, I promise to make you laugh even when you don’t want to, I promise to make feel cherished and loved at all times, especially when you’revulnerable without a peep of saying that you’re asking too much. I promise to build you a bookshelf, just not next to mine because I do not want your romance books next to my books.” I smile widely, tears edging the corner ofmy eyes as he says these things even though I know they aren’t true but it feels good to hear them and think what if it was a real proposal? I honestly don’t think a real proposal would top that.
“I promise to never stop loving you even in difficult times, so Ms.Samaira Bhatt, will you marry me?” He asks as he pulls out a ring giving me a hesitant smile.
My eyes widened at the ring not because it was the most precious thing I have ever seen but because he had actually thought the whole thing out. So he was genuinely serious about getting fake married and not just for the condition, he actually wanted to save his company. Before I can help it I have tears streaming down my face as I mumble a yes. He looked at me surprised and kind of struck by the fact that I was crying. It’s so quiet in the cafe it’s no surprise he hears it.
He breaks out in a smile that would melt any woman’s heart because it is just so adorable. He slides the ring on the ring finger of my left hand. I look at the ring and it’s not too bad. It's a gorgeous cushion cut ring with the diamond in a pinkish tint almost resembling “the Agra” diamond.
He gets up, and slides his arm around my waist pulling me closer. Without thinking, my hands automatically go up to his chest. It was as if it was something we did every day. But itwasn’t. It was new but it was happening for the first timethat I was in such close proximity to him and it didn’t feel wrong. I used to think that romance novels exaggerated the phrase“my breath hitched when he pulled me closer”but it’s not! That actually happened! My breath hitched as he looked into my eyes. His eyes had a mischievous spark in them. Everyone in the cafe who kept looking at us because Kartik had just proposed to me in the middle of a very public place with nosy people who were expecting to get a hug or a kiss even became a blur to me at that moment. I didn’t know at that very moment if I wanted a hug or if it was me craving to kiss him.
“Practice makes a man perfect, doesn't it?” He whispered looking at my lips before locking eyes with me
Kartik
Her body felt so good against mine, I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so attracted to her when supposedly I despised her. She was annoying as hell. I couldn’t take my eyes off her lips. In that moment, all I knew was that I wanted to kiss her, damn the consequences. But in whatever little amount I had known her, I knew she would spiral about the kiss and probably back out of the whole thing and the way her eyes widened when I whispered“Practice makes a man perfect doesn't it?”to her, confirmed my suspicions that she was already panicking. Quashing my urge to kiss her, I pulled her closer and kissed her….on her forehead. She already had tears in her eyes, and that seemed more romantic to me at the moment thankissing her on the lips. I might never get a chance to kiss her, but oh well.
Given by the expression on her face, she was not expecting me to kiss her on her forehead that was for sure. God, she was really beautiful, in that moment I momentarily forgot that we weren’t friends or the fact that she despised me and thought I was a jackass but the way she was blushing at that moment made my heart flutter as if I was a teenage boy looking at his crush.
I think she realized something as the look in her eyes changed in a quick second before I could decipher what it was, clearing her throat she tried to free herself from my hold, I let her go. Instantly feeling the loss of her body against mine, I looked away. Rubbing my hand on my jaw I noticed how much she was fidgeting,myfiancée…well my fakefiancée. Damn, that felt very weird.
There was a streak of her hair falling on her face, the urge to tuck that was unreal. I somehow controlled myself, so I looked away.
“Umm, so…uh”
Samaira kept fidgeting and trying to form a sentence, it was almost adorable. I had to keep myself from laughing.
“So we should… uh…probably tell our family and friends…and you know”
She was clearly anxious and it was really getting hard to keep a straight face, so I did the one thing I knew would piss her off, I started laughing
Samaira
