KaYa FF: Flames II Epi 10 - Pg 62 II *NEW* PM LATER - Page 8

Kabir cleared his throat and was about to extend his hand to this woman, who seemed to have walked straight out of a ramp, when a high pitched voice from behind him caught his attention.

"K... K... Kabir Sharma?!" He turned sharply to find a college going girl, with a thick mass of curly hair, staring at him intently through her oversized glasses. As he looked at her a moment longer, he realized it was the same girl who was demanding extra chocolate at the counter.

"Hi!" she said, and walked over to him, while he continued to stare at her in an unflinching gaze. She waved her hands before his eyes, trying to elicit a response from him and frowned, as her several accessories chimed. Her glossy lips tightened and a deep blush adorned her full cheeks as she pulled her shrug in nervousness, and extended a hand to Kabir.

"Bb... big fan! Of yours! I am Ananya Kashyap!" Kabir's eyes rounded in shock and he immediately snatched his hand away from the college going girl in front of him!

"YOU are Ananya Kashyap!"

"What? Yes, of course!" Ananya knit her eyebrows, taken aback by his sudden tone.

Kabir was mighty irritated for :

1. He had presumed her to be an enigmatic character where the woman in front of him might still have a milk tooth.

2. She was the chocolate demanding girl! Who goes on to chat with an attender to get extra chocolate!

His sudden disdainful look hurt Ananya's pride. "Uh, nothing... do sit." he said coldly . "What should I order for you? Hot chocolate? I'll tell them to add extra chocolate." Kabir watched as Ananya pushed the rim of her glasses and peered at him quietly. "Excuse me?" "For what?" Kabir asked.

Ananya shook her head and then toyed with a tissue paper "Why did I just imagine that you asked... na... you questioned me on my identity?"

"I did." Kabir's flippant tone annoyed Ananya. "Why?" Ananya crunched the tissue and controlled her anger. She reasoned that perhaps Kabir was having a bad day that's why he was being irritable and a man miles away from what she imagined.

Another glimpse at the man swiping through his phone and Ananya sighed, physically he was exactly, or even better than what he was on screen. The chiseled clean shaved jaw, gelled hair and shrewd eyes spoke of high intelligence.

Yet his approach had literally dampened her hopes she had set on him. "Miss. Kashyap I recall having made a slot out of a tight schedule to not discuss your identity but to give me a lead."

And that had broken the limit for Ananya. "Your schedule shouldn't be too tight considering that you were as good as clueless in this case!"

Kabir's eyebrows shot up at her sharp comment and he frowned "Excuse me?"

"Sir, I recall of having made a slot out of my tight schedule to excuse you or not but to give you a lead on this case." Ananya gave a winning smile as Kabir pursed his lips and squinted his eyes at her.

Ananya tucked back a wayward strand behind her ear and produced a chip on the table. "It's a sting operation on Mehortra's agent..."

"Miss Kashyap I have several tiny sting operations on these Mehrotra's agent but I needed one on which prove they are guilty like perhaps one directly on the Mehrotra." Kabir tapped on the table irritably while Ananya removed her glasses and stared at the man in front.

"Is this The Prejudiced Devil's show at nine Sir?" Ananya hid a smile of contempt when she watched his face tighten. "It's a nice one, I've followed it for a year. Coming back to the point, you need to hear me out and kindly not be prejudiced on how I work or not."

Ananya paused to find Kabir glancing here and there "You expected me to be someone else." Ananya said softly, enough for Kabir to hear. "I..."

Ananya chewed her bottom lip and nodded her head "It's no surprise you are disappointed with the way I turned up to be, several are." Kabir softened at her distant voice when she cleared her throat and looked back at him "In this chip, it's a sting operation on Rishab Vaidya - the left hand man of Nishad Mehrotra."

Kabir nodded his head and found Ananya to be tapping the table "What?" He asked "Oh I gave a pause so as to you can interrupt me." She pushed back her glasses and hid a chuckle. "And of a GTV member." Ananya looked aside and hushed her voice.

"GTV? Regarding what?" Kabir asked and then clicked his fingers "So this Vaidya's buttering up the Senior editor to cover up their scam... am not surprised. B*******s." Kabir muttered angrily while Ananya scratched her head.

"You seem to be having a sort of allocated hatred for them..." "Yeah, their news is slotted to go as far the cash is concerned. Even though they are one of the top most news channels, their methods are very disgusting. It's a very old channel, Doordarshan ke baad yehi tha... koi chahke bhi iska naam nahi bigaad sakta.They're old and pretty reputed. Anyways, who was it?" Kabir frowned of finding Ananya smiling at him.

"How does the senior editor of GTV caught taking black money from Rishab Vaidya with their entire video footage regarding the scam and how to keep that under wraps sound?" Ananya wiggled her eyebrows as Kabir's face broke into a huge smile.

"You're kidding me." he asked, disbelievingly.

"You can test me." Ananya raised an eyebrow and coughed as Kabir came close and whispered "How?" She turned a bright red at their proximity and stood up "I can't show it here, we need to go somewhere private."

Kabir nodded and walked beside her, her physical appearance no longer being a source of irritation. Her eyes made up for everything. She did have bewitching eyes.

"Miss. Kashyap, how private shall be our discussion... or let me say what all do you have to show me?" Kabir flashed a teasing smile as Ananya's mouth hung open.

The next thing he knew that a certain Ananya Kashyap walked out of the passenger seat of his car and settled on the back seat of his car. "What do you mean?" Her chocolate eyes spit fire yet a strange excitement when they locked with his through the mirror.

"I only meant about the video, but looks like someone took the meaning the other way round. Though I don't blame you for your thoughts." Kabir passed an innocent look while Ananya's cheeks screamed embarrassment.

"How come you are suddenly pleased with the messy haired girl? I thought your attention was on the model who passed by." Ananya asked as they were en route to the office. "I never said anything like that." Kabir answered.

"Being the wordsmith you are, you barely say anything out of context but it was your body language, Sir. Your eyes forgot to come back to its original position as it was left trailing that woman. And then I can barely forget your disdain on finding a college kid who probably has too much of chocolate." Ananya blew her nails and watched with contempt as his face twisted from a scowl to amusement.

"And someone calls me a wordsmith." Kabir mentioned. He so wished to wipe that smirk away from her face.

Being the perfect gentleman he opened the door for Ananya who hopped out, without his help. "Feminist." he muttered in his mind as she helped herself. Now as he got a better opportunity to look at her he did realize that she was beautiful, not a tamed beauty though. Her eyes gave more than her mouth - that pretty pink mouth too was another asset.

She was an innocent temptress, the fact that perhaps even she knew too well. Kabir found a sadistic pleasure in riling her up - the fire in her eyes posed a challenge for him and Kabir Sharma loved challenges.

"An..." "Hey Ronnie! Kaisa hai!" Ananya ran up to her best friend and caught him in a tight hug. Kabir squinted his eyes as she animatedly began to talk to him.

"Kabir Sharma aur tu aamne saamne! Abhi tak faint bhi nahi hui!" Ronnie teased as Ananya blushed scarlet "Shut up! For now I am just imagining that he is an arrogant client and I am a reporter."

"Miss Kashyap why don't you order coffee for both of you? Such a happy reunion hai na? Ronnie, please go and talk to your friend for as long as you want because there's nothing else to do in KKN!" Ananya cringed at his sarcasm and turned towards him.

"Come Ananya bol sakte the aap!" Ananya bid a hurried bye and walked towards Kabir's cabin while Kabir shook his head.

As he entered and settled on his chair a thought struck his head "How did you know the ways of the office?"

"It was written that this is your cabin and... Ronnie sent me a few pictures once." She shrugged her shoulders little realising her shrug was slipping off.

Something that was a cause of distraction for the ever focused Kabir "Get that right." he said and shook his head in annoyance when she barely understood.

"This isn't a Hindi film where I'll pull the shrug slipping off your shoulder." He almost laughed at her comical reaction as she tugged on her shrug tighter.

"Fine. So anyways, as I was saying... in the sting operation I have managed to record..." "I'll see what you have recorded Miss Kashyap, pehle aap yeh batayein ke aapne ye kiya kaise? I mean accessing the GTV Editor's office is no child's play." Kabir rest his elbows on his table as Ananya blushed a pretty pink.

"Thank you." She smiled and cursed her heartbeat which escalated the second he stared at her.

Quit staring Kabir Sharma. Quit staring the handsome eyes... actually even the sharp nose and defined lips and...

Ananya shut her eyes as her age old fancy and fantasies floated in front of her eyes, at this precise moment. She had begun to admire and respect him ever since he had written a neutral article about her father, but the infatuation she harboured as a teen by looking at the enigmatic man on screen every night had turned into a very potent feeling, perhaps more than admiration and idolism...

Perhaps desire.

A sharp jolt of electricity shot through her spine as she felt warm masculine fingers caressing the back of her palm, a complete unadulterated gesture which turned her knees into jelly. "Ss..sir?"

"Are you fine Miss Kashyap? Some issue? I found you to be breathing very hard..."

Oh yes because as I sit in your cabin the devil in me has sprung up in action and I can do nothing but stare at you... your eyes... your hair... your.

"Am fine..." Ananya squeaked, completely missing Kabir's smirk. She drew a breath of relief when he drew back his hand.

If only he would have looked like how any other normal thirty five year old Indian man would!

"Aapke baal kyu nahi jhadte!" Ananya muttered while Kabir gaped at her "Excuse me?"

"Eh... I... so yes what I did was that I had been pestering the senior editor since a few weeks to get in touch with GTV, I had smelt a rat in that channel before and decided to investigate it on my own... however the appointment of the editor's with Vaidya's came as a whole new surprise. Ab woh editor toh koi dudh ka dhula hua toh nahi hai, so I buttered up the male receptionist to give me an appointment on the same day and then... the rest is history."

"Interesting... yes, thank you for taking my permission to take my laptop." Ananya coloured up on realizing that she had literally snatched his laptop in the excitement of showing the video.

"Umm... sorry, anyways - here's the video and tell me if you like it or not." Ananya tapped her fingers on the table impatiently as Kabir checked out the video.

"I confess that I am impressed Miss. Kashyap -very impressed." Kabir turned his wrist and looked at Ananya "It's eight o'clock already, would you mind staying here for another hour... I would like you to see how your story works." Kabir smiled and stood up while Ananya fumbled with earring.

"Sir, if you like it so much... why don't you think of keeping me for more than an hour."

"Are you asking me out for dinner..." Kabir raised an eyebrow and almost laughed as Ananya turned red and shook her head.

"No, no... the office I meant."

"Oh you mean a dinner date in the office?" Kabir faked innocence as Ananya stammered and coloured deeper. She gently backed and stood against the wall of his cabin.

Pretending to think Kabir tapped his chin and muttered loudly "Actually it's not a bad idea considering that I do like canteen food..."

"No!" Ananya shook her head in negative while Kabir decided to tease her further.

"No to what? Oh no canteen food?"

"No... not canteen food."

Kabir smiled a little and said "Oh, no office then."

"Arrey nahi! I don't want to go to a date with you!" Ananya said, unable to meet his eyes. Kabir smirked at her red cheeks and cleared his throat "Oh you mean I am not handsome enough to go for a date?"

"No sir, you are very handsome." Ananya blurted out. Kabir raised an eyebrow and leaned against the door "Thank you."

Realization dawned on Ananya when she noticed the annoying smile plastered on his face. So he was enjoying at her expense?

She made a face and crossed her arms "Tedi baat ka faida nahi, I want to have a job at KKN." She removed her resume from her bag and placed them on Kabir's hands. She watched his expressionless face to say something.

Yes

No

Let me think

Nothing came by for a few seconds - which seemed no less than hours for Ananya. He just seemed to be flipping her resume as if it was a fashion magazine!

Ananya gaped at the clock, it had been only twenty minutes since their meeting out of which twelve minutes had been consumed by the video, yet all she saw she could swear that an hour had passed by!

"Not possible, you won't be able to handle this." Kabir slipped the resume back into her bag while Ananya stood shocked, not even moving a muscle.

"No way... that's not possible. Then thank you Mr. Kabir Sharma - I would like to have my video back as well." Ananya walked behind Kabir who marched up the flight of stairs.

"And sir if I didn't feel that I didn't even deserve this then I would have never met you..." Ananya rattled on, oblivious at people staring her tailing their Editor in Chief.

"Junior Reporter." Kabir stopped and held her arms as she bumped right into him. "Sorry." she whispered and backed off, pushing back the tendrils of hair to control the sudden rush of embarrassment.

"So.. Junior Reporter." Kabir said and folded his arms as Ananya pushed back her glasses and frowned "As in?"

"Tumhara job. You're pretty slow in catching up." Kabir showed mock annoyance as Ananya squinted her eyes and stared at his black eyes for a few seconds.

"Didn't you say that I can't handle the pressure of the job!" Ananya almost gasped as Kabir took a few steps in front and noted her brown orbs carefully.

Kabir Sharma was surprised to have missed the spark in them.

He gave her a lopsided grin and said "Who said I was talking about handling the job? You're pretty competent for that."

"Then?" Ananya asked while Kabir laughed and walked away, not before passing her a teasing smile.

Ananya's eyes rounded and her mouth opened;

Did he mean that she couldn't handle him?