If You Could Stay

6. Naira

"Good morning Inaya, is Mr. Goenka in his office?"

I don't wait for her startled response as I head straight into the office I've been in now three times in the last three days.

As soon as Mayuri woke me up this morning with a scream and the latest issue of Vogue India, the first thing I did was try to contact Kartik. After screaming into my pillow, that is. And having an intense discussion with Ganga Maaiya about how Kartik and I ended up on the cover. Except, I couldn't contact him because I didn't have his number. But I did know where his office was. So here I am, bright and early, ready for some answers.

I open the door so hard, it slams against the wall with a thud. Kartik looks up from his computer screen. His eyes darken as he spots me. I straighten my spine and stomp toward him.

"Why are we on the cover of Vogue?!" I slam the magazine down in front of him.

"Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing." He rises from his chair. Immediately, he's a foot taller than me and I have to tilt my head back to look at him. But I don't back down.

"No one was supposed to know, Kartik. But you insisted on Inaya knowing. Are you sure you don't know how the news leaked?"

His face turns a shade of red as his jaw tightens. He closes the distance between us and keeps walking towards me. With nowhere to go, my feet take steps backward until my back hits a wall. Kartik slams one hand on the wall near my head, caging me in. Kartik was so close, I could feel the warmth from his body.

"I hope you aren't saying what I think you're saying, Miss Singhania." His voice is low and threatening. "Because I would think twice before insinuating anything against Inaya. Especially since I haven't even told her about our contract yet."

The possessiveness he has for his assistance makes me more confused than I already am. What was their relationship? It certainly didn't seem like just a professional one.

"Then how did the news leak?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but it comes out breathless. His proximity was doing things to my head. Luckily, he steps away in the next moment.

"It doesn't matter. It was probably a reporter who spotted us. Anyways, now that the news is out, I believe you owe me an explanation on why you need a fake fiancé."

"You also owe me an explanation on why you agreed," I shot back.

"Ladies first."

I sighed and my shoulders slumped. Something he saw on my face caused his face to soften only the tiniest bit.

"Fine. But you can't judge me."

"I just want to understand," he replies.

"My brother was arranging my marriage. I didn't want to get married."

Kartik crosses his arms across his chest. "I'm failing to understand how I became the fake fiancé of someone who doesn't want to get married."

"My brother was setting me up with this guy from London. And I panicked and said I already loved someone. If I didn't have to worry about a prospective marriage, I could buy some time to focus on my jewelry line launch."

I looked at Kartik who has a blank expression on his face. But he's listening, so I continue.

"You needed the merger deal, and I needed a fake fiancé." I shrug like that sentence wasn't the craziest thing I've ever said.

"I see." His face remains blank.

"Now you tell me why you agreed to the contract? I know you didn't do it out of the goodness of your heart to help me. Because there is no heart in there." I point to his chest.

A touch of emotion flashes across his eyes before he blinks it away. "Like you said, I needed the merger deal and you needed a fake fiancé."

I'm not fully convinced by his answer. There's no way that's the only reason. If not Singhania Diamonds, he could have gotten another company. But before I can ask anything else, he takes a seat back in his chair.

"We need to discuss rules."

I sit down opposite him. "Rules?"

"Rules for how we are doing this." He points between us. "What is okay to do, and what is not."

Oh. Right. We were supposed to be dating. Rules need to be in place for that. Definitely.

"Obviously, in private, there is no need to pretend, but we will have to uphold the love act in public. Tell me, what are you comfortable with?"

I blink, somewhat surprised by his concern for what I would be comfortable with.

"You may call me Lucifer, Naira. But I'm not a total monster. I won't do anything to make you uncomfortable."

I don't say anything and he lets out a frustrated sigh.

"If you don't want to speak about this in detail, fine. I'll just ask you when the time comes. Until then, I have one rule. No personal questions."

Now I do speak up. "How are we supposed to convince my brother we're in love if I don't know anything about you and you don't know anything about me? Like what's my favorite color?"

"Pink." He answers without missing a beat.

What the...how did he...

"And your favorite hobby is dancing. It's one of your greatest passions, apart from designing jewelry, that is."

Okay, this man is officially not human. He can't be. How did he know all this about me?

"How did you find all this out? Did you google me?"

He scoffs. "You're not important enough to google. You wear your personality on your sleeve. You drink that stupid pink drink every day. And you're launching Nryta, a line solely based on jewelry revolving around classical dancers."

My chest tightens. If blood could boil, mine would be evaporating right now.

"Is that enough personal knowledge to appease your brother?" He raises his eyebrow.

"I don't know anything about you," I instigate.

He busies himself back in his paperwork. "Make something up. I don't care. It's not like your brother knows anything about me to figure out if what you say is the truth or not."

I'm speechless. He doesn't look back up at me. I guess this conversation is over. I stand up and walk towards the door.

"Naira."

I turn around to see Kartik forwarding his phone toward me.

"Put your number in."

I raise an eyebrow. "It's that how you ask women for their numbers? By commanding them?"

"Not all women. Just my fake fiancée," he replies dryly.

I reach into my clutch and pull out my business card before dropping it onto his desk.

"Call me." I turn on my heel and walk out of his office, leaving Kartik still sitting with his phone in his hand.