(PS - Words or sentences in "italics" represents Kavya's thoughts and feelings at that moment.)

Those more amber less brown eyes were stopping me from blinking mine. His skin was neither white nor black. I couldn't specify the shade particularly but it was attractive, very attractive. Oh my, my...his trimmed beard with natural handlebar mustache, were slinky enough to catch and hold my attention. Not to mention his clothes ah, were equally appealing. He was wearing black full-sleeves fitting shirt, sleeves half-folded till elbow, cherry on the top. The way he was holding me, I could easily feel his popped-up-muscles along with his toned-chest and biscuit-abs. Oh!

And Gosh the smell!

I swallowed inwardly and chewed my lips, unintentionally.

Overall he had a pair of trusting eyes, dependable-shoulders with a masculine chest. Even though, I was too close to his heart but my loudly beating-heart made it difficult to hear his beats. It was nothing as if he was the most handsome man in the world or something, but it was hard for me, nearly impossible to remove my eyes off him. It seemed I can spend every minute of my life just sinking into those eyes.

How can I get so much influenced by someone in just one sight?

Hard to answer though!

Is this 'the feeling' what people refer to as 'love at first sight'?

Not possible at all!

Clasping my hair, he looked straight into my eyes intensely, though his face was expressionless but his pupils dilated slightly. "No need to thank me. It was completely my pleasure to save you."

Oh!

His intense voice raised my pulse-rate even more...I was already on the death bed and now he has killed me completely.

My eyelids drooped and I simpered looking down, drawing away my blowing hair from his face. Shit I should have tied this wraith-mane. A stranger is making ME blush just by his gaze, how is that even possible? It'd never happened before, not with me obviously.

But 'who is he?' A servant, a body guard, other staff or was he...no...shut up Kavya.

Though, I was still in his arms but didn't dare to ask.

"Hi...I'm Advik...Advik Rajput Agnivanshi."

Holy cow!

I was assuming right. It's him, the third son of the Agnivanshis, that stunning artist. No wonder he's making me nervous. I was already hankering to meet this man and see I'm hanging in his arms, in the very-first meeting, wondrous.

"I'm K...Kavya..." I almost stammered with eyes still down.

"Pleased to meet you, Kavya...."

Oh he spoke again.

He has a girlfriend!

Before I could have melted in his arms, I remembered the fact that he had a girlfriend. As soon as it stroked my head, I tried to get down. He gently put my legs on the floor when he felt my struggling, though I never wanted him to but yeah he released me.

I immediately collected my hair and quickly tied it into a bun, obviously to dwindle my giant head and strive to seem close to normal.

"How did you fall?" 

A quick flash back lanced through me and I moved my eyes sideways. "I was scared, I felt like something flew behind my back."

Suddenly something came and sat on his shoulders, naturally it frightened me enough to close my eyes, grabbing his hand tightly with both hands and holding it close to my body.

"You must have felt him."

His words made me realize 'what-I-was-doing'. I left his hand swiftly but flushed again.

Embarrassing me!

"Meet Veer. He's my closest-friend."

That was respectful!

I wasn't in a condition to look up, I just couldn't dare to face his scorching-eyes again. But somehow I managed to have a look at his buddy.

Shiva!

It's the ditto copy of the creature, in that portrait hanged outside. I must say he indeed is an excellent artist. I could see their faces clearly as Veer was holding a burning candle, fixed on a crystal-stand. That scavenger surely got skills.

"Nice to meet you, Veer."

Wow I'm talking to an eagle.

Can it get any weirder than this?

No.

My eyes escaped from his shrewd gaze, but I kept simpering. Can you believe that! His head tilted slightly but he didn't smile. This was the first time ever in my life I was loathing my sense of fashion. Look at him, he manifests the image of a body builder plus mannequin and I'm an exemplar of some saint, too frumpy to bedazzle a Prince.

Suddenly the lights came and my evening snacks too.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Sam asked me.

"No, she isn't and she can't be if you're going to take care of her like this, this is just so irresponsible behavior, Sam." He growled. Why he's so angry?

"Good evening, Chote Hokum." Sam bowed down.

Oh yes he's a Royalty. I guess I forgot my manners under his sweet spell.

"If I wouldn't have reached on time she'd have been in pain." Gritting his teeth he jeered again.

He is worried for me. Holy Mother!

"What!!!" Sam went in shock.

"I'm extremely sorry, Chote-Hokum."

"This is how you're gonna take care of our guests. Hmm..." Other than his harsh words, his eyes were also spitting lava.

"No sir." He put his head down. "It'll never happen, ever again." Sam added.

"I'm leaving you this time but remember what you've just said. Okay." He threatened in his irate-voice.

Um...I think I got my wish of falling for a Villain.

Shut up Kavya, he has a girlfriend.

O yeah, shit.

"I'll surely take-care of that, Chote-Hokum. I'm sorry from the depth of my heart."

"Don't be sorry to me, you put 'her life' in danger not mine."

He is still mad...why?

"I'm really very, very sorry, Miss." He turned to me.

"I'm fine, it's okay. Nothing happened see...I'm still standing on my legs, right."

I got a chance to be in his arms. I should be thankful to you Sam.

As a word for word, I was speaking to Sam but my eyes were stuck at him. On the other hand, he didn't turn his eyes to me, ever since he started roaring at Sam.

Then all of a sudden, his gaze turned to me and I was stilled again. "Enjoy reading, Kavya. I'll see you later." He proceeded but stopped after few steps then slightly turned his back at me. Oh I'm dead again!

"It was pleasure meeting you." His lips lifted from one side but he didn't smile. There he confirmed that politeness was running through his blood.

"Same h....." Before I could have completed, he left.

Arrogance um...how can I forget he's a Prince.

"Remember, it should never happen again...ever, okay Sam. I'm counting on you. Keep this in mind." He shouted while moving out of the library, without turning his back.

"I promise that, Chote-Hokum." He shouted back but respectfully.

He was gone, out of my sight but my eyes still lingered on that place where he was standing.

"Miss..?" Sam's voice dragged my attention.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, Miss. I really am."

"Oh! Please, it's perfectly okay, Sam. I'm fine now."

"But what happened actually?" He was desperate, so I narrated the whole story.

"Wow, How romantic, Miss." He said but his embarrassed-expressions proved, how regretful he was after commenting something like that.

"What do you mean?"

"No nothing, Miss. I'm so sorry, again."

"No no I'm not scolding you Sam. Be frank and tell me honestly what's on your mind?"

"It's just that, you met him for the very first time...in his arms, so romantic, isn't it?" His face was almost pink, though he was trying hard to suppress it.

"What's making you blush so much, Sam?" I raised an eyebrow at him carrying a wry-smile on my lips.

"The imagination of that romantic scene is enough, Miss."

Mamma Mia! This whole place is famous for scaring people but the citizens seemed quite romantic-minded, though.

But...nice!

People living through their hearts, have always been my favorite.

"I apologize if I have crossed my limits, Miss." He hesitated.

"It's okay. I'm not mad." Several thoughts are playing crisscross inside me, why would I mind your words and further increase the mess. "You may be right, Sam. But he has a girlfriend, right? So basically, nothing can happen in between us."

"But he has stopped meeting her. I think so."

"What! What does that mean?"

Is there any possibility?

Shut up!

"I don't know much about it, Miss. Everything seems very complicated. I'm sure he may be in love but definitely not in any relationship. Sometimes, it makes me think it's a one-sided-love, from his side only. It's a true-fact that no girl could ever reject a man like him. So if he has proposed her, till this time they'd have got engaged officially. But he's not proposing her, as if he's sure, she'll reject." He explained his personal point of view about Advik's strange and complicated love-life with some random unknown girl.

I heard every-single-word coming out of his mouth, very carefully.

"I understand what you're trying to say but Sam we can't be together."

"But why Miss?" He was desperate but I was quiet. "If you're not comfortable answering that question, its fine. I'm so sorry for getting too much personal." He added.

"No, no there's nothing like that. It's just, I wanna be someone's first love and his last too. Practically that's impossible with him now." From deep down inside, I didn't mean my words completely, but certainly, I succeeded in covering-up my uncontrollable initial-crush on him, in front of Sam.

"O! So this is the matter, never mind. But you both could have made a very attractive-couple."

And this man was still hopeful.

Wow, a servant is trying to pair another servant against the boss, what kind of place is this?

Hmm...the days would be very exciting here.

He arranged the snacks on the table and pulled the chair, then went to bring my selected book. I sat placing the novel in front of me.

"I'll give you some privacy now."

"Okay." I replied thankfully.

"I'll be sitting at the entrance. If you need anything just call."

"Sure." I smiled gently but he still seemed puzzled.

"What is it Sam?"

"It's strange." He murmured in a very low tone...I still heard it.

"What?" I insisted.

"Chote-Hokum is surely a man with quite caring-nature. But, he never reacted like this for anyone before. It seemed like if you'd have got hurt he'd have felt the pain." He kept his thought. "Maybe I'm coming to the conclusion very soon but it appears you're important in his life. But you've just met, right. Weird." Scratching his head he completed his opinion and left. Sam also sensed something weird so it wasn't just me.

The snacks appeared toothsome and my stomach was already growling just like him. So, I gobbled briskly. While chewing, he and his super-weird love-story were all in my mind. To get rid of this conceptualization, I tried to concentrate on the opened-pages of that romance-fiction. But badly failed...as my mind was only in the mood of thinking about 'the guy' who was making me fall in love with his first sight. The way his steady yet intense eyes glared at me, was just unforgettable. The way he fought for a 'stranger-like-me' was completely unbelievable. I didn't know what was pulling me towards him but there was something for sure.

I pulled my gaze towards that floor-to-ceiling half-opened window. The night was getting black and blacker outside. Though, I wasn't seeing this kind of darkness for the first-time but it was something latest. My heart started pounding as if something was out there, dangerous, intended to kill me. It was normal for me to be crowded by alarming-thoughts seeing the night-sky. But it wasn't my routine fear, it was more. Every time along with my frightened-feeling, I was also sure that nothing was actually hiding in that darkness and it was merely my haunted-imagination. But this time I wasn't sure.

I felt something was actually present out there, willing to harm me. So many negative waves surrounded me, blocking my reasoning abilities. This was the first-time I felt like 'someone was calling me'. 'Someone' I should actually ignore if I wanted to live. This notion itself scared the hell out of me. In the next-beat, something slowly advanced towards me, from that extreme-darkness. Not seeable but I was a 100% sure something was getting closer to me. The fearfully pumping heart of mine proved the fact...that 'something' wasn't good for me. My heart was ready to jump out and I almost stopped breathing.

It is coming, coming closer...

Nothing is out there, stop panicking!

It is there and it's coming to me.

Came!

To be continued........