Chapter 2
“Ariya, you made it!” Stefan called out as she stepped into the lobby of the lodge the crew was staying for their time in the rainforest.
“Stefan, good to see you.” She put her arms around one of her favorite producers.
“You missed a killer arrival party last night,” he teased.
“Yeah, I couldn’t get off my previous assignment sooner.” She shrugged.
“I’m glad you agreed to work with me again.” He gently drove his fist into the side of her arm playfully.
“How could I not? You have the best assignments.”
“Awesome! I’m heading out to meet our guides. I’ll come by when I get back.”
“See ya, Stefan.”
Ariya wanted to catch up on some sleep after being on the plane for hours and then on a bus to the lodge. Based on the schedule Stefan had emailed her, the entire crew was going to scope locations for the two-hour TV pilot of the show. She was there for still photography and a story about the animal doctor who was the star of the show.
“Do you need help with your luggage, miss?” The friendly person at the front desk offered.
“I’m good, thank you!” She packed everything she needed in a small bag and all her camera equipment in another.
“Dinner is at seven, miss.”
“Sounds good.”
She gathered her bags and followed the directions to her room. The lodge was one of the newly-built structures in the area, but it was rich with character. The wood panels and locally made art pieces adorned the walls as she walked down the corridor to her room, following the map of the lodge that she was given at the front desk.
She stopped in front of the door of the room that was going to be her home for the next two weeks. The booming music she had heard as she walked closer to her room seemed to be coming from her room or the one next door. She got her confirmation when the door beeped open, and her ears resonated to the beat.
Her initial reaction was she was in the wrong room, but her card opened the door, and the resort map had the same number on the door. She stood at the door, her brain too tired to think of the next steps. A second later, she heard the faint sound of a sliding door as the music continued to boom.
Ariya took one step into her room, and her dark eyes met warm brown ones that seemed to be questioning her presence.
Veer Thakur, again?
“Can I help you?” The man standing in front of her with only a towel wrapped around his waist questioned her.
“This is my room.” She met the arrogance in his voice and manner.
“Is this a joke?” he spat walking toward the middle of the room.
She stood her ground as turned off the music on his phone before he picked up the phone and dialed the front desk. He did not attempt to cover his chest, and she got the feeling he was proud of the chiseled muscles that rippled under his glowing skin. His hair was damp from the shower and didn’t look as good as it did flailing around his shoulder, a short while back.
“This is Veer Thakur. I have someone claiming the room I’m in, as hers. What’s going on?” His voice emitted an annoying amount of arrogance that irritated and pissed her off further when she realized he was acting like a typical overconfident celebrity. He was an internet celebrity with his popularity growing every day, but his behavior didn’t give her a good first impression of him. She guessed from the expression on his face that he was told he was in the wrong room.
He hung up and walked toward her. “I guess this is your room. The front desk messed up. They will be here to move my bags.”
“Too bad you didn’t ask them for your room number,” she retorted softly when she didn’t sense any form of apology coming from him. She knew her remark surely irritated him based on the way his eyes seared her before he left the room to walk next door.
She heard him instruct the hotel staff who had made it to the door to move his luggage from her room. She smiled at the young man who was extremely apologetic for the inconvenience as he moved the bags out of her room.
Ariya shut the door and walked into the bathroom relieved that the bed was freshly made, and she could crash. The guy seemed to have arrived just before she did, as he didn’t have any of his bags unpacked. In a normal situation, she would have been more accommodating to the guy’s behavior, but she didn’t have any energy to be patient.
The bathroom smelled of him—spicy and masculine—and she opened the window to get some fresh air. She was looking forward to the assignment after she saw him on the horse, but after meeting the person who she was supposed to follow for the rest of the trip, her expectations burned to the ground.
Fifteen minutes later, her phone was ringing when she stepped out of the shower.
“Siri,” she smiled into the phone.
“You were supposed to call me as soon as you land.”
“I texted… I was in a hurry to catch my bus, and I just got here.” She rubbed the towel in her damp hair.
“How is the place? Don’t go out by yourself.”
Ariya laughed. “You are turning into Mom now. Mom was totally cool about my assignment.”
“Whatever! Did you see the doctor yet?” Siri asked.
“Yeah, he just left my room in a towel.” She snickered.
“Shut the front door!” Her sister was excited.
“He checked into the wrong room, and I’m not trying to burst your bubble, but he wasn’t super friendly.”
“No… He is an animal lover so how can he be unfriendly?”
“He is a celebrity, Siri.”
“Fine, is he as hot as he is in the pictures?” Her sister giggled.
“Yeah, the typical good looks…” She smiled at her sister’s enthusiasm. Veer had a lot of die-hard fans.
“Thanks for that! If he is as hot as you say he is, it is his birthright to be how he wants to be.”
“Anytime! Got to go.” She smiled hanging up the phone.
Ariya moved around her room as she unpacked her bags and heard the constant rumbling voice from the room next door. The rooms had connecting doors that made the conversations happening in the room next door seem closer. The animal doctor seemed to be talking on the phone, and she could pick up on the irritation and frustration in his voice but not the words.
She tried hard to tune his voice out and managed to, until she heard another voice, a familiar one, Stefan’s voice. Stefan maintained a calm tone while he attempted to pacify the other person. Ariya shook her head wondering what could upset someone so much not to contain their reactions.
Ariya was almost done unpacking when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the main door, but there was no one at the door, and the knocking continued. It took her a moment to realize the knock was on the connecting door.
“Ariya, open up.” Stefan’s muffled voice came through the door.
She opened her side of the door to find Stefan standing with his standard grin pasted on his face.
“I prefer the other door, Stefan,” she teased.
“You know how much I like annoying you.” He laughed and winked at her.
“Whatever!”
“I guess you’ve met your neighbor already but wanted to introduce Veer to you formally.” Stefan took a step into her room as Veer filled the large doorframe. Stefan was over six feet tall, and Veer was a good few inches taller than her friend. He was no longer in the towel and had a t-shirt that stretched over his mile-wide chest and casual shorts.
“Veer, meet your photographer, Ariya Dev. She is the best. We will get to a million followers real fast with her pictures.”
“She already started taking my pictures.” Veer nodded looking at her and reached out to shake hands. It was as if he was not interested in talking to other humans making Ariya wonder if that’s what made him a good animal doctor because he was one of the animals.
“Hi, Veer. Are you still upset you had to give up this awesome room?” she smiled and saw the wall of anger crumble as he shook his head smiling.
“I saw you taking my picture on the bus, and you showed up in my room, so I was convinced you were a stalker,” Veer confessed softly.
She laughed. “Is that what you were complaining to Stefan about before he knocked on my door?”
Stefan laughed shaking his head. “Veer got a call from a local senator’s office as soon as he landed with instructions on what not to talk about on the show.”
“What?” Ariya was clearly taken aback.
“It was a warning not to talk about climate change as part of the TV show,” Stefan grumbled.
“What do you mean warning?” Ariya felt a thread of fear twist around her.
“Well, they can’t cause any harm except for things like making our guides drop out.” Veer grumbled.
“We lost our guides?” Ariya looked at Stefan who nodded, gritting his teeth.
“I’ve been in the rainforest before. We should go ahead as planned,” Veer insisted.
“Veer, it’s not safe for the crew. It is very easy to get lost in the forest.” Stefan pushed back.
“I don’t want to waste time waiting around for a guide to show up,” Veer objected.
“Guess what, that’s why I wanted you to meet Ariya. You two can get started with the still photography… maybe in the village tomorrow?” Stefan encouraged.
Ariya looked at Veer, and his eyes were trained on her like he was reading her. “I can start working tomorrow.”
“Awesome! I’ll have the rest of the team scout the area with the locals at the lodge while I work on finding a new guide team or cajole the team that dropped out for more money.” Stefan smiled.
“Is six tomorrow morning too early for you?” Ariya was ready to go.
“Works for me.” Veer shrugged.
“I love you two so much right now.” Stefan put his arm around Ariya looking at Veer.
“Yeah… out of my room now,” Ariya teased closing the connecting door after Stefan.
“Ariya,” she held the door open when she heard her name roll off of Veer’s lips.
Veer came to stand by the door and looked at her for a moment. “Do you want to discuss the plan for tomorrow over dinner?”
Ariya didn’t like to work and eat at the same time unless her story was about the food she was eating. It was her first hour there, and she wasn’t going to tell him it wasn’t her preference. “Sure.”
“See you downstairs at 7:00 p.m.,” he declared and closed the door on his side even before she could respond. Just when she was starting to think the guy wasn’t as bad as she thought, he crushed his own image.