Kiara and Vijay rushing to get ready above.

kilig

(n.) the feeling of butterflies in one's stomach

Kiara bent over to grab her bag from the backseat of Emilia's car and stepped out, inhaling deeply to dispel her discomfort. She wasn't foolish enough to think the voices in her head would disappear but that didn't mean she would stop trying to expel them. She stopped at the door as she begun to lose her nerve and peered back at Emilia, now standing outside.

Emilia waved enthusiastically, "Go on, bitch! Show 'em who Sakshi fucking Harrison is!"

Laughing and turning back to face the door with a renewed confidence, Kiara looked ahead pensively while the camera moved in for a close-up before slowing to a stop in front of her as she resolutely knocked on the door. She remained frozen in place for a few moments, waiting for the crew to finalise their shot.

"And that's a wrap!," the director yelled.

The alarm sounded, indicating shooting had ended for the day as Kiara completed her final scene for this season. The entire room remained silent, giving Emilia and Kiara a moment to recollect themselves, before erupting in cheers. She hugged Emilia as they jumped up and down excitedly, joining the rest of the crew to celebrate. Clouds of rainbow confetti exploded from streamers as Hadley brought out a cake, gathering everyone around. She clasped her hands in front of her chest, eyes glistening as she acknowledged those involved for their tireless work. Everyone applauded as Hadley blew out the candles and began slicing pieces of cake to serve.

Kiara sat cross-legged on the floor between Vijay's legs, leaning back against his chest, and contentedly tucked into her slice of cake while Emilia and Henry sat beside them with their own slices of cake. Poorna and Jeffrey had finished filming their final scenes earlier this week so went home on the condition that they would attend the show's premiere afterparty. Vijay pulled his phone out as it rang, reading the caller ID, and instinctively tossed his phone to Kiara. She fumbled to catch the phone and tossed it right back to him, refusing to clean up his mess.

"Coward," Emilia snorted, flicking her perfectly curled brown locks out of her face.

He gave her the middle finger before answering the call and placing it against Kiara's ear, forcing her to converse, "Nargis? Hey, how are you?"

She widened her eyes, hitting his chest in panic as she tried to form a believable excuse for why he hadn't answered the call, "Um... Jay's at a doctor's appointment."

He furrowed his brows, looking at her incredulously as she provided more details, "He's getting a... prostate exam? Yeah, a prostate exam. You know... to make sure the tools function satisfactorily."

Occasionally humming in acknowledgement, Kiara pretended to listen as Nargis ranted before quickly hanging up and turning around to angrily hit Vijay's chest.

He flicked the back of her head, "Couldn't you think of anything else?"

"I wouldn't want you to have performance anxiety."

He gave her a deadpan stare as she puckishly added, "About corroborating my lie! She's tough."

"You're obvious."

"Don't worry, happens to the best of us."

She grinned widely and held her arms out for a hug in mock sympathy as he huffed in annoyance, refusing to encourage her, "You can do better."

She grimaced, "Ooh, is that what Nargis said?"

Henry shook his head in disappointment, raising a brow at their antics, as Kiara laughed heartily at Vijay's irritation. She tossed his phone back into his lap and pushed herself off the ground, taking his empty plastic plate and holding her hand out to collect anything else for disposal.

Juggling a stack of disposable plates, she warned, "Don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, but stupid is so much more fun," he whined.

She gave him a cutting look, "You plan on helping?"

He sarcastically countered, "I'd love to lend you a hand but, you know, wouldn't want me to do anything stupid."

Vijay wore a lop-sided grin on his face as he watched Kiara teeter over to the bin before realising it was almost time for them to start heading to the airport. They were scheduled to appear at the Lux Golden Rose Awards in Delhi and his agent, Nicole, had planned accordingly to include time for dance rehearsals. Unlike Western award shows, almost all Indian award shows consisted of numerous celebrity performances interspersed between the award ceremonies. This particular award show was established to celebrate the women of Bollywood so in keeping with the theme of 'HeForShe', a few male actors were chosen as hosts to honour their female colleagues and this year Vijay was one of said hosts.

In India, a 'Jodi' was the term used to label iconic on-screen couples or pairings so given their status as this generation's Jodi, the organisers immediately suggested Kiara should perform on-stage with Vijay. He tapped his wrist to remind her they were time-constrained but she simply raised a finger, silencing him, and continued talking to a few crew members. He cricked his neck impatiently and walked over, tugging her away by her hand as they left the venue. Unconcerned about offending anyone, he waved without looking back while she strained to address everyone, twisting around desperately along the way out.

She irritably ripped her hand out of his grip, "Just lug me around, why don't you."

He smiled roguishly and threw her onto his shoulder without warning, "Your wish is my command, sweetheart."

Carrying Kiara the rest of the way as she repeatedly hit his back, Vijay unceremoniously dumped her into his car before moving to get into his own seat. They had packed and prepared their suitcases this morning, storing them in the trunk of the car Nicole and Kabir had arranged to take them to the airport. She sifted through her handbag, preparing their passports and flight tickets as she grumbled about reaching Delhi late in the evening while he casually hummed. This was their standard procedure– Vijay monitored time while Kiara handled logistics. After a fifteen hour flight, multiple paparazzi ambushes and a pit stop at the local diner, they headed straight for their hotel rooms, longing for nothing more than to crash into their beds.

The next morning, Vijay silently unlocked Kiara's hotel room door and made himself comfortable on the bed as she slept. She rolled over, snuggling into his side, and rested her head on top of his chest.
He gently ruffled her hair, "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

She jolted away in surprise, covering up with the duvet before groggily whinging, "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry. If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it."

"Out."

"You were dreaming about me, weren't you," he glanced down at his shirt; "explains the drool."

A shrill ringtone abruptly disrupted the idyllic dawn as Kiara blindly felt around the bedside table for her phone. Unplugging it from the charger, she squinted at the caller ID before answering the call. Sitting up abruptly, she accidentally hit her head hard on the headboard as her brother's girlfriend, Kriti, fretted over his situation. Vijay reached out protectively, checking to see if Kiara was injured as she assured Kriti she would talk to him and hung up.

She sighed heavily, "Kunjettan's smoking again."

"Is the stash any good?"

"Stop being an asshole."

She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, calming herself down, "Could you talk to him? He looks up to you."

"Then he's screwed."

She observed his shifty demeanour, suspiciously, "You already talked to him, didn't you!"

"No."

"How'd you know?"

He slid off the bed, "Came to me in a dream. I was naked. You would've loved it."

At this stage of their friendship Kiara had grown accustomed to Vijay's flirty comments, knowing it was his way of deflecting or minimising situations.
She moved towards the edge of the bed, peering up at him, "Is he okay?"

"Well, he's not going to cure cancer anytime soon."

Noticing the worry line appear between her brows, he reassured her, "But he's fine."

She exhaled in relief while his eyes flitted restlessly around her face, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Liar."

"Liar?"

"Pants on fire!"

With great difficulty, Kiara eventually wrestled Vijay out of her room and changed into a sports bra and yoga pants. There were still a few hours before they had to leave, giving them enough time to meet downstairs in the gym for a quick workout. He instantly gravitated towards the weights while she focused on cardio before they both finished with some strength training and yoga.

She flopped down onto her yoga mat, rolling onto her side to face him, "How heavy are your weights?"

"Twenty-five to thirty kilos. Why?"

She got up and positioned herself under his set of weights, "I want to see if I can lift them."

He stood over her and lightly gripped the weight as she grunted, "What are you doing?"

"Helping you out, Schwarzenegger."

Struggling to hold the weight up, she growled, "Jay!"

He laughed and continued to hold the weight in place until she gave up, "Okay. Overestimated my strength."

Vijay laughed and easily lifted the weight to place it back on the stand, playfully slapping Kiara's ass as she walked away. She rummaged through her sports bag, looking for the floatie she made for him. Upon finding it, she folded it into a paper plane, aimed it at his back and threw. The paper plane connected with the intended target and he bent down to unfold it, laughing at the fantastical drawing. Wiping away rivulets of sweat, they gulped down litres of water and separated to their respective rooms to freshen up and eat breakfast.

A few hours later, Kiara finished calling her dad and was chatting to Jimmy when a text from Vijay popped up reading one simple word, 'SOS'. He was scheduled to have one final session with his choreographer before the Lux Golden Rose Awards so at the risk of waking up the one night stand in his room, he figured the woman would've left on her own while he was at the gym. Unfortunately she remained occupying his room, waiting for his return, so Kiara was his emergency backup plan.

Dreading the challenge she was about to face, she barged into his room shouting, "Hurry, hurry, hurry! We're late!"

She hastily shoved his cupboard open, grabbing the first two shirts she saw and held them up, "This or this?"

Vijay played along, frowning as if questioning why Kiara should even have to ask and pointed to the high-neck black fitted shirt. She handed it to him as Jimmy walked in with her makeup bag in hand. Taking the bag from him, she rushed into the bathroom to complete her own makeup routine. Checking in the full-length mirror, she touched up her mascara as Vijay stripped and changed into the fresh shirt, tucking it into his black khakis. He tugged on white sneakers to complete the look then sifted through his toiletry bag for some hair gel.

Smearing the gel in his palms, he jogged over beside her and bumped shoulders, "Move over, sweetheart."

She turned to him as he styled his hair and griped, "Just wait a second and I'll be done!"

He stopped what he was doing and faced her, "Couldn't you do that anywhere else?"

Pulling out a tube of lipstick, she huffed, "I'm almost finished, princess."

"You keep saying that but you're not done!"

"It's just lipstick."

She tucked her makeup bag under her arm and reached up to swat his hands away as she flattened his stubborn strands, "I'll do it."

"It's not my fault I woke up like this."

"Shut up, I fixed it."

He rolled his eyes, moving his head away from her hands, "Does it look fine?"

"Wait a minute."

He shook her hands off and shoved her away from the mirror, "Okay, it's fine! Hurry, hurry, hurry, I'm late."

Noticing Vijay struggle to button up his shirt, Kiara glanced at the woman still sat on his bed with her mouth open in confusion and shoved her bag into the woman's arms before buttoning his shirt up for him.
She hastily collected his rings and held them out for him, "Don't forget these."

"Wasn't going to."

She took her bag back as the woman spluttered out in irritation, "Excuse me!"

She turned to face the woman, giving her a once over as she took note of the walking advertisement for bad decisions sprawled across his mattress, "You're excused. The door's that way."

The woman reeled back, "Oh... Kiara Mathew. OH MY GOD, KIARA MATHEW!"

The corner of her mouth quirked, "Hi. Pleasure to meet you..."

He gestured to the woman, "Kelsey."

The woman gaped in offence, "Kelly!"

Facepalming himself, he corrected, "Right, Kelly."

Rolling her eyes and giving Vijay a disgusted look, Kiara stood on her tiptoes as she reached around him to fix the collar of his shirt while he repositioned her necklace.
Jimmy scratched his head and muttered, "And you wonder why people think you're dating."

Kiara turned, preparing to protest, when Vijay shoved her out of the room, muttering his goodbyes to the woman. She unlocked her hotel room door as they both scrambled in, plopping onto her bed and sighing in relief as they waited for Jimmy to guide the woman out of Vijay's room.

She sat up on her elbows, waiting for an explanation, as he rolled his eyes, "Don't give me that look, sweetheart."

"What look?"

"That look!"

"Sometimes you're the sweetest human being then you go and do some shit like this."

"Oh for fucks sake, Kirsty knew what she was getting into!"

She closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, "Kelly. Her name was Kelly."

"Well whatever the fuck her name was, she knows I'm not a cuddler."

"You could've gone about it another way. That's all I'm saying."

"I didn't want to offend her."

"And you think kicking her out the minute she wakes up is better?"

"No."

Sighing upon realising this was a conversation for another day, Kiara gathered her belongings as they prepared to leave. Exiting the hotel through the back door, they attempted to avoid paparazzi as their car waited to take them to the dance studio. She waited on the side-lines during rehearsal, watching in awe as Vijay perfectly executed the complicated dance routine, and occasionally joined in for fun.

After an exhausting two hour session, they returned to the hotel in the same secretive fashion before resting as they waited for their respective teams to prepare for the award show while Jimmy left to talk to the other staff members regarding security. The doorbell rang and Kiara trudged over lazily to check who had arrived. She opened the door, moving to greet Kabir, only to be shoved into a chair and swathed with various fabrics by her stylist, Tanya, as her hair and makeup artist, Elton, bustled around with an assortment of brushes and hair curlers. She bounced in her seat and sang along as 'Go Down Deh' by Sean Paul, Shaggy and Spice played through the speakers while the team flitted frantically around her.

Kiara felt slightly queasy as she slipped into the strapless nude mermaid gown and matching nude heels Tanya had chosen. Regardless of how many times she had performed on-stage, the butterflies in her stomach were always a constant but it comforted her to know Vijay would be right by her side. Kabir ran through the agenda and gave her a once over, nodding in approval.

She fanned her face with her hands as she blew out air in an attempt to dissipate her nervous energy, "What if I trip and fall on stage?"

He gave her a pointed stare as Elton painted her lips pink, "You won't."

"Or say something stupid."

"You won't."

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him, "You've done this a million times before and you've been fine. Now suck it up and go be amazing, little lady."         

Kabir quickly ushered Kiara out into the hotel lobby, giving her a moment to catch her breath before exiting the hotel as blinding flashes and shouts ranging from compliments to demands bombarded them. He guided her to their car and got in after her as Jimmy tried to keep the paparazzi at bay. They ran through the specific procedures on the way to the award show, laughing as Kabir attempted to imitate Vijay hosting.

Upon reaching, Jimmy stepped out first and made way for Kiara and Kabir to proceed into the building. They found their seats and she craned her neck to look around for Vijay, finally spotting him peeping out from backstage surveying the audience for her. They made eye-contact and he pointed to her before blowing a kiss to which she responded by pretending to grab it from the air and pressed it against her heart. 

Kabir watched in amazement as Kiara and Vijay conversed with each other wordlessly.  Vijay tugged his collar and lifted his chin inquiringly as she made a circular motion with her finger, instructing him to spin around for her. He twirled with his arms held out and looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. She pinched her fingers, kissed them, and tossed them away from her lips dramatically in a gesture of appreciation as he shyly covered his face with his hands. She laughed, shooing him away when the organiser announced they were about to begin televising.

Kiara whistled as she cheered Vijay on while he performed before introducing another actor on stage to announce the recipient of the first award. Each of the awards were creatively named to associate the noun commonly used to describe women, 'beauty', with other traits like determination and talent. Numerous energetic dance sequences and a few more award presentations later, he finally took his place at the microphone to announce the recipient of the 'Lux Golden Rose Unstoppable Beauty Award'. He opened the envelope containing the winner's name and when reading it, inhaled sharply before covering his mouth and backing away as he excitedly shouted.

Vijay ran back up to the microphone, unable to contain his exhilaration as he called Kiara Mathew on stage to collect her award. She grabbed Kabir's arm to steady herself as she remained frozen in shock while everyone around her clapped and encouraged her to go on stage. She snapped out of her surprised state and rose, still holding his arm for balance as she walked across towards the stage. 

Stopping before the stairs, she shook out her dress three times before walking up the stairs onto stage. It was a 'good luck charm' she did before any major awards or appearances, three times for each of her loved ones– Vijay, Karan and her father. She ran across stage without thinking twice, meeting Vijay in the middle as they hugged. He whispered congratulatory words into her ear and presented the award, guiding her towards the microphone as she said a few words.

While there were no time limits for acceptance speeches on Indian award shows, the hosts were instructed to organise their performances giving a maximum of five minutes for speeches. Hearing the title track from their movie, 'Judwaa', play towards the end of her speech, Kiara joined Vijay as they spiritedly performed some of their iconic dance steps from the music video.

*Kunjettan: Malayalam word for older brother but usually with a relatively small age gap

Third chapter doneeee! Please don't forget to vote and comment.