Kiara hanging out with the children above.

harana

(n.) men serenading a woman to express love in the language of song

Having taken Chris to every possible tourist attraction and go-to spot in India over the past few days, Kiara decided they could take a day off and was currently sat cross-legged on the floor as they wrapped gifts up for the local orphanage. She felt the Indian public's reaction both to her and their relationship overwhelmed him and knew how suddenly his anxiety flared up so wanted to offer some much needed respite from public scrutiny. Being well-accustomed to the protective nature of her fans, she expected their hackles to be raised at the sight of him beside her but the outpour of hatred had certainly stunned him.

Folding a corner over, he snorted, "You now people told me about how loved you were but I don't think I fully comprehended just how much the Indian public worships the ground you walk on!"

She raised a brow, "I don't know whether you're making fun of me or complimenting me."
"It's a compliment!"

"They don't worship me, they just appreciate my honesty and know I'll stand up for what is right."

"I've never seen fans react the way they do around you."

"Yeah but that kind of love can change to hate real fast. Being so emotionally invested in an actor and idolising them means the sense of betrayal when something small goes wrong is so much more magnified. They are so much more volatile because of it."

He smiled softly and nodded, "It's understandable though. It would be difficult not to love you."

"Oh really? Are you saying I'm easy?"

"Trouble, nothing about you is easy but everything about you is worth it."

Leaning over to embrace him, she brought their lips together for a heated kiss, "I love you."

Interrupted by Kiara's phone chiming, she stepped away reluctantly to check her messages and was shocked to see Kabir fully freaking out. Reading through his multiple texts, the common theme was him discouraging her from going online and reading the media's comments but she of course ignored his warning and dived right into the internet. Each hurtful accusation of him being a 'commitment-phobe' or the comments of him and Ana being their 'OTP' only added fuel to her growing doubts regarding their relationship so she locked her phone, closed her eyes and took a breath to relax before returning to the living room.

The minute Kiara stepped back in, Chris could tell something was wrong. Each of his loving words seemed to grate against her nerves and she stiffened whenever he touched her body. Having already been alerted by his own PR manager of the social media storm their relationship had caused, he almost immediately realised why she seemed so fraught but the sight of her downcast mood and uneasy frowns only further worried him.

Gently gripping her chin to tilt her head to face him, he playfully quoted her retort from an old interview, "I thought you never let the words of someone who's never lived a day in your life affect you?"

She sighed, "Don't mind me, I'm getting worked up over nothing. I swear to god I'm mad at you for something you haven't done."

"Thank God, you've realised."

"Wait a minute," realising he just parroted her own words, she gasped; "did you just repeat what I said about haters?"

"Uh huh."

"You've been watching my interviews?"

"Yep."

Scrunching her face in mock-disgust, she laughed, "You're obsessed with me, stalker!"

"No, I just loved you first."

"What do want? A prize?"

Shrugging innocently, he tried his luck, "Well if that prize is a kiss, then I'll have ten prizes please."

"You little opportunist!"

"I've already missed too many so yes, give it to me."

Turning to face him, she inhaled sharply as his piercing gaze focused on her and those breathtakingly blue irises seared into her soul, "Close your eyes."

Knowing his eye-contact always made her nervous and loving that he had that effect on the otherwise self-assured woman, he whined, "But I love looking at you."

Remaining firm in her requirement, she reiterated, "Close your eyes."

Smiling excitedly, he whispered, "Does that mean you'll kiss me?"

She leaned in closer as her breath danced across his lips and smirked seductively, "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

Shifting in his seat, he closed his eyes as he prepared, "Okay, trouble."

Moving until her lips were only a hair's breadth away from his, Kiara huffed a laugh at Chris' eager reaction before quickly pushing her body up and turning the other way to grab a pair of scissors. Knowing her intentions but somehow still falling for her trap, he shook his head and opened his eyes before deflating back into the couch in disappointment. He could do nothing else but laugh after reacting so predictably even with the knowledge that she loved being a tease.

Looking down at the tent in his pants, he called out, "I need a fucking cold shower now!"

Her melodic laugh didn't help the situation as she sauntered back in and bent forwards as he lifted to kiss her but she swerved his lips to peck his cheek and smiled, "Go ahead, I'm not going to stand in your way."

Groaning at the little vixen, Chris uncomfortably readjusted himself as he tried to think disgusting thoughts to distract himself from Kiara's toned legs now resting across his lap. He was in deep trouble if even the sound of her laugh turned him on. The corner of her mouth tilted up as she felt his member poke into her thigh and decided to bother him further, running a finger along his bicep and running her hands through his hair. It was torture to sit through her teasing but his last straw was when she started placing kisses on his neck.

Giving in, he brought his arms under her thighs and lifted her up to carry her with him into the bedroom, "Fuck it, you're working my last nerve."

She squealed and struggled against him, "We have to be at the orphanage in an hour!"

"I think I can make that work."

Half an hour later, Chris was in a much better mood while Kiara was left with a serious case of beard burn along her inner thighs. He leaned against the car as he waited for her and whistled lowly when she exited the house looking stunning in a short grey summer dress.

Pulling her body towards him, he rasped, "Shit, trouble, are you trying to kill me?"

Throwing her head back as she laughed, she pecked him, "Sorry!"

"I just managed to get rid of this boner and now I've got another one."

Eventually they made it to the orphanage as Chris lugged the stacks of presents in while the children all ran up to Kiara excitedly screaming and gathered around to hug her. Following the commotion, the founder came over to introduce herself to them and took a few photos for social media promotions. Her eyes lingered unnecessarily longer on his muscled form as Kiara tensed at the unwelcome attention but wisely chose to look the other way. At this stage of their relationship, she had become familiar with the female attention he seemed to garner wherever he went but that didn't make it any easier when it happened before her. Inhaling deeply as the woman started getting handsy with him, she concentrated on the children and handed out the presents.

One of the boys ran off to the stereo to turn on some music as the catchy tune of 'Chikni Chameli' blasted through the speakers and the children poked Kiara, urging her to dance for them. Giving in to their demands, she slowly rose to her feet and began shimmying to the beat as they joined in. They copied her moves, bursting out in laughter as she hopped up onto the table and hilariously busted out into 'the sprinkler'. Enthusiastically swaying her hips as she danced with each child, they all froze mid song upon turning to find Chris beaming adoringly at her.

Realising the children wouldn't go back to dancing unless he did something about it, Chris unexpectedly broke out into his own set of comedic dance moves and made his best attempt at singing along as he serenaded Kiara. The kids collected around him and started dancing along as she remained unmoving and gaped at him, equally surprised at his participation and in awe of his ability to make anyone comfortable. Jimmy and one of the other volunteers gently nudged her to go join him, shaking her out of the shocked stupor as she danced up to the group while they made way for her to join Chris. The couple matched one another's dance moves as they circled each other playfully until he paused to watch her jump around with the kids just in complete adulation of her.

Realising he wasn't dancing anymore, she raised a quizzical brow at him, "You okay?"

Grinning widely, he grabbed her waist to pull her against him, "With you around? Always."

Looking around to make sure people weren't staring, she blushed profusely and hid her face in his chest, "Shut up."

"Why are you getting shy on me now?"

"Because you're making me nervous!"

"Really?"

"I think you take some sort of sadistic pleasure in making me feel this way."

He squeezed her hip and let her go, "Now why would I want to do that, trouble?"

Keeping in mind that today was his last day, Chris made it his mission to memorise every one of Kiara's quirks and habits as they spent the remainder of today in each other's company. Recounting tales of her father and his amazing escapades, she managed to further intimidate him for their inevitable meeting but she of course impishly joked that would never happen, citing that she was much too uncommitted to him to take such a huge step in their relationship.

By the time this evening rolled around, Chris was already packed and ready to go as Kiara clung to him in a lame attempt to prevent him from leaving. While he would've preferred to stay for a few days longer, his filming schedule only gave him so much time for breaks and he already felt horrible enough stalling his castmates' time for personal reasons.

Before they left for the airport, Kiara watched curiously as Chris pulled Vijay aside for what appeared to be an intense heart-to-heart conversation. While the two men had grown much closer over the past few months, she had never expected it given her best friend's track record with his previous friendships. 

Stunning her completely, they embraced each other for a drawn out few seconds before meeting her outside. She quirked a curious brow at Chris but he simply skirted around her questions with frustratingly vague responses so she finally gave up on poking and prodding. Trying to extend their time together, she drove at a snail's speed while distracting him with constant conversation but he eventually caught on to what she was doing and shot her disapproving frowns until she changed gears. After a tearful goodbye, the couple eventually broke apart as she waved and watched him walk further away into the airport.

Picking up where she left off, Kiara returned to set the next day as the cast dived headfirst into filming for Shiva. She was grateful for the brief hiatus, thanking her colleagues for complying with her request so she could take some time to spend with Chris. Relaxing outside her trailer, she kicked her feet up across her chair as Vijay reclined beside her while Ram and Tarak walked over to join them. Having only spent a few weeks together, her colleagues had only just begun to understand the different people in her life. While there were a multitude of other actors involved in this project, she only filmed scenes with this group of actors so had built strong friendship bonds with them over the past few weeks. She found herself feeling more and more comfortable around them, speaking to each other about the differences in cinema for different regions of India.

Much to Kiara's surprise, Rajamouli had taken a liking to Vijay and somehow grew to understand the troubled actor. So much so that over the past few weeks, she noticed slight changes in her best friend and attributed his recent calmer outlook to Rajamouli's pearls of wisdom and silent guidance. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a police officer making his way over to the group as loud commotion erupted when producers and assistants tried to obstruct him.

Stopping in front of Vijay, the burly officer spoke Hindi in a bored tone, "Vijay Kapoor, you're being called to the police station for questioning. Get in the car."

Vijay simply smirked, "What for, officer?"

"There's been a report for a man soliciting with known gang members in a vehicle matching your car's description. So we'll just need to check your license and ask a few questions."

"So you immediately conclude it's Vijay?," Tarak exclaimed.

"It's just proper protocol."

Not wanting to make it a bigger ordeal, Vijay reasoned, "Alright, would it be okay if I came by in a few hours?"

The officer grew increasingly frustrated, moving to grab him, "No, right now would be ideal."

Shrugging off the officer's hostile grip, he frowned, "Yeah, okay but soliciting with gang members?"

The officer scoffed, "Don't act all innocent now. You spoilt actors seem to think being rich and famous makes you superior somehow but look at you now. Just a bunch of street thugs parading around in fancy cars and expensive clothes."

Initially Kiara had planned on staying out of the argument as she assumed it would be a harmless trip to the police station but with his increasingly aggressive approach, she feared it may be the start of something much more sinister.

Bristling at his tone, she slowly rose to stand and blocked the officer's path to him, "Hello," she read his name badge; "Officer Murthy. Given that this is your third time trying to arrest him, might I suggest taking him off the ANPR registration?"

"And how might you help, little lady?"

"I'm his lawyer."

Rubbing his thumb along his lip, he intrusively perused the length of her body as he took note of the heavy jewellery and royal gold lehenga she was wearing for the movie, "Lawyer. Alright. No more lawyer attire there, I see?"

Vijay tensed as Ram raised a brow at the blatant disrespect while Tarak looked saddened at the normality of it all, but she restrained the disgusted shiver and cocked her head to the side, "Well, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Can you explain what you intend to do, Officer Murthy?"

Ignoring her completely, Murthy turned to face Vijay and huffed, "Since this interaction occurred in your car, we'd just like to take a look around. Please hand over your driving license."

Vijay shook his head, "I don't consent to my vehicle being searched."

Supporting him, she added, "Unless there is due suspicion of my client carrying illegal illicit possessions, you have no right to search his vehicle."

Remaining unfazed, Murthy decided to switch tactics, "Have you smoked any cannabis or taken any illicit drugs in your vehicle?"

He laughed in disbelief, "I guess we're using the old 'I can smell cannabis' schtick now," he dug around his back pocket and pulled out his wallet; "Here's my driving license."

Officer Murthy snatched the documentation and pretended to thoroughly analyse it as if someone as prolific as Vijay would walk around with a fake ID.

She squinted at Murthy in confusion, "Are you at all familiar with the law, Officer Murthy?"

He narrowed his eyes, "I'd like to think so, how about you?"

"Well, I am a lawyer."

"So you keep saying but I've yet to see any proof."

Tarak piped up, "She doesn't need to prove anything. Especially not to you."

Smiling in thanks at his support, she sniffed, "Now, you've checked my client's details so is he free to go or are you detaining him?"

"Well we'd like to look around his car."

"Are you arresting him, Officer Murthy?"

Murthy stared at her for a moment then sighed, "Not at the moment but we have our suspicions so searching the car would assist–"

"What suspicions?"

"As I've already said, the vehicle and your client match the descri–"

Gesturing to the driving license, Vijay interrupted, "You planning on giving those back?"

"Of course," breathing in deeply to control his rage, Murthy handed the documents back.

She rolled her eyes and drawled, "According to the Criminal Procedure Code of India, warrantless vehicular searches are only applicable if you have probable cause to believe any contraband is present in said vehicle. Do you have evidence regarding my client and possession of illegal contraband?"

Clenching his jaw, he grit out, "Not really."

Smiling in satisfaction, Kiara nodded her head to Vijay as he flopped back into his seat but frowned when Murthy remained in place.

Quirking a brow, she reverted to English and retorted, "Unless you're in the process of taking my client off the ANPR registration, I believe we are done here, Officer Murthy."

His muscles flexed with annoyance, "I'm just making sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening here."

Crossing her arms, she stood straighter, "If you continue trying to intimidate my client, I will sue for compensation."

"And how's that?"

"For stress and undue time delay," she quipped matter-of-factly.

"Sure."

She placed a hand on his arm, face contorted in mock-sympathy, "Your inarticulate rage, though understandable, is misplaced."

"There's no rage."

"That vein pulsing in your temple begs to disagree but if that's not rage, might I recommend seeing a doctor?"

"You're the one who needs to see a doctor."

The group fell silent at Murthy's outburst, sensing the deep undercurrent of anger in his posture and voice. Tarak barely flinched while Ram shifted uncomfortably in his seat and held his breath. She, however, remained completely unfazed as Vijay readjusted himself and leaned forwards threateningly.

She gasped jokingly, "Officer Murthy, you seem distraught."

Murthy grumbled, "You think?"

"Oh, very often. You should try it sometime!"

"Just get your client to the police station to clear this up or I'll charge him for driving under the influence."

"It was only apple juice."

"Well your client sure didn't seem to act like it."

"My client being an idiot isn't against the law."

"Listen here, girly, I'm not letting him off the hook so be prepared to see him in cuffs."

"For what? Stealing the day-care's buzz?"

Tarak snorted in amusement as Murthy glared at her and replied, "I'm sure he'll be right at home in Central Jail."

"I'll just file a motion to dismiss."

"Tough luck getting the judge to rule in your favour."

"I will succeed but if something were to go terribly wrong and the motion is denied, I'll just file another one for seeking to obtain an evidentiary ruling in advance."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, and another one for pretrial confinement."

"You little b–"

"Have fun burying yourself in a year's worth of paperwork because your diminished brain capacity couldn't retain basic criminal law and your fragile ego couldn't handle being wrong."

For one tense second, everything seemed to go still as Murthy focused his odious gaze onto Kiara. The noise of a chair scraping against the floor sounded from behind her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood as if sensing the impending wrath he was barely leashing. Leon slowly rose to his full height, easily towering over her as he turned his menacing scowl onto Murthy in warning. For once in his life, Vijay stood in solidarity with Leon as he too stood beside her while Jimmy stepped out of the shadows and growled in distaste. That finally got the officer moving as he realised any move on her would mean having to deal with three large violently enraged men who were all equally protective of the tiny woman before him.

Releasing a frustrated grunt, Murthy walked away and mumbled incoherent insults under his breath– none of which bothered Kiara in the least. Leon made eye-contact with her, seeming to gaze through her as he searched for any signs of distress before relaxing when he found none as both Ram and Tarak shot her concerned looks while reassuringly giving her side hugs. No one noticed the slight tremor in her hands as they shook at the thought of standing toe-to-toe with the prejudiced police officer.No one noticed the waver in her stance as she collapsed into her seat. Because to them, she was the People's actress– resilient, tenacious and infallible.

Done with the next chapterrrr! Hopefully it's good!!