Autumn was beautiful in Milan. The weather was mild, requiring a mere light jacket. Pink, orange, red and burgundy leaves were floating towards Mother Earth forming beautiful wave patterns. Khushi checked into her room at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Milan. The hotel was breathtaking. Made from four adjoining 18th-century buildings that were completely designed in Cathedral style, one could easily mistake it for an ancient relic. But one look inside and you could be pleasantly surprised. It had all of the modern amenities - luxurious rooms, wifi, an indoor swimming pool, and a fine dining restaurant. It was personal, unlike the 5-star franchises, all of which tended to be the same.

Khushi liked it. While she was checking in at the reception, she spotted a huge bouquet of the most exquisite Orange Ton and Forever Susan Asiatic lilies. She sauntered over to the bouquet while the receptionist finished checking her in and gently caressed a petal.

"Isn't it beautiful?", a familiar voice stated in the background?

"Aman", squealed Khushi, reaching out to bear hug him. "It's so nice to see you!"

"Whoa, Khushi, relax", chimed Aman, although his face sported a huge smile. "It's only been three weeks and you're acting like we're meeting after three years!"

"I know, but it does feel like three years..."

The mere mention of time brought back memories of a certain someone who had turned elusive. Not wanting to dampen her spirit with futile thoughts, she turned her attention to the bouquet. The entire revue had not gone unnoticed by one particular person who was looking over it from the balcony.

"Damn...," he muttered under his breath to no one in particular. Then he put on his aviators and strode down to the reception to instruct them to give Khushi the room adjoining his.

****

If there was any country that ASR should consider migrating to, it should be Italy, concluded Khushi Kumari Gupta, merely three hours after checking into her hotel suite. The room was luxurious, with a window that overlooked a lush green garden, randomly strewn with tables and chairs where people sipped their beverage and enjoyed their book or pleasant conversation. Her room had a sleek modern desk fitted with a lamp. The bathroom was luxurious with double sinks and a large walk-in shower. The floor of the entire bathroom was laid with black granite with beautiful silver veining.

Khushi promptly opened the curtains in her room to let sunlight in, organized her wardrobe and drawing materials on the desk, unpacked and took a long hot shower. She then called room service to order a nice cup of tea before she rested a bit. They had their first face to face meeting with their partners in the evening and Khushi wanted to bring her A-game to it.

"What?" mumbled Khushi, mere minutes after she had carefully explained to room service what she wanted. The attendant on the other end of the phone understood very little English and Khushi spoke practically no Italian.

She tried again. "I want tea, black with milk and herbs."

"Non senora, niente te, solo caffe", he said, his voice laced with the thick Italian accent that made it difficult for Khushi to comprehend the true essence of his statement.

"I don't want to go to cafe, I want to order tea in-room service," she tried again.

"Niente te, solo caffe," he repeated, his voice getting agitated.

"Okay, I will go to cafe. Grazie" said Khushi and hung up.

10 minutes later, as she was getting ready to leave her room in search of a cafe, she heard a knock.

"Room service senora", said the man who was wheeling a cart.

"Grazie," replied Khushi, beaming.

"Enjoy Senora", said the man and closed the door behind him.

Rubbing her hands in glee, Khushi proceeded to fill her extra-large size cup to the brim, when the aroma of the beverage unmistakeably hit her. Room service had sent her black coffee instead of tea!

****

"Self-respecting Italians don't drink tea", said the edition of Lonely Planet that she now carried around with her, like a bible. It had been five hours since she arrived in Italy and she was being deprived of a basic cup of tea.

"I don't understand what kind of civilization prefers drinking espresso coffee to the flavourful tea", she muttered under her breath, to no one in particular. As she kept walking down the street, with no particular destination in mind, she came across a tiny cafe. Deciding to try her luck, she approached the gentle old lady who was busy rolling dough to make pastries.

She walked in and tentatively asked: "You speak English?" And then in an attempt to make the woman understand further, she added, "Inglese?"

"Si ma molto poco", replied the woman. When Khushi stared back at her with a blank look in her eyes, she tried her best to translate, "Very little".

Khushi brightened up. "I am looking for tea. Do you have any tea?"

The woman didn't serve any tea in her cafe. "But I can make you some, Cara", she said. "Mi figlia ...daughter...she keep Inglese tea, she like very much. I prepare for you if you like."

Although Khushi didn't completely follow what was being offered, the mere fact that she was going to finally drink tea in this foreign land was enough for her.

"Yes please", she said with the sweetest smile on her face.

******

"Posso avere una tazza di caffe per andare, per favore?"

The voice was too familiar to be ignored and Khushi peeped from the corner of the little cafe where she had made herself comfortable and was blissfully sipping on her tea.

Clad in a Raisin Black Dolce and Gabbana creation, he was exuding his usual raw charm. The old lady quickly began making his coffee. Arnav took the opportunity to glance around and spotted a lone figure sitting in the corner of the empty cafe. Dressed in a dark brown button-front A-line skirt and a cream-colored chemise, her hair curled in an unruly fashion and a hint of red on her lips, she looked marvelous.

"Tuo caffe", the lady's crisp voice reverberated through the air breaking the wishful direction his imagination was leading him towards.

"Grazie," he replied, taking the coffee from the lady. He looked back at Khushi again. It was evident that she was trying very hard to ignore him. He walked up to her, sat down opposite and waited, patiently for her to acknowledge him. She continued sipping her tea, adamantly refusing to meet his eye and give him the satisfaction of a win.

Finally, he spoke. "What are you trying to do Khushi?"

There was a certain softness to his tone, which melted all of her defenses.

"Unsuccessfully trying to ignore you."

"When you know you're not doing well, why try?"

She sighed, frustration evident. Picking up her purse, she dropped two Euros on her saucer and began to make her way towards the door, when Arnav gently tugged her hand. The force was enough to land her straight on his lap.

"Mia Cara..." his whisper barely audible. When she looked at him confused, he gently tucked a wayward curl behind her ear while asking her, "What's bothering you?"

She was not immune to his charm. She sighed, looking away, not wanting him to see how badly he affected her.

"Tell me," he cajoled. She looked into his eyes with tears welling in her own, threatening to spill out at any time.

"For three weeks you ignored me like I didn't exist on the planet. You told Jade Ji you didn't want to talk to me, you had Vishal Ji walk me through the changes in my design and you adamantly refused to open your doors when I wanted to talk to you.

"You were supposed to fly back to New Delhi with me, but you chose to not turn up at the airport, and didn't even have the courtesy of letting me know that you weren't going to come, ever!"

Khushi was screaming. She was angry and hurt and as she had realized in the last three weeks, was dangerously attracted to the wrong person.

"Until when?", she questioned.

He looked at her quizzically. "Until when what?"

"Until when will all this go on? Until when you decide, you don't like me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Until when you decide you don't want to have anything to do with me?"

"Khushi, you're not making any sense."

"Until when you decide you're done with me? Until when Arnav? And what next?"

A hint of a smile contoured his lips. She had dropped her proverbial ji. His smile aggravated her further. "Today, after three weeks of keeping me on the shelf, you seem to have decided that I am your favorite toy. But until when? Until when do I have, to pick up the pieces of my broken heart and put them all back together if they will stick? Until when, before I find out that that I am back on the shelf? And will I find out? Or will you just ignore me pointedly and let me figure it all out for myself? And what is the guarantee that you won't change your mind after that? Just like you did today?"

And tears that were being held at their source by sheer force of will broke loose, streaming down her cheeks. She fiercely wiped them with the back of her palm and continued.

"Arnav, I'm having a headache. I need to leave. Could you please present my regrets at this evenings' meeting?"

And before he had a chance to respond, she fled the Cafe, to the safety of her own hotel room. There, she could cry in peace and lament over her fate. Beauty had once again fallen in love with the Beast!