CHAPTER 36
“I'm telling you, Yamini. Tina's face. I can still see it. The way she just stood there when Rani Suchitra said Maharani of Jogra.” Pooja pressed a hand to her chest. “I almost felt bad for her. Almost.”
Yamini stood barefoot in her studio, sunlight coming through the tall windows. The afternoon light hit the framed photographs along the walls—women in steel helmets, children outside factory gates, hands roughened by work but gentle when braiding a daughter's hair.
She had added three new photos to her collection since Pooja last visited.
Behind her, Pooja hadn't stopped talking for the last twenty minutes.
“It's been two weeks, Pooja,” Yamini reminded with amusement as she straightened a frame.
Two weeks had passed since Yamini was announced to the world as the new Jogra maharani.
“Some things deserve to be enjoyed longer.”
Yamini laughed. “Tell me about Goa. The destination wedding you organized.”
Pooja waved a hand. “The usual. Sunset. Beach. Flowers. It was nice I suppose. But the guest list was a bit boring. No royal brothers. No maharaja walking into a room and making everyone forget what they were saying.”
“You're impossible.”
“I'm accurate.” Pooja looked at the photographs on the walls. “Also, stop changing the topic. These are stunning. The steelworkers. The women. I keep telling you that this needs to be a proper exhibition.”
Yamini smiled. “There's still time. I haven't finished covering all the factories yet. A few units are still pending for the PR project.”
Pooja smirked. “How convenient. Married to the man and still assigned to photograph his factories.”
“I'm completely professional at work,” Yamini said.
It was true. She hadn’t gone into Bharat’s office during work. Even though she had been quite tempted to sit on his lap once again because he had told her not to the last time.
Pooja raised an eyebrow.
Yamini held her expression for exactly three seconds before the blush gave her away.
Pooja grinned. “You're thinking about him right now.”
“I'm working.”
“You're blushing.”
Yamini turned back to the wall and pretended to assess the spacing between two frames.
But as usual, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Since the announcement event, nothing had changed during the day.
Bharat Jogra was still exactly the same. He sat across from her at breakfast, reviewed documents, and gave instructions while she argued.
But at night, something had shifted.
He still arrived after midnight. He still carried himself with the same impossible control.
Yet now he kissed her.
She had never imagined that the cold maharaja’s kisses could be so hot.
Her cheeks heated, recalling the previous night’s kiss and what had followed.
“You're definitely thinking about him,” Pooja said. “You are practically combusting.”
Yamini threw a rolled piece of layout paper at Pooja.
Pooja caught it and laughed.
Yamini’s phone rang.
The sound cut through the playful air.
Yamini glanced at the clock. It was mid-afternoon.
She smiled at Pooja. “That’s probably the PR team or security.”
“Fine.” Pooja picked up her chai. “But later you're telling me everything.”
Yamini walked to the desk where she had kept her phone. She didn’t recognize the number. Unknown numbers usually meant PR teams or security calling from a new line. She picked up without thinking. “Hello.”
There was silence.
Yamini frowned, wondering if the line hadn’t connected properly. She was about to hang up when she heard something.
It sounded like an uneven breath.
“Yamini.”
Her hand tightened on the receiver. Every muscle in her body went rigid.
She knew that voice. She had listened to years of sweet-talking lies spoken in that voice.
It was Rahul. Her cheating ex-husband.