Chapter 9
couple of hours after Kaavi left, Neel sat in front of his laptop pretending to work, the glow of the screen doing nothing to help him focus. His mind kept going back to the conversation he’d tried to have earlier, the one that never made it past the wanting.
What he was trying to say was simple really: we need to talk.
Yes, it was easy to fall into old patterns, into each other. The chemistry had never gone anywhere. And maybe for the next few days, it was fine to let it happen. To express their passion, to hold onto whatever this was while they were in the same place.
But then what?
Was she coming back to Johannesburg?
Were they getting back together?
Those were the questions that actually mattered. And he had no answers. Did Kaavi want him back – not just in her bed but in her life?
Did she want to make their marriage work?
Was she willing to leave Rally?
Because the truth was that he couldn’t stay here. Rally was charming. It was easy. He liked meeting her family, liked the way people greeted each other wherever they went, liked being able to pop into the doctor’s rooms just to say hi to a friend. But it wasn’t his life.
His life was in Johannesburg, his company, his responsibilities, his rhythm. His family.
They weren’t talking about any of that.
Because if they weren’t trying to burn down the kitchen, they were burning the sheets.
And that just wasn’t enough to build a future on.
Kaavi read the email again, then leaned back in the chair, letting it settle in. It would be an opportunity, something big, glossy, and familiar. But wasn’t that part of her old life?
She didn’t miss modelling. Not really. She certainly didn’t miss the industry or the way it made her feel. She’d closed that chapter, or so she thought. But now she asked herself what she really had.
She was living in her cousin’s apartment. She wasn’t tied to anything in South Africa. Not a job. Not a plan. Not a future. Just Neel. And even that was up in the air. After all, he had said only one clear thing: chemistry.
Was that what they were doing now? Banking on chemistry? Was he going to fly in and out of Rally just to see her? Just to sleep with her?
Yesterday’s conversation, if you could call it that, still played on a loop in her head.
It had left her more confused than comforted.
She hadn’t told him that. Probably never would.
But the truth was, it irritated her. They weren’t speaking the same language.
Or worse, they were avoiding the real one.
Now this email, from a top design house asking if she’d model for a shoot in Miami, had landed out of nowhere.
And she was actually considering it. Three weeks ago, if someone had asked if she’d ever go back to the runway or step in front of a camera again, she’d have laughed and said never.
But her father had died. Her husband had reappeared.
Everything had shifted. And the fact that she was even thinking about saying yes scared her more than anything.
She quickly snapped her laptop shut as the girls shuffled into the conference room, all energy and chatter, buzzing for the next workshop.
Today was eyeshadow application, but Kaavi had something more in mind.
She wanted to talk to them about real beauty, the kind that came from confidence, from holding your head high, from meeting the world with direct eye contact.
Makeup was fine, fun even. But it wasn’t the point.
To her surprise, she was actually enjoying these sessions. They felt purposeful.
The workshop flowed smoothly. The girls asked questions, giggled and experimented with colours. Just as Kaavi finished showing them how to apply eyeliner, she got the feeling that someone was watching her.
She looked up.
Neel: leaning casually against the wall in a dark suit with his dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar. His eyes were on her. He smiled.
She smiled back, and just like that, damn, he was right. The chemistry? Still there. Still hot, still alive, still impossible to ignore.
She blinked herself back to the moment. ‘Okay, that’s enough for today, girls. I’ll see you tomorrow. If you can start packing up your kits … Everyone has transport home?’
A chorus of yeses.
Bags zipped. The chatter moved out the door.
The room was quiet. Just Kaavi and Neel.
She slung her laptop bag over her shoulder and walked towards him.
Neel smiled. ‘Hi. You’re a natural.’
‘Thank you,’ Kaavi said shyly. She wasn’t sure how much of the lesson he’d seen, but it felt good that he’d seen her doing something that mattered.
She gave him a quick once-over. ‘Productive day?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah. Now I’m going to take you up on your offer to show me the town. Show me Rally.’
Kaavi stepped back slightly, thinking. ‘Hmm … I know exactly where to take you. They serve the best cakes. Actually, everything they make is amazing. It’s called Come in Carmen. I just know you’re going to love it.’
‘Lead the way,’ Neel said.
They left The Grand Meyer and stepped out onto the street. The humidity wrapped around them like a stifling blanket. Neel tugged at his collar.
‘Should I go back up and change? Shorts and a T-shirt?’
Kaavi gave him a slow look, head to toe. ‘Nah. I like the way you look right now.’
He raised a brow. ‘Kaavi, are you really showing me the town or …?’
She laughed. ‘Don’t get any ideas. That’s not happening right now.’
Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
They strolled along Main Street.
‘Come in Carmen,’ Neel said, reading the sign ahead. ‘That’s an interesting name.’
Kaavi stopped in her tracks and looked at him, eyes lighting up. ‘Yes! I can finally play tour guide.’
Neel smiled at her, amused at her enthusiasm.
‘Okay, so just listen. I’m in full tour guide mode now,’ she said, starting to walk again. ‘So, Come in Carmen used to be a general dealer store way back when the town was just starting out. It wasn’t called that then, obviously. It was just The General Store. Very creative.’
Neel followed, listening as her voice picked up speed with excitement.
‘But the owner’s son,’ she continued, ‘he took a fancy … oh my God, did I just say “took a fancy”? Wow. I’m such a great tour guide.’
Neel laughed. ‘Can you get on with the story, Kaavi?’
‘Yes, yes, okay. So. The owner’s son fell for a new schoolteacher in town. Her name? Carmen.’
‘Wait, seriously?’
‘Yep. Carmen. Every morning, she’d walk past the store, and every morning, the owner’s son would be out front, smiling like an idiot, saying, “Come in, Carmen”. Like clockwork. Every single day. “Come in, Carmen”.’
Neel shook his head, grinning.
‘Eventually, the whole town started calling the store Come in Carmen because of him and how he said it. Finally, one day, she did. She went in. They fell in love. Got married. And now? Their grandkids run the place.’
Kaavi threw her hands up as if finishing a dramatic monologue. Neel nodded, impressed. ‘That is … quite a charming story.’
‘Well, obviously it’s a charming story because Rally is a charming town. I once told Sen, when I first moved here, that Rally reminds me of a town in a Christmas movie. Don’t you see it?’
She stood back, arms crossed, surveying Main Street like it was the set of some wholesome Christmas film.
Neel glanced around, hands in his pockets.
‘Oh, wait, so that makes you the hot CEO who’s come to town to shut down the cookie factory.’
‘Would that make you the small-town girl I’m supposed to steal away from Rally?’ He paused. ‘Because Kaavi, let’s be real. You’re no small-town girl. You can pretend all you want, but I know you.’
Her smile faded a little.
‘You’ve been around the world. You’ve stood under spotlights brighter than anything this town could dream of. You’ve felt the energy of cities that never sleep. And you cannot tell me, honestly, that you don’t miss it.’
She didn’t say anything. Just looked down the street, quiet now.
She thought back to the email sitting in her inbox.
Yes, she enjoyed playing the small-town girl.
The routine, the simplicity, the familiar faces.
It gave her a kind of peace. But modelling?
No. She didn’t miss that. Not the long shoots, the shallow conversations, the constant pressure to perform.
Still, if she was being honest, she did miss the pace of a city.
The buzz. The feeling that something important could happen at any moment.
Rally was good to her. It gave her space to breathe. But was it her forever? Probably not. Fun, yes. Healing, sure. But forever?
She wasn’t sure anymore.
Neel felt like kicking himself. He didn’t mean to ruin the moment.
Not now. Not when they had just started laughing again.
But even after they walked into Come in Carmen and ordered chocolate cake for her and strawberry cheesecake for him, he could tell she was different.
Not angry. Just quiet. Like she was looking at the place with new eyes.
‘Kaavi, did I offend you by saying you don’t belong here?’
She looked up at him, blinking fast, and he saw it: her eyes were damp.
‘Oh no, Kaavi. I made you cry. I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to.’
She shook her head. ‘Neel, this is the thing between us. You don’t have to say sorry every time I feel something. That’s what’s supposed to be real, right? We’re supposed to be real.’
He sat back, unsure.
‘I get what you were trying to say the other day,’ she continued.
‘That we’re doing this thing because of …
S-E-X.’ She spelled it out again, and he gave her a weak smile.
‘But you weren’t wrong. That’s how it started between us.
That was always the glue. But I want us to say things. To talk. Even if it hurts a bit.’
Neel nodded.