Eeep! This is my first Royal Pains story so be nice. This story centers around Divya and her relationship with Evan, Adam, and Jill.
Real quickly, I'd like to thank my beta .SING for giving me awesome suggestions to help me with this story.
Enjoy!
Divya had never been so uncomfortable in her life.
The zipper was jamming into the small of her back and the corset her mother had insisted on adding to the dress was suffocating her. She stepped out of the dressing room in her wedding dress, looking annoyed and slightly in pain.
"It looks beautiful dear," her mother smiled. "Why do you look so…"
Rubina Katdare trailed off and gestured to the expression on her daughter's face.
"Because," Divya replied, her voice growing slightly tenser as she turned around and showed her mother the dress malfunction. Rubina and the dressmaker, Aashka, gasped.
"This is a very bad omen," Rubina declared and Aashka agreed with a nod. Rubina pulled out her phone and began dialing.
"Mummy," Divya began but her mother shushed her and mouthed, "It's my spiritual advisor."
Divya turned back into the dressing room and changed into her looser dress. She left her mother's Hamptons Home and headed to Boris' guesthouse.
Her timing could not have been worse.
Evan sat alone, not noticing Divya's presence. From the looks of it, he was making a PowerPoint slideshow for another horrendous staff meeting. She sighed. There would be no Hank to defend Divya's points on Evan's idiotic plan to "help" HankMed. Divya dropped her purse on the table silently and then her portable ultra sound from her last patient rather loudly, the noise lurching Evan out of his computer trance.
"Jeez, you scared me half to death," he said. "Divs, don't ever do that again."
She shrugged and walked over to Evan, her fuchsia pumps clicking on the tile floor and her colorful dress swaying with her movements.
"Let me guess," Divya began. "This is for the staff meeting?"
Evan grinned and changed into his cheesy-desperate-salesman's voice.
"Yes. This new innovative marketing will boost HankMed to the most trusted and wanted concierge doctor in the Hamptons."
"We're the only concierge doctors in the Hamptons," Divya pointed out.
"Not anymore," Evan handed her a business card that stated:
Dr. Emily Peck
Concierge Doctor
"That little…" Divya trailed off, because some of words she wished to use about Dr. Peck were not suitable for anyone's ears.
"I know," Evan said, sympathetically.
"Not to be rude…" Divya began. "But, no, you don't know. She's a schmoozing, elbow greasing, gossiping little socialite!"
Evan took a step back, slightly scared by Divya's new anger.
"Divsy, she's not staying for long, don't worry." Evan stepped forward placing his hand on Divya's arm in a calming manor.
"Worried, why would I be worried?" Divya said hastily, trying to calm her anger that was now mixed with shock due to Evan's sort of embrace... After a moment, she blurted out, "I need to go meet Jill."
She rushed out her door trying to catch her breath. There was a new feeling in Divya's chest. She texted Jill quickly, saying to meet her at the Jasmine Cabana.
"And then…" Jill asked her friend. "What's the big deal, he touched your arm?"
"It's not the action, it's how it…made me feel," Divya let the words slip from her mouth. Jill seemed stunned. Divya had never been one of those women who just yacked on about their feelings. She had never even discussed her feelings about Evan in her own mind. He was not a topic of love for her.
"Well…it's Evan. So, disgusted, anger, annoyed…?" Jill trailed off, waiting for Divya to respond.
"No, I felt…complete." Divya said quietly. "I felt like someone…actually loved me."
"Damn, Divya," Jill slammed her hand on the table lightly. "Evan? Really?"
Divya's face fell and her head dropped to her palms.
"I'm horrible." She declared. "I mean, Raj is perfect and how great am I? I go off and fall for Evan."
Jill rubbed her shoulder and assured her friend that everything would be ok. Even though what she said was an obvious lie, and Divya knew it, it somehow made Divya feel better.
Breaking the emotional moment, Divya received a text from Evan.
"Business meeting. The 177 House. 6 pm."
A business meeting at one of the most romantic restaurants in the Hamptons?Maybe,Divya thought. Evan felt something too,
Divya shook the idea out of her head. Evan was dating that girl. Pam? Peyton? Paige. That was it. That blond bimbo that was paying Evan, her Evan, to date her. What. A. Slut.
"What am I thinking? My Evan? Never mind, she's not a slut…really nice, actually," Divya mumbled. Jill stared at her and excused herself as Divya rambled on while checking something on her phone
"Oh, sorry," Divya said, looking up at Jill and exiting her little world. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jill."
Divya rushed out the door and looked at the text message again.
Business meeting. The 177 House. 6 pm.
6 o'clock was only two hours from now. Never mind Divya's unprofessional thoughts about Evan, she had a patient to get to.
"Where is the pain?" Divya asked the woman, Tally.
"There isn't really any pain anymore," Tally responded. "Adam is just worried."
"Adam. Is that your…" she trailed off. As soon as she said that, a handsome, blond-haired man walked in.
"Her employer," the man, Adam, she assumed, said. "Hi, I'm Adam."
He shook Divya's hand and Evan was immediately forgotten, all the feelings she discussed with Jill earlier were gone. They were replaced with the feeling of blood rushing through her veins as soon as Adam touched her. She smiled brightly at him, but soon realized that she was being unprofessional by flirting with him. She cleared her throat, losing her smile, and turned to Tally.
"Let's give you a check up," Divya suggested.
"Where's Divya?" Evan shouted to his brother while adjusting his tie.
"She's meeting us at the restaurant," Hank called up the stairs. "Speaking of which, why are we going to The 177 House? Isn't that a romantic place?"
"Uh, yeah," the younger sibling answered while coming down the stairs. "I told Paige we'd go to dinner, but you said we needed to have this meeting,"
"Fine, let's go," Hank said.
The two Lawson brothers grabbed their wallets, Evan his laptop and three binders, and headed to Hank's car.
"Shotgun!" Evan yelled.
"Evan, there's no one else here," Hank said.
"Still, you have to call shotgun," Evan replied, getting in the car and buckling himself in to the front seat, since he called shotgun.
"It's the basic rules of shotgun, dude," Evan continued as Hank started the car and tried to ignore his younger brother.
However ignoring Evan was quite impossible. He spent the entire ride explaining the rules, regulations and cheating penalties. Yes, one can somehow cheat in the so-called "game" of shotgun.
Arriving at The 177 House was by far the best part of Hank's day, mostly because it made Evan shut the hell up.
"Welcome to The 177 House, do you have a reservation?" A hostess dressed in a red dress strapless dress, whose name was apparently Melinda, asked the two brothers.
"Lawson for four," Evan answered.
Melinda smiled. "Right this way," she said, leading them to a table near the back to the restaurant with a white tablecloth draped over the circular table. "Can I can you gentleman a bottle for the table?"
"1955 Chardonnay," Evan responded almost immediately. He saw his brother's questioning look and explained, "Paige's favorite,"
"Ah," Hank said, sarcastically. The sarcasm was lost on Evan, at the moment, for Divya walked in, looking gorgeous. She wore a periwinkle dress down to her knees that swayed with each step and her matching heels continued to click as she walked over to the table.
"Hello, Hank," Divya smiled politely, then turned her head to Evan. "Evan."
She sat down and noticed the fourth chair at the table. "Who's joining us?"
"Paige." Evan said. Divya raised her eyebrows.
"You're inviting your girlfriend to a business meeting?" Divya asked rhetorically.
"Yes," Evan replied. "And there she is now!"
He pointed to the blonde socialite texting avidly on her Blackberry. Paige looked up and smiled at Evan. Her smile faded slightly when she saw that Divya was at the table
"Evan," she hugged her faux beau and turned to the other guests. "Divya, Hank,"
She nodded at the two before Evan escorted her into the chair opposite of Divya.
"Evan can I see your phone, I want to see if the internet is working here or if my phone's just being a major spaz," Paige giggled slightly. Everyone at the table could tell Paige was up to something but Evan was completely oblivious. He was already pulling out his sleek cell phone and handing it over. After a minute of clicking, she handed the cellular device back to her boyfriend.
"Thank you," Evan said. He turned to his co-workers. "Shall we begin?"
"Sure," Hank and Divya groaned in unison.
Evan jabbered on about one thing or another and Hank and Divya pretended to listen as they checked their emails under the table. Halfway into the presentation, Divya's cell phone vibrated with a text from an unknown number. She opened it cautiously only to reveal a message that brought her back into reality.
"He's mine. Back. The Hell. Off. –Paige"
Paige was right. He was with her. What was the point? She had Adam. No, Adam could not be hers; she was supposed to have Raj.
Damn you, Love.