Sure, he’d had other emotions to work through before he’d fully handed Kaya's future to Arjun. He’d been protecting her for so many years, it had taken an unknown woman with pretty brown eyes and a filter-less mouth telling him to cut his losses, to truly let go. A wry grin graced his lips. From their very first meeting, Aditi had managed to get under his skin.
His track record of loving people was rife with issues, riddled with doubts and guilt.
He’d loved his father. His father died.
He’d loved his mother. She hated him.
He’d loved Nanamma. She’d suffered his mother’s wrath and had been, along with her husband, forced to leave her own home to keep the peace.
He’d loved Kaya. But only he knew that he’d hurt Kaya in ways she was unaware of, even today.
Now, he loved Aditi. And he was terrified. How could he not be? This love was easy, and he was unused to it being simple. It made him want to question it. Reject it.
He’d been ready to live a life alone, because he’d been exhausted with the complications of love. His experiences had given him no reason to trust his ability to love well, and in a way that would be reciprocated. Then, unexpectedly, Aditi had burst onto the scene and pranced right into his chosen solitude, filling the silence with her laughter.
His life was forever changed, and he had to try to figure out how to move ahead.
With her.
No sooner had he thought this than he heard movement behind him. He glanced back, slowly turning as his eyes were drawn to pretty feet emerging first from around the corner, covered quickly by a flash of silky material. He spotted a dainty hand adjusting the folds of the skirt so it fell perfectly. His eyes travelled up the length of her, taking in the soft curve of her hip as it came into view and the dip in her waist before it was covered by the open end of her saree. Whatever he’d expected, he hadn’t been prepared for this.
Focused on her saree, she walked towards him, her hair cascading down one side in a profusion of gentle waves, her footsteps accompanied by the sounds of the anklets he assumed she’d worn. She raised her head, her kohl-lined eyes catching his, and he was afraid she would know just by looking at him, what he felt.
How had he ever thought he could resist such a gorgeous human being?
How had he even entertained the idea that he could remain aloof from her?
He was an absolute idiot, he realised, unable to take his eyes off her for even a second. Months of effort and lying to himself about how he felt, when he should have given in at her first smile.
Perhaps the thought of her smile had etched one on his face too, because Aditi’s gait slowed, her mouth tilting ever so slightly in response.
“Look at you being such a well-cultured boy,” she teased, pointing to the design he’d just finished. She fixed her pallu over one forearm, gliding towards him. “You’ve been brought up so well. You cook, you clean, you pray, you make pretty kolams. Perfect husband material. Are you sure you don’t want to marry me?” she joked, expecting him to react as he’d done many moons ago when she’d first brought it up.
All he did however was watch her with that disconcerting expression that made her nervous.
Assuming that he was still not fully recovered from his bout of panic, she struck a deliberately exaggerated pose like the ones she’d seen in magazines, with her elbows sticking out in awkward angles. When he still didn’t laugh, she twirled once, asking him in a bright and breezy tone, “What do you think?”
“It’s. . ." Rian cleared his throat, trying to get words out. “You look beautiful.”
Surprised by his candor when she was trying to be silly, Aditi stared at him, unable to control the rush of blood to her face. She watched him pull out a small paper packet from the pocket of his kurta, and extend it to her.
Oddly nervous, she unwrapped the package to reveal thick strings of jasmine bunched together to form a heavy and luscious-looking gajra.
“For me?” she asked, glancing at him in surprise. Before she could take the flowers out, Rian held the garlandon one end. “Rian?” she questioned when he gestured to her to turn.
Aditi felt his body close in behind her, his warmth engulfing her. She felt the weight of the gajra settle against the back of her head when he delicately adjusted her hairpin to keep the flowers in place.
For a man as big as him, his capacity to be so sweet and gentle with her made her heart clench. The pads of his fingers brushed against the naked skin where her neck met her shoulder, and her breath caught. Unable to help herself, she threw him a glance.
“Perfect,” he murmured, running one knuckle down her cheek, utterly enchanted by her deep blush. “Now, you look perfect.”
Her body broke out in goosebumps, his husky declaration causing her gut to develop knots and her nipples to harden. She turned towards him, placing a tentative hand upon his chest. Was it her or was his heart beating hard as well?
The sound of Nanamma calling them had him taking a step back, gulping audibly as he pulled out his phone to instruct his driver to bring the car around.
Aditi, however, couldn’t move on from that moment.
She was wrapped in a feeling she couldn’t recognize.