So, for the second time in twenty-four hours, Vera slipped away, leaving Vihaan teetering on the precipice of frustration and desire.
If she knew how easily she stripped away his focus from everyone who wasn’t her, she’d use it against him.
If she knew how close he’d gotten to admitting he’d unwittingly kept count of the days since they’d broken up, he’d become a fool for her again.
He could never let her know. And the only way to do that would be to avoid her.
So, fuck his curiosity and to hell with his attempt to understand why their interaction in the archives room had felt so life-changing. Like a part of him had been unravelled after decades of being hidden under layers.
He was going to stay far, far away from Vera, and he’d start immediately by distracting himself. He already had a dinner planned with friends. But after that, he was going to find himself a woman to spend the night with. Or the weekend with. He was going to lose himself doing debauched things that were too depraved and shameful for words. Things that would leave him with no energy to think about the most aggravating woman he’d ever known, with the most perfect set of lush lips, and sharp eyes that looked like they’d cut him open and flay him alive with a single glare.
He scrolled through his phone, sending off a text to an old flame at random. The almost immediate invitation to her apartment for a late-night rendezvous did nothing to reduce his restlessness.
Vihaan strode out of his office and headed down to his car, determined to turn his mind around and satiate his bodily urges with the model he’d see later tonight. Maybe he’d even agree to her inviting her girlfriend. He was going to fuck his way back into being normal and figure out how to live his life outside of Vera’s forcefield, if it was the last thing he did.
13
Disparity
Vera
Fourteen Years Ago
Vera slung her bagacross her body, slipping on her regular flats. A quick glance at her watch told her that she still had time to meet Vihaan before she began her shift at the local library. It was dull work, but it gave her some discretionary income to put aside for emergencies. With a hurried brush of her hair and one last look at herself in the mirror, she ambled out the front door, jogging down the steps when her grandfather waved to her from their small yard.
“Vera, come. Sit with me a second.”
“Now? Nanu, I have to get to work, and I’m meeting a friend before.”
Ambernath patted the ground beside him.
“It’s about your friend. I won’t take long.”
Quietly, Vera slipped her bag off and hung it on the spikes of the fence next to them, plopping down next to her grandpa. The smell of grass and earth filled her lungs, broken only by the faint strain of cloves which came from Nanu. He always had one tucked away between his teeth to keep his breath fresh.
She accepted the spade he handed her and began to mix the mound of soil nearby with the fertiliser he pointed to.
“I noticed that Little Master has been dropping by more often than before.”
“Just call him by his name. It’s Vihaan. And he’s not so little. He’s almost eighteen and you still address him like he’s five,” Vera grumbled, pushing the dirt around and digging down to create a crater for the flowers Nanaji was trying to plant.
Ambernath nodded, running a loving hand over her head.
“You’re a strong girl, my child. How I’ve always wanted you to be.”
“Because you raised me like this.”
“No,” he declared, his voice full of admiration. “You’ve had this strength inside you since the day you were born. I am not that strong. Maybe that’s why I still address Mr. and Mrs. Oberoi as Sir and Madam. And why their son is Little Master to me.”
“Nanu, you’re speaking in circles.”
He smiled, something akin to regret marring his features when he spoke next.
“My sharp, little Talwar. Maybe it is because of the person you are that class differences do not intimidate you like they do me,” he admitted, patting the earth down around the sapling they had placed in the ground, grimacing when he had to stretch to reach behind, as if doing so was causing him pain. “The Oberois are our employers, Vera. Unlike so many of their ilk, they are kind to their help. They treat us with respect, may even befriend us, but we are not their equals. It would behoove us to not forget that.”
Vera stood up, agitatedly swiping away any dirt from her pants. Her love and immense respect for her grandfather were the only things keeping her temper in check.
“I can’t believe you said that. You’ve always taught me that the worth of a person is measured by their deeds. By what they have earned.”