“And miss seeing you act like a deranged giraffe?” he quipped, tearing his gaze away from the woman he was obsessing over, just as Kaya stood up, prepared to take her turn. No one needed to know that he’d wanted to see Vera laugh a little longer. He may never see her like that around him again, and the thought stung like an annoying thorn he couldn’t pluck out.
“Whatever,” Rian grumbled, taking a swig of water from the bottle he kept with him. “Maybe if you’d stared less at yourfriendand more at me, you’d have guessed faster.“ Vihaan felt the weight of Vera’s eyes on him, and despite being ready to barter his soulwith the devil to remain unaffected, his face went aflame at Rian’s announcement. Yep, this was definitely karma coming to bite him in the ass, he decided, making a mental note to never again laugh at Rian when he was suffering.
Vera
Fun and Vera didn’t often occupy the same plane of existence. So she was quite surprised when playing games with mostly strangers all evening had been the most enjoyable time she could remember in recent years. Their lack of artifice meant that she was more relaxed than she’d been in a long while. It never crossed her mind to keep her defenses up like she usually did.
She couldn’t hold back a small chuckle when Kaya bounced on her heels like a little boxer, excited for her chance. She began her attempts at acting out the movie she’d been given, and just like before, Arjun stood on the sidelines distracting her with cute cheers, calling her beautiful and adorable and all manner of silly, flirtatious things until she spun towards him in a huff, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
“Arjun!”
“Yes, my love!”
“Stop it! Play fair.”
“No, my love!”
“Seriously,” Rian added from the couch, “why did you marry him? He’s as annoying as a hangnail.”
“I was high on antihistamines. Now you know why I ran,” Kaya grumbled, causing everyone to snort out a laugh. Vera, unsure whatthat comment meant, was the only one who saw Arjun’s face lose colour, and the immediate effect that had on Kaya.
Arjun stepped back from where he was standing, about to take his seat when Kaya held him by his arm.
“Arjun?”
He shook his head, visibly holding some kind of emotion back. Vera was uncertain what the issue was but it was clear from how quickly everyone sobered up, that they were privy to why Arjun seemed hurt.
“Hey, tell me. We promised to keep no secrets,” Kaya softly pleaded. The rest of the room was silent, save for the light music trickling through the speakers. Vera wondered if she should excuse herself. This seemed private, and she was a stranger.
“We lost five years together after that day, Kaya. It will never be a joking matter for me,” Arjun admitted with a sigh before bringing his wife’s hand up for a kiss, as if he needed some sort of physical reassurance of her presence. “I will never not wish that I had those years with you as well.”
It was then that Vera’s eyes sought Vihaan’s, finding him staring right back. Arjun’s sentiment rang in her ears, affecting her in a way she hadn’t been prepared for. Here was a man who was mourning half a decade of separation. Vera had been trying for fourteen years to forget and move on, with no relief in sight. If she admitted to understanding how Arjun felt, did that mean she still harboured feelings for Vihaan? Wouldn’t that make her weak? Someone who refused to learn from her mistakes?
That wasn’t the person she wanted to be, was it?
Vihaan looked almost as tortured as she felt and her throat grew tight at all they had lost.
“I’m sorry,” Vera heard Kaya say. She wrenched her gaze away from Vihaan, finding that Kaya and Arjun were enveloped in a hug that looked like it would fuse them into one being. When they broke apart, Kaya’s eyes looked suspiciously shiny.
“I spoke thoughtlessly,” she apologised to Arjun. “Words matter. I shouldn’t have said that.” The acceptance on Arjun’s face was enough to know he’d forgiven his wife already.
How easily this couple accepted their faults and soothed each other’s pain, Vera mused, feeling emotional because of how beautiful their relationship was. A yearning she’d never allowed took root within her, insisting she pay it attention. Maybe part of what she was feeling was jealousy. Arjun and Kaya had in each other a support that was theirs and theirs alone. Unwavering, absolute and all encompassing, full of trust and. . . respect.
Could Vihaan and her have had such a relationship had they…No!She took a deep breath, sniffling silently while she sought to muffle those dangerous thoughts before they got too loud. Fear of the past activated that side of her brain which had been silenced earlier that night, logic reminding her of the futility of considering such hypothetical situations.
“Sorry, everyone,” Kaya turned towards the room, hugging Arjun around his waist while he held her close. “I didn’t mean to derail our happy mood.”
Right on time, Aditi’s belly growled. Rian jumped up, a wide grin on his handsome face. “Perfect. The happiest mood will be now, once I get dinner laid out. I need to feed my woman.” He winked at Aditi before pointing to Arjun and Vihaan, “You guys can have left-overs.”
He clapped Vihaan on his back, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate needing help in the kitchen. Arjun and Kaya quietly slid outside towards the balcony, presumably looking for privacy to make up some more.
“Ladies, we’ll get the table set up and call you in ten,” Rian told the remaining two, grabbing Vihaan by the arm to force him up.
Aditi and Vera watched a reluctant Vihaan grumble about being made to work in his own home before being dragged away. All whilehe kept glancing back, as if checking to make sure that no one was leaving.
“Soooo,” Aditi began, drawing Vera’s attention towards her. She rubbed her hands together before pressing them in a namaste, resting her chin at the tip of her fingers. “Is this the part where I don’t ask you anything about how the two of you were seconds away from ripping each other’s clothes off because he’s my friend and he’s your boss?” she chirped.
Vera’s mind went blank at the directness of that question, nary a sound escaping her as her thoughts raced to find an answer.