“Orrrrr is this the part where I don’t bring up howyourboss andmyfriend was staring at you,“ Aditi added with an innocent smile. “All evening long.”
“He wasn’t.”
“Rian noticed.”
“Rian was just pulling his leg,” Vera explained, waving her hand once like it was not a matter of any import.
Aditi’s lips twisted, her face contorting as confidence gave way to incredulity. “You have no idea how Vihaan looks at you, do you?”
Vera’s heart began to drum a bruising pattern against her rib cage. She grimaced, wanting to bite her own tongue off as temptation built.
Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask.
A moment later— “How does he look at me?”
“Like he can’t believe you’re here,” Aditi answered. “Like he’s never seen anything better. He looks at you like I used to look at Rian, before I knew he loved me too.”
The thundering in her chest grew louder, painful in its intensity.
“Adi, he doesn’t love me,” Vera brokenly admitted, afraid that all these feelings she’d been holding at bay would rise and boil over.
“You like him though, don’t you?” Aditi asked again.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Both women’s heads whipped up to find Kaya standing at the edge of the room. “Sorry, I just came back. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I also don’t want to pretend that I didn’t hear what you said.”
Vera had no response. Why couldn’t people politely ignore the things that weren’t meant for their ears?
“We don’t know each other well,” Kaya continued, correctly guessing Vera’s discomfort. She seated herself on the centre table, facing Aditi and Vera. “But I do know Vihaan. Do you really not like him?”
“Honestly, it’s not like that. What you saw before—it was supposed to be a one-time thing.”
“Did he hurt you?” Kaya asked, surprising Vera with her directness. Had all the women in this group pledged honesty like it was a requirement for admittance into their cult?
Kaya had been the most introverted of everyone here, seemingly happy to fade into the background most of the time. Not that she’d been unfriendly, but Vera had not pegged her as someone who would speak up as boldly.
“It was a long time ago,” Vera finally answered, choosing to be truthful without delving into details. She was genuinely bewildered by her wavering feelings for Vihaan, exhausted by the constant push and pull of old emotions that besieged her battered heart every time he was in her vicinity.
“Time is a funny thing,” Kaya murmured, her lips drawn in a rueful smile. “I spent years running away from my life, only to realise that time wasn’t the cure. Length of time is not an inverse measure of pain. Sometimes, even the passage of years won’t heal things until you face them.”
Vera felt the weight of life experiences behind Kaya’s advice, making it impossible to ignore.
But what if facing her past only broke her again?
26
Faith
Vera
Fourteen Years Ago
The blinking clock inthe center of the wall behind Suraj Oberoi’s large teak desk flickered as the minutes passed, letting Vera know exactly how long she’d been waiting. Three minutes. That’s all, but she felt like she’d been there a lot longer. The coolness of the cabin did little to reduce the uncomfortable heat bubbling within her.
Vera was not normally a nervous person but being summoned to the office of one of the most respected men on their side of the country was certainly cause for her to sweat a little. Sure, she had known Suraj Oberoi all her life, but she could count on one hand how many times they’d exchanged words. Adding to this, the uncertainty of why she’d been asked to meet him so suddenlyhad her on guard.
It couldn’t be because Nanaji had taken time off work yet again, could it? He’d been showing signs of ill health lately, and the doctors had ordered multiple expensive tests which Vera needed to convince her grandfather to agree to, despite their tight finances.