Vera jerked back, stunned with his quick apology.
“I’m sorry. For everything.”
Something in his tone must have given him away because her brows straightened and her shoulders pulled back, her expression calming into one that was indecipherable. “I’m not interested in talking about anything not related to work.”
“Please,” Vihaan begged, stepping closer to her. “Listen to me. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking livid with myself for what I did. I misunderstood you and—”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“When we broke up,” he clarified, watching her face grow ashen. “All those years ago, Rahul saw you taking money from Papa, and he told me about it. Made it seem like you were only with me because of it.”
She stared at him, her expression unreadable. A long breath later— “You believed him?”
He detested the vulnerability in her question, knowing that his answer would do nothing to soothe the hurt he could sense in those three words. “Not at first. Then I saw you selling the bangle I’d bought you, and I lost my mind.”
Wide eyed, Vera gasped. “What do you mean yousawme?”
Vihaan sighed miserably, choking the words out when he explained what he’d witnessed at the jewellers. The state of mind he’d been in and how their conversation right after had confirmed his fears that he was worth nothing more than the price of a bangle and the money she’d gotten from his father.
He waited in silence, watching Vera struggle to absorb what he was revealing to her, praying with every ounce of belief he had thatshe would try and see this for what it was. A terrible mistake made by an emotional boy who’d been unable to quieten his ego when placed in competition with the father he’d been trying to prove wrong.
“I found my grandma’s bangle,” she said after a long pause that had his palms sweating. “That’s what I sold. Not the one you gave me. I would’ve never insulted you like that.”
“I figured.”
“And your dad gave me money as payment for tutoring you.”
“I know!” Vihaan almost cried. “I know now. I misunderstood you. I was young and stupid. I know that’s not an excuse and sorry is not enough but. . .”
“You’re right. It’s not enough.”
Vihaan’s heart plummeted, his skin chilling at the lack of emotion in her gaze. It reminded him of the woman he’d met many months ago. The one who’d loathed him. The clear withdrawal in her stance sent a jolt of alarm racing through him. He took a tentative step closer, wincing when she spun away. As though looking at his face sickened her.
“Princess, even when I didn’t know the truth, I wanted you. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
Silence, fraught with darkness and tension, seeped between them.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, uncaring if he sounded pathetic. If he had to apologise a thousand times over for her grievances to abate, he would do it without a single complaint. “Please forgive me. I know the truth now. I know why you took the money. I had no idea Nanaji was sick.”
“Of course you didn’t. You never even gave me a chance to tell you.”
“Please,” he pleaded, his voice raw.
“You know the truth, good for you. What does that change?” Vera faced him, her anguish no longer hidden. “Where was this care and concern when I was running from one medical institution to another, trying to get help for Nanu? Where were you when I hadnowhere to go, no one to speak to, no one to hold me when I cried? Where the fuck were you when I was afraid, alone, and wanted someone to lean on?!”
Her red-rimmed eyes drowned him in guilt, her questions deepening the pit of self-loathing within him. “I’m sorry,” Vihaan croaked, his apology sounding as worthless as he felt.
“Maybe you are. But it makes no difference anymore. You were weak enough to give up on me when I needed you and I—” She shook her head, visibly collecting herself before she spoke again. “I’ve moved on. I am not the Vera who once loved you.”
“Don’t say that. It’s not true.”
“But it is. My parents rejected me from birth but at least they never gave me any hope for something more. You knew how hard it was for me to let anyone get close. You made me open up to you, and when I let you in, you broke me.”
“No,” he gasped, her declaration catapulting him into a cloying miasma of pain and regret.
“I could never bring myself to attempt a relationship after what you did. You thrust me into the loneliest years of my life, Vihaan, and the oddest thing was I didn’t hate you nearly as much as I hated myself. I hated myself for trusting you, for falling in love with you and giving you power over me. I’d have to be a special kind of idiot to allow that to happen again, wouldn’t I?” she choked, letting out a bitter laugh when he flinched.
His heart twisted painfully at her agonised expression, even as his gut burned with fear.