Her breath hitched, and she tightened her grip on him. He continued, ‘I will not let you walk into this marriage thinking you can stay behind your walls, pretending like I don’t exist. I willnot let you spend a year of our marriage in a cold, detached way, pretending you don’t feel what I’m feeling right now.’
Her eyes glistened with tears, so he brought one hand up to wipe them away. His touch was so achingly gentle that it made her flinch. He brushed his thumb across her collarbone, trailing down to her neck, where her pulse jumped.
When his hand slid to the nape of her neck and into the curly strands of her hair, she gasped and her eyes fluttered shut for a moment. His fingers slipped just slightly under the hem of her hoodie. Well, technically his hoodie.
‘Siya,’ he breathed, barely able to speak past the desire that had him in a chokehold. He couldn’t think straight because he burned with the need to taste her again. ‘I need you to know that I never lied to you about anything except my name. That night… it changed everything for me. I didn’t even realise how deep I was in until you were already gone.’
Abhay brushed her hair back from her cheek. When the back of his fingertips trailed along her jaw, she shivered. It felt like the fabric of space between them was shrinking, bringing them closer. He traced his nose up her slender neck, and then they were so close that every muscle in his body was screaming to close the distance and taste her again. Lost in the moment, she tilted her head back.
Leaning forward, he brushed his lips against her cheek, and her body arched into his arms. ‘So this is my condition. Let me try. Let me show what you mean to me. And if at the end of the year you still can’t forgive me… I’ll let you go. But at least I’ll know I gave it my all.’
When he hovered too close, she pushed him away, making him stumble back. ‘You fucking lied to me!’ she yelled. ‘Youbroke my heart once. Now you have the audacity to ask me to let you in without a fight?’
‘Iamasking you to fight. Fight me, curse me, reject me, I deserve it all, but don’t shut me out. You don’t owe me anything, but give me a chance to earn your trust.’
Her nails dug into her palm, and her pounding heartbeat echoed in her chest. She snapped, ‘Why are you making this harder than it has to be?’
His eyes blazed with anguish, and he pulled her flush against him. ‘Because no matter how hard you push me away, I’ll still be right here, my jaan, until you stop running and see that my arms are the one place where you’re safe from this horrid, terrible world.’
He kept her engulfed in his arms, trying to break her resolve with his striking words. ‘Let me give you a reason to believe again. Let me bleed for the agony I caused you.’
‘No! I know this marriage has to happen, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever let you back into my life.’
‘One year, Siya. I just want a chance to make up for my sins and show you what you truly mean to me. Please’
She could feel her defences splintering within her, and desperately tried to keep it together. ‘Do whatever you want, but it won’t work. I will not fall for your tricks again,’ she said resolutely.
Ignoring her jab, Abhay focused on the fact that she had agreed. A delicate thread of hope wrapped around his heart. He had to make her believe in them, and if she did, he would make sure she never had a reason to doubt again, not for a second of their lifetime.
Chapter 8
Adull, unrelenting thump rattled against the heavy wooden door, echoing through the silent apartment. Siya jerked awake and flinched in pain. Disoriented, she rubbed her neck, which was stiff from sleeping oddly on the chair. She blinked slowly at the dim light flowing in from the television, showing a re-run of her comfort show.
Another set of loud bangs rang urgently. Siya realised someone was at the door when a familiar voice called out her name. Her body ached in protest as she got up, and she kicked through the pins and needles rushing through her numb legs as she went to answer the door.
As soon as the door cracked open, Kashvi stormed in. Her face was flushed, and her nostrils were flared.
‘You’re getting married?!’ she snapped, her eyes wild and red-rimmed. ‘I had to find out from the goddamn evening news, Di! What the hell?’
Kashvi was fire and fury, packed in a petite frame that barely reached Siya’s shoulders, but she was notoriously famous for her anger. Especially at a nearby family restaurant where Kashvi was banned because she had flipped out at a customer for smoking around kids.
Stunned into silence, Siya blinked at her. It had been a while since she had seen Kashvi this angry, and all she could do was hope that the wedding news hadn’t leaked. However, with theway her sister was pacing around the living room, Siya had a bad feeling her hope was misplaced.
‘Have you lost your phone or, I don’t know, common sense? Do you know how humiliating it is to get a text from Dhruv taunting me about the “upcoming big day” when I didn’t even know there was abig day?’
Siya was going to kill Dhruv slowly and painfully, and she’d cherish every moment of it. ‘Kashu, c’mon, I was going to tell you—’
‘So it’s true?’
‘Yes.’
‘When were you going to tell me? At your sangeet? Or maybe after you and Abhay come back from your honeymoon after your “second wedding” because you’re both so in love? And tell me something, aren’t we like mortal enemies or something with the Agrawals?’ Kashvi asked, her gaze burning with disbelief.
Siya was still disoriented. She’d skipped lunch and was functioning on one cup of coffee. Her body felt sluggish with sleep, so all she could say was, ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Of course it’s complicated! Everything about our family is complicated. We’re the kind of people who have sat at the dinner table listening to Dad plan elaborate death scenarios for Nana, so it’s not too out of character for him to have a complicated relationship with another man. But how are you involved in this?’
Siya opened her mouth to answer, but Kashvi didn’t give her a chance. She grabbed onto her shoulders and asked, ‘Tellme this is a prank, or maybe you hit your head and this is all temporary insanity because honestly, I can’t—’
