But he didn’t.
I felt his laboured breath, I could sense his beating heart against my breasts, and yet he let me go. And when his body separated from mine, I felt like a part of my body was being severed.
I had shuddered at the thought of him coming back to the hotel with me. We wouldn’t have reached the room. I would have devoured him in the lift itself. I would have . . . I . . . I didn’t think my body was capable of this desire.
I want him.
I can’t stop thinking about how his body felt against mine. I fail spectacularly trying to push Daksh out of my mind.
Twenty minutes have passed since he waved yearningly at me. And I still can’t breathe.
‘Inside?’ the cab driver asks me outside the Marriott.
I nod.
Just as I get down from the car, I see two faces together that I haven’t seen in the longest time. Vicky and Vanita. The lobby’s echoing with their screams.
18.
Aanchal Madan
Everyone in the lobby is stunned to hear them fight. Vanita screaming her lungs out, Vicky bellowing, spit flying out of his mouth. Vanita shaking her fists, Vicky clenching his jaw. The front desk people try to calm them down. The guards try to break them apart. Someone’s calling the police. Vanita and Vicky keep lobbying the same words to each other: ‘LET HER COME, LET HER COME!’
They are screaming about me.
‘What the fuck are you doing here!’ Vanita screams at Vicky.
‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?’ Vicky screams back.
Both of them spot me at the same time. The ground trembles beneath my feet. My mind goes numb. Twenty pairs of eyes turn towards me. I, who spent the night at a random guy’s birthday. Vicky, whose eyes are burning red, pounds towards me. Vanita, with her tall legs and longer strides, outpaces him and stands between him and me.
‘Who was he?’ he roars. ‘WHO THE FUCK IS HE?KAUN THA BEHENCHOD!’
My mind whirrs. I feel the strength go out of my knees. My heart pounds so loudly I can’t hear my own thoughts. My life’s over. It’s done. I might as well be dead.
‘STEP BACK FROM ME, YOU BASTARD!’ Vanita screams.
‘You need to take this outside,’ the front desk manager pleads.
‘Gau . . . rav . . . I was looking for Gaurav,’ I mumble.
Vicky’s eyes are ablaze in rage. ‘CHUTIYA HU KYA MAIN! Call him if you were with him! CALL HIM!’
‘MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!’ Vanita yells over him. ‘LET’S GO TO THE ROOM.’
Vicky glares at Vanita. ‘Ask your randito call Gaurav.BOL SAALI KO!’
‘That’s some real class, Vicky. There’s no fucking point making a scene here,’ Vanita argues. ‘Let’s go to the room and talk.’
‘SHE’S LYING TO MY FACE!Behen ki laudi, I knew you would never change. MUMMY TOLD ME SLUTS LIKE YOU NEVER CHANGE!’
‘Yes, she’s lying,’ answers Vanita, lowering her voice. ‘But let’s not do this here.’
‘Vanita, I’m not lying—’
Vanita cuts me. ‘It’s done, he knows you’re lying. Let’s just go from here.’
‘Sir, ma’am,’ interrupts the hapless manager. ‘You people need to go.’
