“Kimi, where are we going?”
“Where else?” Rehan turned to answer, his eyes dancing with mischief. “You’re here for the wedding. So, we have to go to the wedding house no?”
The wedding house? Tanisha’s house? Panic started to swim through his veins. He wasn’t ready for this. He was jet lagged, exhausted, and heart sore. He wanted to go home and wallow inhis misery for a bit before he stood in front of everyone he loved and pretended his heart was made of titanium and not held in the slim hands of an elf with gloriously, wild curls that looked like she’d stuck her finger in a socket on a good day or danced in a storm on a bad one.
“Ma and Pa are there,” Kim said, her voice low and commiserating. It raked nails down his pride and he stiffened. “The Malhotras are coming to discuss the wedding plans and Karam Chachu and Shikha Maasi wanted everyone to be there.”
“Okay,” he said tersely, ignoring Rahul’s pointed gaze and staring out of the window. This was going to happen sooner or later. He may as well get the first meeting out of the way as soon as possible.
Maybe then the vicious claws digging into his heart would retract. He took a deep breath and refocused his mind.
“Reh,” he said, meeting his cousin’s bright glance. “What’s happening on the dating front?”
He let his mind wander as Rehan launched into a spiel about the Goddess he was currently dating, the love of his life, in this lifetime and every one to follow. Rehan was always in love, it was always meant for eternity but usually lasted a couple of weeks.
Kim’s quiet gaze snagged on his in the rearview mirror again, concern darkening it.
“Look at the road, dumbass,” he mouthed at her.
“Go to hell,” she mouthed back, with a sweet smile.
He was already in hell he thought as he stared out of the window, the streets of Mumbai flashing past him. He saw a group of young boys walk out of a small tenement like structure withcracked, tin roofs. They were laughing, smoking, and smacking each other around, in jest but the potential for violence hung in the air that clung to them.
There but for the grace of God…
Kimi turned into the gate that led to the Bakshi bungalow, the gate that led to…her.
The front door burst open the minute Kim came to a screeching halt that had them all flying forward in their seats, Kabir’s mother flying out of it. His dad was not far behind, hurrying down the few steps behind her.
No, he thought, not God, a lump of emotion clogging his throat, as he got out of the car and wrapped his mother in a hug. There but for the grace of the people standing in front of him…Everything he had, everything he felt, everything he’d achieved was because Ved and Aayushi Kashyap had plucked him out of abuse and poverty and offered him a home. They’d loved him, they’d protected him, and they’d cherished him, not just at his best, but most of the time at his worst. He lived because they’d loved him. If not for them, he’d probably have bled out in a ditch a long time ago.
And with them had come this mad, messy extended family who’d welcomed him with open arms into their homes and their lives. He looked over his mother’s shoulder to where Karam Chachu and Shikha Maasi stood, big smiles on their faces. He was always welcome, always loved, always home, when he was around them. All of them.
And for a boy who’d been born in the filth of the streets, that was everything. And it was the reason why he’d never shit on their hospitality by loving their daughter, a child born to the privilegeof their love and warmth, by soiling her with the dirt of his heritage.
He loved them all so much,hermost of all. And that’s why he could never have her.
She wasn’t for him though he would always be hers.
CHAPTER 4
TANISHA
She smiledas she forced herself to concentrate on Jay’s mother’s long winded explanation about what they would be giving her as part of her wedding trousseau. By the time she’d gotten through the detailed description of the diamond waist belt, Tanisha had zoned out.
Until, she’d heard his voice.
She straightened in her chair, her smile getting more fixed as she heard the loud laughter and chatter that preceded the crowd coming towards the room they sat in. She saw Jay frown at the influx of noise but his mother only pitched her voice louder to be heard.
“So, the diamond for the engagement ring, the central one, will be three carats at least,” she said, her voice almost a scream now as Rehan said something and everyone burst into laughter.
She ached to be with them, in the middle of the laughter and chaos. She wanted with all her heart to be the first person to greet him when he came home. But she stayed in her seat, her back to the door and her gaze fixed on the man she was going to marry and his obnoxious parents.
The door opened and the horde entered, chaotic comments and loud laughter preceding them.
“Four diamond sets in all!” Jay’s mother shrieked.
The happy chatter cut out and silence descended on the room. Tani’s cheeks flushed a dull red as she stared determinedly at a point on the wall right above Jay’s head. She was not going to turn. She was not going to look at him. She was not going to break.
