‘I know.’
‘So?’
‘I haven’t seen Neel since I left him. I made peace with the fact that he wasn’t my husband anymore. But now that I’ve seen him … I don’t know. It’s like I should sign those papers. But something …’ she shook her head, ‘I can’t explain it.’
‘Do you love him?’ Anni asked gently.
Kaavi didn’t answer right away.
‘Do you?’ Anni pressed.
Kaavi looked down at her tea as if the answer might be hiding somewhere in there.
‘There’s too much standing in the way,’ she said finally.
Anni didn’t say anything. Just waited.
‘I’ll always love Neel. He was the first man who really saw me for me. Not the version everyone else had in their heads.’
Anni stayed quiet, listening.
‘He looked past the labels, past the way I looked. He knew I wasn’t shallow. He saw something deeper. Like I wasn’t just some supermodel.’
She shook her head, half-smiling, half-exhausted.
‘I mean, what even is a supermodel? A body? A brand? A fantasy?’
‘Hey, don’t do that to yourself,’ Anni said, cutting in. ‘Being a supermodel is an achievement, Kaavi. You worked your ass off for that. Don’t brush it off like it’s nothing.’
Kaavi looked away, but Anni wasn’t done.
‘You know,’ she continued, ‘I remember when I first started dating Sam. I had all that mess with my mom, her drinking andthe chaos. I honestly believed I wasn’t good enough for Sam.’
She leaned forward, eyes on Kaavi.
‘But the thing is you are. You’re good enough to be loved. Fully. Mess and all.’
Anni hesitated, her voice softening.
‘I just think that you … you forget that sometimes.’
Kaavi nodded but wondered what her friends would think if they knew the truth, the truth that still kept her prisoner after all these years.
Neel handed Sam a glass of juice from the room service trolley. He’d ordered breakfast a couple of hours ago because he was not in the mood to socialise – not after the night he’d had. Sleep had barely touched him. Kaavi, at least, had what she called ‘liquid courage’ to get her through. He didn’t.
Instead, everything played on repeat in his mind from the first time he’d met her nearly three years ago, to the whirlwind of their marriage, what he thought was happiness, and then her walking away.
Sam took the glass and sat on the couch in the living room area of Neel’s suite at The Grand Meyer.
‘I still can’t wrap my head around you being married to Kaavi. I know it’s not really my business, but Kaavi’s like a little sister to me, so I need to know what’s going on.’
Neel didn’t sit. He walked to the window, looking out over Rally. The street below was still. He’d expected more life, especially on a Saturday morning, but it was quiet.
He turned to face Sam.
‘There’s not much to say. Kaavi and I were married. We’re estranged. I’m here for a divorce. What more do you want to know?’
‘I want to know you’re not going to hurt her,’ Sam said.
