He looked away.
‘You have my wedding ring with you?’
He pulled out his wallet, reached in and the ring sat on his palm.
‘Great.’ She reached for it and slipped it on her ring finger. Neel was speechless.
‘Can you book the flights while I quickly pack?’
‘Kaavi, what exactly is going on?’
‘I’m ready to introduce you to my family.’
He shook his head.
‘No can do. You left me, remember?’ he said firmly.
‘But we’re married, right? You’re my husband,’ she replied.
‘I’ll say it again: You left me. We’re getting divorced.’
‘I know that. They don’t need to. Don’t you see? It’ll be perfect revenge,’ she said excitedly.
‘Kaavi, sit down. Listen to me. Have you lost your mind?’
She looked him straight in the eyes.
‘If you knew what I had to go through, you’d wonder how I haven’t lost my mind. How I was able to have a successful career; how I was able to survive on my own; how I was able to even get married. And I was a damn good wife too.’
‘You didn’t cook … and you left me,’ he replied in a flat tone.
She sighed. ‘Neel, I know you’re not a pawn. I know I hurt you, but please do this for me.’
He sat back.
‘Fine, but we’re not done yet.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘You’ll have to wait and see,’ he said.
Kaavi didn’t know what she was getting into, but she was willing to take the risk.
The only thing Neel had ever done on the spur of the moment was marry Kaavi. Yet now he was driving her to the hospital where her father was being treated. He hadn’t checked out of The Grand Meyer because he’d booked the suite for a month, so he grabbed his bag while she packed at Sen’s apartment. He still couldn’t believe that she’d let him believe she was living with a man.
She avoided questions about her family during the flight. When they landed, he booked an Uber and asked her where she wanted to go. She said a hotel. He put his foot down; when the car arrived, he gave his home address. She reluctantly agreed to stay with him. The fact that she was willing to do this instead of be at her parents’ house said a lot about that relationship. He couldn’t help but feel for her.
On their way to the hospital, she put up a wall and that bitchy supermodel expression was back. He parked the car in thehospital parking lot and reached for her jersey on the back seat. Then he got out and went round to the passenger side, but she didn’t wait for him to open the door.
She was already out, looking around. He held her jersey out to her.
‘It’s a bit cold tonight,’ he said.
She took the jersey and started to walk to the hospital entrance.
Instinctively, he reached for her hand. She looked at it and held it. But she didn’t move.
‘Oh, shit.’ She was probably going to have a panic attack right about now.
