‘I know you’ve been pretending you’re not married or maybe trying to forget you are married,’ he started in an annoyed tone.
‘I’m not pretending. I just didn’t think it would be an issue,’ she interrupted.
He shook his head. ‘Seriously, Kaavi. You didn’t think being in a registered marriage, one that the law recognises, would be an issue? That you could go on living your life as if it didn’t exist?’
‘So why come to me now? You had two years,’ she repliedcoolly.
‘I don’t know,’ he lied. He wasn’t ready to bring up the divorce papers. If he’d been sensible, he would have brought them with him, got her to sign, and left.
But he was once again under her spell.
aavi shifted in her seat. She was trying really hard to ignore the crackling chemistry. She hadn’t seen this man in two years, yet her body still responded to him. She ignored the sudden heat that was spreading through her.
Neel once told her that his teachers, parents and friends had always referred to him as the ‘quiet’ one. But Kaavi knew his presence in a room never went unnoticed. His height, almost always taller than anyone in the room, was just one of the things that made him stand out. People described him as a hunk.
Although his dark hair was clean cut, he styled it in a way that made it look completely natural. His generous smile, dimples and a strong, sharp jawline grabbed attention without him even trying. Now after so much time apart, he was sitting opposite her wearing jeans, a plain blue T-shirt and grey sneakers, and he was just as sexy as on the night they’d met.
But she had to keep her cool. Neel was wrong about her forgetting that she was married. She thought about it every day. She thought abouthimevery day. And she’d waited for the day when it would come back to haunt her. Now the ghost of her pastwas right in front of her, oozing sex appeal and confidence.
‘You said we needed to talk, but you don’t know why you’re here. I’m confused,’ she said.
He sat forward. ‘I wanted to see my wife.’
She wasn’t convinced. ‘You just woke up today and suddenly thought it would be a good day to see your wife, after this long?’
She expected him to look away. If it were her, she would have looked away. But not him. His gaze remained firmly on her.
‘Something like that,’ he said.
‘And what am I supposed to do with this information? How am I supposed to react?’
He stood up abruptly and said, ‘I have a proposal.’
Shaking her head, she replied, ‘The last time you had one of those we ended up married.’
He ignored that: ‘Give me a month. Just one month.’
Kaavi blinked twice as if that would clear her confusion. She was still getting over the shock of seeing him and now he was proposing something she didn’t understand.
‘A month for what?’
‘To see you, talk to you,’ he said. His eyes were still on her. That was one of the many things about Neel that always impressed her – he never faltered or showed that he was intimidated. Not that she believed she intimidated him. But surely seeing her again must have some effect on him. She wasn’t willing to explore it.
Kaavi stood too.
‘I think you should leave,’ she said.
‘What are you afraid of? It’s only one month.’
Again, she shook her head.
‘I’m not afraid of anything. But I don’t need this disruption in my life now,’ she said.
Neel looked around. ‘Does he know?’
Kaavi was about to ask what he was referring to when it hit her:he thought she was with someone, and living with him too.
She could use this to her advantage, even if she knew it was pathetic.
