And then, miraculously, she did. He heard the phone clatter on to a table and blessed silence filled the air. A second later though, he heard her angry voice again, lower this time but still distinctly abrasive.
“Ashish?”
Daksh glanced down at his watch, his eyebrows raised. It was six thirty in the morning. He couldn’t remember the last time his brother was awake at this time.
“Could you please wake up properly and focus?” Vedika snapped, somewhere below him.
Daksh grinned. Maybe this morning wouldn’t be such a loss, after all. If she ruined his brother’s morning along with his, Daksh still considered it a win. Why should Daksh be the only one losing peace over her? She was Ashish’s fiancée after all…
“How can the form not be filed?” Her voice rose with her agitation. “This makes no sense. Ashish, the -”
A moment of silence again, and then, “Don’t tell me to calm down. I AM CALM!”
Daksh jammed his fist against his mouth to hold in his laughter. A vivid image of his brother’s grumpy, sleepy face filling his head and making his heart sing with glee. His younger brother still had lousy game if he thought telling an angry woman to calm down would make her actually calm down.
“I need to be in Mumbai for this,” the woman who was supposed to calm down seethed. “I can’t handle this mess virtually.”
His moronic brother said something again and she shrieked, “It’s not just one project. This is Banlay. You know what it means to me, Ash!”
Ash? Ash?? Oh, this was gold. Daksh was going to enjoy takingAsh’strip the next time they met.
“I know there are no flights out of Goa right now! I’m the one stuck here!”
His brother was just continuing to jam his foot deeper and deeper down his throat, Daksh mused.
“I’ll take a train!” she hissed now, sounding like the viper she was. “Or a bus.”
Aakash Thakkar’s daughter on a bus. A grin tugged at Daksh’s lips as he wondered if Thakkar’s head would explode at the thought.
“Forget it,” she said now. “I’ll figure it out.”
And then, there really was blessed silence. All other early risers of the hotel also seemed to be playing mute like Daksh and listening in on Vedika’s melodrama.
Daksh’s phone vibrated on the table and he glanced at it. His brother’s name flashed on the screen. He cut the call and stretched out in his chair, leaning back and closing his eyes.
The phone vibrated impatiently again, his brother’s impotent fury coming through even without his presence or voice.
Daksh took another sip of his coffee and contemplated life.
“I know you’re up there.”
He froze, his two second contemplation of life disappearing at the sound of her death promising voice.
He got up and stepped over to the railing, looking down. She stood at her railing, looking up. Her hair was pulled back from her small face in a tight, severe braid that looked painful even from this distance. She wore loose trackpants and a tight, sleeveless black vest. An outfit that screamed comfort and for some reason was still quietly sexy. Square, black frames sat on her nose, framing those big, accusing eyes of hers. Her arms were crossed over her chest, every inch of her body radiating anger and disapproval.
“Good morning, Mouse,” Daksh said cheerfully, toasting her with his cup.
Her lips tightened as she glared at him.
“Problems?” he asked, forcing himself to sound like he cared when really he didn’t give a rat’s arse or was it mouse’s arse in this case.
In response, she turned on her heel and stalked off to her room. Daksh grinned and took another sip of his coffee. It was a good day, after all.
His phone vibrated again.
Daksh answered this time, feeling unreasonably happy. “Hey Ash,” he said, adding as much dickish cheer into the greeting as he could.
“Fuck you,” his brother muttered. “Fuck you very much.”
