He patted his pocket again and this time he pulled out a little box. A little, blue, jewelry box.
“You’re my best friend,” he said again. “And I believe friendship is the best base for any relationship, including marriage. I love you, Vedika. Will you marry me?”
He popped the box open and a monstrosity of a ring peeped out at her. Was this what he’d been searching for on the floor? Had he dropped it? And more importantly, how did he not spot it immediately? She was sure the damn thing could be seen from the moon.
Ashish smiled gently at her, clearly taking her silence for shock or overwhelm.
Calm, she thought. Steady. Even as she looked at that large, ostentatious diamond looking back at her, she felt nothing but calm and steady.
Perfect.
Vedika looked up at him and smiled. “Of course I will. I love you too.”
Vedika held out her hand, allowing him to slip the ring on to her finger. It was too big for her slender fingers and slipped around, the diamond hanging down, facing the ground.
The people at the tables beside them started to clap and cheer, startling her out of her contemplation of the ring. She pulled her phone out and took a selfie with Ashish, the ring prominently on display. That’s what people did during proposals, didn’t they?
“Oh my God!” A young teenage girl at the table to their right gushed. “This is so exciting!”
Vedika stared at the ring again, waiting for it…the excitement, the fizzle, the bubbles in your bloodstream that everyone talked about.
But she felt nothing. No, not nothing. She felt calm and steady. Just what she wanted, what she’d always wanted.
Right?
CHAPTER 1
VEDIKA
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”Ashish’s voice crackled through the phone as Vedika walked through the Goa airport, dragging her suitcase behind her.
“It’s okay.” She sighed as she took in the crowd at the security gates. This was going to take forever.
“Daksh is on the same flight as you,” Ashish’s voice was even more garbled now. Wherever he was, he had shitty signal. “I’ve sent you a picture of him so it’s easier for you to recognise him.” She heard his hesitation before he said, “I know you’re not comfortable with new people –“
“He’s your brother,” she cut him off, joining the serpentine queue for the security check. “He’s coming back for the wedding and we’re on the same flight. It makes sense for me to introduce myself and well,” she swallowed hard and forced the words out, “get to know him a little.”
A brief silence met her reply. “Yeah,” Ashish said eventually. “Look, Daksh is a little…complicated. But he’s always had my back, and it would mean a lot to me if the two of you got along.”
Vedika eyed the line in front of her, the line that didn’t seem to be moving at all. Complicated. Wonderful. Just what she needed.
“Of course, we’ll get along,” she said automatically. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Right.” Ashish sounded relieved. “You get along with everybody after all.”
She did. Vedika didn’t like friction and conflict, so she made it a point to never have any with anyone. If someone was particularly unbearable, she just cut them out of her life and moved on. Of course, she couldn’t cut Ashish’s brother out of her life. So, she’d just have to like him, whether she wanted to or not.
The line finally started to move and Vedika heaved a sigh of relief. “I have to go,” she told Ashish. “Don’t worry about anything. Your brother and I are going to be just fine.”
“Thanks love.”
“Just don’t forget to send me the picture,” she said, reaching for the tray to put her electronics into. “The only ones I’ve seen of him are the childhood ones your family has up on the wall.”
Static sounded in her ear and she pulled the phone away, grimacing. The line cut out and she dropped her phone into the tray along with her laptop. This work trip to Goa had been grueling. The days were filled with meetings and the nights with work related socialising. Her own personal version of hell. And now her social battery was well and truly dead.
She walked through security and went through the process of stuffing her electronics back into her bags. When she was finallydone, she scanned the airport boards for the information on her gate. Of course, it would be at the farthest end of the terminal.
She stopped outside a Starbucks and bundled her damp, sweaty hair into a bun, pushing her glasses up her nose and squinting up at the menu board. The man in front of her was taking forever to place his order and she shifted on her tired, aching feet wishing he’d just get on with it.
