“Perfectly right,” Daksh replied quietly, his gaze still on the dish.
Fuck him. He was in trouble.
CHAPTER 19
VEDIKA
“I need to go,”Daksh said abruptly, backing away from her like the lobster was poisoned.
Vedika frowned, she glanced from the lobster to where he stood. She had got something wrong. Was it the butter garlic part that he objected to?
“We can just order something else if this doesn’t work,” she said, awkwardly. But he was already at the door, his hand on the door handle.
“Goodnight,” he said, not looking directly at her and then he was gone before she could blink.
“Daksh, wait.” She rushed out of the room and into the corridor outside but all she got was a glimpse of his disappearing back.
“Well, okay then, goodnight,” she murmured, standing there alone. A strange emptiness filled her, one that she wasn’t familiar with. Vedika liked being on her own. She was one of those people who valued solitude and enjoyed her own company. And Daksh was essentially a stranger. He owed her nothing. In fact, he’d mostly been an annoying pain in the ass who’d made it very hard for her to remain calm and centered.
She didn’t need him. She didn’t want him. She was the one who’d walked away from the shack and come to the room first.
Why then did it feel like she’d been abandoned?
She went back into her room, her gaze falling on the table overflowing with food, the lobster holding pride of place. Had it been too much? Had he thought that she was coming on to him, crossing a line or something? Her face flushed with embarrassment at the thought…He’d brought her food too, hadn’t he? She hadn’t jumped to any weird conclusions, had she? But then, no one in their right mind would assume he would be attracted toher.
Her stomach plummeted as her thoughts ran around in circles like a hamster on a wheel in her head. She plopped down on the bed, her face buried in her pillow, a muffled groan escaping her.
Her phone rang and she grabbed for it, grateful for the distraction.
“Vedu!” Her brother’s deep voice broke through her rambling.
“Vik!” she squealed. “Are you back?”
Five years ago, her brother had woken up one morning and had some kind of existential crisis. He’d joined the army without her parent’s knowledge, only presenting them with the information as a fait accompli. She was pretty sure her brother’s existential crisis had aged both her parents by a decade but to their credit once the initial shock and shouting had ended, they had been nothing but supportive.
But Vedika knew that their worry kept them up nights. Her wedding had been planned around the leave her big brotherwould get because there was no question of her getting married without him present. And he was finally here!
“Yes,” he replied good humouredly. “Imagine my surprise when I landed here and found out the blushing bride was nowhere to be seen.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” she replied, smiling. “The flights are set to resume in the morning. I’m sure the office can get me on one at the earliest.”
“You haven’t heard?” Vik asked. “It looks like flights won’t resume until day after tomorrow.”
“Nooooo.” Her screech of horror wasn’t helped by Vikram’s laughter on the other end of the phone. She fumbled through her messages until she found the one from the airline telling her the same news her brother had given her.
“You are the only person in the world who doesn’t want to be stranded in Goa,” Vik mused now.
“I have work,” she wailed, even as her traitorous mind reminded her that for the first time in her life, she could see the temptation of remaining behind in Goa, even if just for one extra day.
“And a wedding,” her brother murmured.
“And a wedding,” she echoed, guilt slicing through her. She really hadn’t spent much time thinking about Ashish or the wedding.
“Vedu?” Whatever he heard in her voice had Vikram’s tone sharpening. “Is everything okay with you?”
“Yeah,” she said unconvincingly. As much as Vedika was her father’s daughter, Vikram was their mother’s son. And she didn’t want to set him off with her newly discovered hormonal issues.
Her phone beeped with a call waiting and she glanced down to discover Ashish was calling.
