Aakash gave Daksh another baleful glare. “I bet he has some angle, some way this show of sympathy could help him professionally.”
“Unless you’re going to transform into a Hainan Gibbon for me to photograph, I don’t think you’re much help to my career, Sir.”
“What the fuck is a Hainan Gibbon?” Aakash asked, nonplussed.
“An ape.”
A snort of laughter escaped Vikram.
“I like you, Daksh Mathur,” Kanak said, her eyes brimming with mirth.
Aakash glowered at all of them.
“Pa,” Vedika said softly. “It’s not your fault. None of this is. It’s mine. I have bad judgement. I fucked up by trusting him. I thought I’d found someone who could put up with me. I won’t make that mistake again.”
She turned to Daksh. “We’re killing the Banlay deal. It’s going to bankrupt Ashish. Your family, you included, should focus on digging him out of this hole. It won’t be easy.”
“And if he tries sticking his head out of that hole, I’ll play ‘whack a mole’ with him,” Aakash muttered.
“Shush!” Kanak hushed him. “I’m listening to them.”
“And what about you?” Daksh asked.
She gave him a watery smile. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
His gaze scanned her face, his chest tightening at the lines of strain lining it. “If you ever need me, you know how to reach me.”
“The Bat Signal?” she quipped, startling a smile out of him.
“Or a simple text would do,” Daksh grinned. “Unless you’ve deleted or blocked my number.”
“I still have it.” She tapped her phone and flashed the screen at him.
A loud laugh burst out of him as he saw she’d saved his number as ‘Fucking Lobster’.
He pulled out his phone and showed her his screen.
“Feral Mouse?” Vedika grinned as she read the name he’d used for her.
“I am so confused right now,” Aakash murmured from somewhere behind them.
“Don’t worry about it, darling,” Kanak replied, sounding positively riveted. “I’ll explain everything later.”
Daksh ignored all of them, his gaze still on Vedika’s smiling face. “I guess this is goodbye then,” he said, a strange hollowness opening up in the pit of his stomach.
She smiled brightly, nodding. “Don’t get eaten by a snow leopard or something.”
Daksh smiled through the strange ache inside him. “I’ll do my best,” he said briefly. “Goodbye Mouse.”
She didn’t reply immediately, blinking rapidly to hold back tears. Daksh nodded to the others and walked out. It was as the door was shutting behind him that he heard her husky reply, “Goodbye Daksh Mathur…thank you for making me feel like I was more than someone to be endured.”
CHAPTER 27
VEDIKA
Vedika staredup at the chrome and glass façade of Thakkar Industries, the pit in her stomach widening as she tried to talk herself into walking through the huge, glass doors. Her stomach clenched, vising painfully, bile rising in her throat.
She backed away from the doors, unable to take the next few steps towards what was bound to be a day filled with sniggers, sideway glances, and the painful slide into complete humiliation. Egg on her face professionally and a broken engagement on the personal side…The Thakkar heiress’s downhill slide. There were going to be plenty of people in there who’d love watching it.
