VEDIKA
It tookher another two hours of mulish stubbornness to accept defeat. In that time, she watched Daksh eat one chicken burger, an entire portion of French fries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over it and a plate of nachos.
Vedika felt vaguely nauseous just watching him. He must have some killer metabolism, she thought, her gaze wandering over those broad shoulders and flat stomach. If she ate like that, she’d be living at the gym.
“Want some?” he mumbled, while chewing another disgusting mouthful of unhealthy food and swallowing.
She shook her head, looking away. The terminal was slowly emptying out as people accepted defeat. The notice boards announcing flight’s departures were resolutely red. Her chest tightened, anxiety making it hard to think. Nothing was going according to plan today and she could feel her tightly held control start to unravel.
She was going to be stuck here until this mess got resolved. She’d miss the meeting with Banlay. This was her first big project. It was everything she’d worked for since she’d joined her father’sfirm, and she was going to miss the final closure meeting. Dammit.
She’d worked so hard to prove she was something other than the Thakkar kid, the nepo baby who’d been handed life and her position at the firm on a golden platter. It didn’t matter that she worked harder than most other people, stayed later, arrived sooner, and had an IQ that was probably higher than the rest of the workforce’s collective one. She was the Thakkar kid and no one was willing to look beyond it. The Banlay project was supposed to be her symbolic middle finger to all of them, the doubters, the cynics, the sniggering fools…and now, she wouldn’t be there for it.
Vedika sighed. They weren’t getting out of here anytime soon. It was time to join the hordes.
“This is useless,” she murmured. “We should leave.”
“Well, it’s about damn time,” Daksh replied, slurping up his milkshake.
Vedika fervently hoped he had uncontrollable diarrhea later that night. She looked away from the pile of empty containers in front of him.
“Shall we check in to a hotel for the night?”
Her eyes flew back to him, bugging out. “Excuse me?”
Daksh leaned back in his chair, a broad grin on his face. “In separate rooms, Ms. Thakkar. I don’t have a death wish.”
“I’ll find myself a hotel,” she said frostily. “You can do whatever.”
“Whatever would be finding a hotel room so I can crash.” Gesturing the waiter over for the bill, Daksh handed his card over. “We may as well head in one direction.”
“Let me pay my share,” she said, reaching for the billfold.
“I think I can afford your salad,” he replied dryly, hauling his ridiculous backpack on to his shoulder and standing. “Let’s go.”
“You haven’t got your card back,” she observed. “And I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He ignored her as he grabbed his card from the returning waiter and followed her out of the restaurant. She made her way to where the hordes of passengers were trying to claim their check in baggage.
“You’re not going to get it back now,” he murmured, standing right behind her like an irritating Goliath. “They’ll send it back later.”
“I need my stuff,” Vedika muttered, her chest feeling tight. The events of the day were piling up, and she was finding it hard to hold on to her calm. “Don’t you?”
“I have my stuff,” he said proudly, patting his backpack, the only thing in this terminal that was bigger than him.
“How are you allowed to carry thatthingin cabin baggage. Why hasn’t it been checked in? Did the airport staff not measure it?”
That irritating eyebrow of his went up.
“Would you like to measure it?” He dropped it into her arms and Vedika almost toppled to the ground with the weight of it.
“This is definitely not the appropriate weight for cabin luggage,” she seethed, dumping the bag on his boat sized feet.
He yelped in pain as she grabbed her own perfectly sized luggage and stormed towards the exit gates. She’d barely made it a few feet before he caught up with her, probably because of those stilts he called legs.
A strong hand wrapped around her arm, jerking her to a halt. “One fucking minute, you spoilt brat.”
“I am not a spoilt –“ The words cut off when the breath caught in her throat, her heart hammering in her chest. The air around her thickened, her vision starting to get spotty. Oh shit. She didn’t have time for this.
