Page 216 of Dream On, Liar

But there they were.

My older brother who bought me my first gaming console from his karting money.

My little sister who used to steal my headphones and crawl into my bed during thunderstorms.

Both about to start new, big exciting chapters in their life, and all I felt was excited to be a part of it with them.

No longer feared of being left behind by my siblings, by my family.

And suddenly I could see the distance I’d travelled.

Not just in cricket.

In everything.

I’d survived things I once thought would break me.

I’d become someone outside my father’s shadow.

I’d built a life I was beginning to choose for myself.

Even the house I’d put an offer on had been my decision.

Not his.

Not anyone else’s.

Mine.

I looked back at Raina.

She was laughing because Dev had finally recovered enough to start making jokes about Vedant.

I smiled, my gaze turning to Ishaan who looked equally elated to finally being part of something together.

For once, the future didn’t feel like something waiting to happen to me.

It felt like something I might actually get to walk into.

And yet, beneath all of it, I still couldn’t stop myself from missing the blonde, blue-eyed girl I’d somehow fallen for.

I hated how naturally the thought came.

How easily my mind supplied the colour of her eyes, the sound of her laugh, the little crease that appeared between her brows when she was irritated with me.

The room was full of family, noise and plans for the future.

And somehow, I still found myself wondering what Maeve would have thought of the whole thing.

35

Maeve

THE STAFF ROOM HAD finally begun to empty.

The noise from the dressing room still carried through the corridor, muffled laughter and the occasional burst of celebration bleeding through the walls. Someone had started playing music somewhere nearby, bass travelling faintly beneath my feet.

They’d won the World Test Championship.