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“He-hello, nice to meet you.” She was trembling all over, and he responded with a quizzical look.
“Rana, this is Namrata Varma, one of the very few female seconds we have had in years.” The coach’s words seem to have caused the confused expression on Rana’s face.
Did he know who she was? Just from her last name?
“Rana, time to go.” The coach turned to her and said, “Ms. Varma, we have an important match tonight. Watch and note down any questions you have. Good match to make some notes on how we operate around here.”
Nami was just glad she had some headspace to process this newfound detail. She could only wonder how she did not think Rana was not his full name. She realized no one on the campus knew him as Veer. Explains why Ramya didn’t know who Veer Simha was when she asked a few weeks back.
“What the heck did I do?” she said under her breath and was still shaken as she sat in one of the chairs set up around the boxing ring. It was too late to pull out of the sports internship because the deadline to sign up was past. If she stopped working her internship, she would lose the only opportunity she had to ever come back to Simha.
He was the only Simha she was supposed to avoid, and she had not.
Nami watched Rana prep for the fight, taking him in, in the new light. His father was mean to her dad and hurt him terribly, and her father had retaliated. For that, her family had to leave India and move to London. She knew very little of what exactly happened as no one in the family discussed it. And like any story, there were always two sides, and it was not right to let what happened over a decade ago affect what would happen now. Not on a college campus.
If her dad were so badly hurt, he would not have agreed for her to attend. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as what her grandma had told her. Maybe Rana didn’t even know about the fallout. He seemed like a chill guy who probably didn’t even know about the fallout their fathers had many years ago.
“Calm down,” she let out a hissy breath trying to talk herself into not doing anything drastic like dropping out of the sports internship. “No.”
She had to work it out with Rana. Maybe he doesn't even know. Maybe she should just pretend like she knew nothing.
A new wave of relief settled over her when she realized there may be nothing to worry about. Her grandma was known to dramatize every situation, although it was her over-the-top dialogues that melted her father’s stubbornness and agreed to Nami attending the semester at Simha.
Nami was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't paying attention to what was happening in the boxing ring. She looked up when the group gasped in unison. Her jaw dropped when she saw the way Rana was attacking his opponent.
She had watched a few boxing matches to understand the game rules, but even a novice like her knew his stance was aggressive and so were his throws. It was like he was agitated. Her eyes moved from Rana to the coach who was on the side, and she could tell even he was taken aback.
A boxer could get thrown from the game if they broke the rules of the game. Why was he pushing the limits? The referee had already warned him twice, and one more, his opponent would be declared the winner.
She had her eyes on him, and in the middle of the fight, his eyes met hers, and even from a distance, she saw what she was hoping she wouldn't—anger and hatred.
He knew. He had to.
Her heart dropped to her stomach, and her mouth went dry as he looked at her for a moment longer, and then the next thing she saw was a knockout. Rana’s opponent had seized the moment and delivered the biggest blow of the night that sent Rana crashing down. The crowd gasped and then fell dead silent as the referee counted down and then the loud ringing of the bell.
She was shuddering all over as the referee concluded the match and Rana walked away from the boxing ring, least concerned about his bleeding eyebrow. The medical team rushed to him with an ice pack for first aid, but he seemed pissed.
A pang of fear gripped her when Rana turned to look in her direction even as the medical team treated his wound. What she saw in his eyes was what she thought she could never see in such an easygoing guy. She was wrong, and she needed to do what it took to sort things out.
It was confirmed that it was not going to be an easy chilled situation as she had hoped. She may have to talk through things with him to minimize any friction since she had no choice but to work with him.
*****
The burn on his brow from the stitches was nothing compared to what ignited from within earlier that afternoon. The fire he thought had subsided years ago exploded from within just at the realization of who the girl was. Such a temptress and a manipulative bitch.
There was no way she wouldn’t have known his identity. She was so eager to kiss him at the drop of a hat just so she could get her way at the campus.
“What happened to you?” Ved asked, looking up at his cousin’s swollen face.
“That bitch…” He grit his teeth, unable to speak further.
Abhi stepped into the locker room at the same time and asked, “Now what?”
“I don’t know, he just showed up looking like shit,” Ved grumbled.
Abhi and Ved looked at Rana, knowing their cousin was under severe duress. Rana took a few moments to calm down. “Another enemy had the guts to send his daughter to Simha.”
Rana could see the blank expressions on his cousins’ faces. “Namrata is Dhanush Varma’s daughter. She pretended not to know who I was all these days and—”
