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“But it is ours, isn’t it, Vihaan?” a tall woman said from behind them. “And I’m so glad you decided to come here.”
In a strapless black and gold jumpsuit that highlighted her killer curves, her long hair flowing till her waist, the woman looked fabulous. Reaching Vihaan, she put her arms around him. He held her close for a few seconds before releasing her. Tiya exhaled the breath she’d not even realized she’d been holding. The woman immediately wrapped her arm around the other man, Rajiv’s, waist and the vise around Tiya’s heart loosened.
Bloody hell, what was wrong with her? Vihaan only had to touch another woman and jealousy reared its ugly head inside her.
She had to stop behaving like this. She and him were… She didn’t know what they were now, but she couldn’t stop all these unwanted emotions crashing through her.
The couple pivoted to face her, assessing her from head to toe.
The woman with Rajiv lifted her jaw as she faced Vihaan. “Introduce us.”
“Tiya, meet my friends, Sheena and Rajiv Mehra, the owners of this fabulous place.” To his friends, he said, “Meet Tiya Sood.”
“Nice to meet you, Tiya.” Sheena smiled. “Myra speaks very highly of you.”
Tiya’s eyes rounded. “You know Myra?”
“Yes, we’re friends.”
Oh. That was strange. Myra had never spoken about her new friends ever.
“Drinks everyone?” Rajiv called out.
“Lemon margarita?” Vihaan asked her.
She nodded.
“Come, let’s sit.” Sheena pulled Tiya to sit on a couch, while Vihaan and her husband placed the order for their drinks.
Tiya’s one drink became two and soon, she was having a rather good time. Vihaan’s friends were fun. Sheena was quite interested in her Tiya’s profession and very excited when she saw pictures of Tiya’s work.
As the night continued, Sheena opened up to her and told her about her travels and friends and family in India. Tiya soon learned that Sheena belonged to the affluent Sehgal family. Sheena’s closest friend had married her elder brother and the third in her trio had married Sheena’s cousin. Vihaan seemed to know a lot of people in their circle as he asked several questions about Sheena’s brother, her cousins and friends. Dubai was barely a few hours flight from Mumbai and a lot of them apparently visited frequently.
Rajiv had a big family as well, siblings and cousins, and apart from this restaurant, he was a big shipping magnate. To her absolute shock, Tiya learned thatPoseidon Shipping Corp.where Vihaan had taken his car from, also belonged to Rajiv. She ought to have made the connection between the shipping corporation and this night-club immediately, but she hadn’t.
She focused back on Vihaan, who was chatting with Rajiv looking into the crowd. She figured that they’d been friends for a long time. It was evident from the way they interacted with one another.
Rajiv said something to him, which made Vihaan laugh. Her pulse jumped hearing that deep, husky sound. She was happy to see that he was enjoying himself. His eyes sparkled and that smile she loved, never left his face. When Sheena went to join the men, Tiya continued to watch Vihaan.
Her mind was brimming with so many questions. Questions that Vihaan had told her not to ask. But how was she to curtail her curiosity with all the furtivity and subterfuge he was exhibiting. Staying silent was not her forte but she didn’t want to invade his privacy.
Sensing her attention on him, he left his friends to come to her.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked once he was seated beside her.
“I am. Your friends are nice.”
“They are wonderful,” Vihaan replied.
She faced him squarely. “You seem quite close to Rajiv.”
“Aaryan and I both are. Shaurya knows him well too. Sheena and Rajiv are really some of the few friends we have.”
And yet Myra had never spoken about this couple to Tiya. Not even once. It just made her wonder what else Myra was keeping from her. That always bothered her to no end. In fact, the whole situation was vexing. But she kept her silence and observed Vihaan as he ran his finger over the rim of his soda glass round and round. His expression was grim. Sad, actually. His normally mischievous eyes looked haunted. Something dreadful had happened to him, something that bothered him till date. The urge to wipe out those shadows from his eyes and get his smile back raged through her.
He looked up and stared at his friend. “Rajiv helped us at a time when we had no one to turn to. What he did for us… Nothing we can do in this lifetime can repay his generosity.”
That statement redirected her mind back to the many questions she had, but she held her tongue.
