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She took a seat at his breakfast bar, watching him prepare omelets. He pointed to the coffee machine and she fixed herself a mug.
“You cook?” she asked.
He looked at her over his shoulder. “Enough to survive, I suppose.”
Finishing up, he set a plate in front of her and took a seat beside her as they began to eat.
“The eggs were very good,” she complimented, wiping her lips when she was done eating.
“Thanks. Nowadays, I cook only breakfast. I usually eat meals from one of the restaurants. Home food is only when Avi is cooking. She’s the best cook amongst us all and the only one whose kitchen is fully functional.”
“That must be because of her son,” Tiya correctly deduced. “Kids need proper nutrition.”
Vihaan stared into his green tea. “I tried so hard to resist you, Tiya. To not get you involved in my life… Yet, here we are.”
She accepted his words with a tight nod.
Vihaan met her eyes. “My story is not my own. My life is way too complex and I thought that the less you knew the better it was. The reason I never let you in is because I didn’t want someone I cared for to be involved in my mess. I hate the fact that you have someone trailing you because of me.”
“I figured last night that Luthra is having me followed to get to you. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“He’d already warned me that he’d use me to get to you. The car following me makes sense now.”
“He’s…searching for Avi.”
She held his hand stopping him. “Hey, like I said, you don’t need to tell me more.”
Vihaan sighed. “I think I owe you an explanation after all that you’ve done for my nephew last night.”
“You don’t owe me anything. I just did what I could to help.”
She had helped more than she knew how. Seeing Neil suffer and Avi struggling had been heart breaking. Avi never said it aloud, but Dev’s presence in Dubai had made her anxious as hell. She hid it from all of them, but he knew she was worried. Neil’s illness last night had just added to her inner turmoil. Case in point, her mishap with the knife.
Vihaan really didn’t know what he would have done last night without Tiya.
“You know, Tiya,” he began, “I have this whole weight I carry on my chest all the time, and I really have never had anyone to share that load with. Even my siblings… We all carry our own burdens and we don’t like talking about the past. But last night, had you not been there, I really don’t know how I would have managed Neil’s fever and Avi’s injury. I had no one to turn to. Aaryan, Myra and Shaurya are all traveling. I know Rajiv and Sheena would have come if I’d called them. But Rajiv’s done so much already that we all refrain from asking more from him, especially once he got married and started a family. The day he brought Sheena to meet us was the day we all promised that we’d call on him as little as possible.”
He sighed. “Last night made me realize that I need friends. That I really need to trust a few more people…to let them in. If you don’t mind, I want to share my story with you. Avi has allowed me to do so. You already know about her and Neil now.”
“I’d be honored if you trusted me with your past,” she said softly.
“Many years ago, we used to be friends with him—Dev Luthra,” he began, “In fact, we’ve known him since childhood…since we were born. Our parents were friends and business partners. He lost his mother early and my mom became like a second mother to him. We were inseparable. Aaryan, me and him. We even went to the same boarding school in Dehradun. Avi is three years younger to us. The year she turned seventeen, Dev and she fell for one another. They were young, but totally committed and devoted to each other. We thought his world revolved around her and it was the same for her… They were that madly in love.”
He took a sip of the water from the bottle on his bedside. “One night, Aaryan and I heard my parents fighting over Pritam Luthra, Dev’s dad. Mom wanted my dad to cut ties with him because Luthra was being too greedy. You see, my dad was the bigger share holder. They’d been friends since college, Dev’s father and mine, and my dad came from old money. They decided to start a timber business and went into marble mining as well. They flourished immensely. But over the years, Pritam Luthra became unsatisfied with his share of profits and his share in the business. He wanted more. My dad had overheard him talking to someone about smuggling marijuana in the marble shipments and they’d argued over it. My mom… I don’t know, I’d always felt that she never seemed too fond of Pritam Luthra. That night, she was forcing dad to break ties with him. She wanted him to buy out his stake for whatever money he asked for and to be free of him.”
He cleared his throat. “We were only twenty-one, and it was our winter break. We all were back from our college in Delhi. After my parents fought, things began to get stressed at home. Dad was always worried, my mom more so, and Avi kept complaining that something wasn’t right with Dev. He’d stopped hanging with us that winter. A few days after my parents’ argument, we were having dinner at home when Pritam Luthra barged into our house with a horde of armed men. They killed our servants and held us at gunpoint, while he threatened my dad to sign over all our assets to him. You see, my dad had threatened to cut the partnership because Luthra had started the smuggling business without informing him. Our family’s reputation was at stake and my dad wanted no part in his shady deals. But Pritam Luthra was too greedy. And Dev, he was with him all the way. He watched as my parents got shot that night. They killed them in front of our eyes, Tiya. Many nights, when I close my eyes, I can still see their shocked faces after they’d been shot.”
“Oh m…my God!” Her voice shook. “Vihaan, I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“Aaryan and I resisted. We tried to fight them. I had a chance to kill him. To kill Pritam Luthra. I had a gun in my hand and I took the shot, but it never even went near him, my aim was so terrible.”
“My God. Is that why you learned shooting?”
He nodded. “Every time I shoot at a target, I see Pritam Luthra’s face and wish I’d known then to shoot as accurately as I do now. I could have ended him and the others with him and gotten my siblings out, but I failed. Aaryan began to fight with the men, but he wasn’t strong enough. Because of that, because of my rebellion in trying to kill him, Pritam Luthra punished Aaryan and me by ordering his lackey to hurt Avi.”
Tiya gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth. “My God…did they…did they…”
