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She looked at the spoon, then at him, and turned her face away petulantly, continuing to shiver.
“Hey, you’re unwell, and I’m the only one here who can help you,” he spoke gently. “Please, can you forget our differences and just let me in, for once?”
She faced him again, and this time when he offered her the spoon, she opened her mouth and allowed him to feed her. A few minutes later, some color returned to her cheeks, and her shivers had also subsided.
Once he was done feeding her, he left the tray on the dining table outside and went back to Avantika. But when he returned, she was fast asleep on her side. He fetched a hair dryer from her bathroom, uncurled her bun and began to dry her hair. She opened her eyes, blinked as she saw him doing what he was and shut her eyes again.
He stared at her for a long moment after he was done. Even unwell and deep in sleep, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her tattooed arm crept out of the blanket. He gently tucked it back inside, refusing to study her skin without her permission. He hated that she’d faced that dreadful ordeal of that vile man shredding her skin. That man… He’d been dead a long time now.
Avantika getting hurt that night was the one thing that made his chest bleed till date. He breathed out. This woman—she’d always been special. She held his…
His phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting his thoughts. It was his uncle. He stared at the phone. He’d been expecting this call, albeit sooner. There was no chance in hell that Uncle Raj would stay silent after he’d seen Dev with Avantika and learned about Sanjana and Aaryan. Dev disconnected the call to look at Avantika.
He moved a strand of her soft hair away from her face before he stood. His phone buzzed again, and this time when he saw who the caller was, he went outside.
He answered the call. “Aaryan. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Where the hell is my sister?” Aaryan growled on the other end of the line. “We have been trying to get across to Avi for hours now, but she hasn’t answered. I swear if you’ve—”
“—Enough, Aaryan.” Dev pressed a hand to his nape. The venom in his one-time best friend’s voice always felt like a dagger striking his chest. “Avantika is unwell.”
“Unwell?” Aaryan’s voice turned stone cold. “What the fuck do you mean by unwell? What have you done to her?”
Aaryan’s suspicion only twisted the said dagger further. But Dev understood his concern for his sister.
“She got wet in the rain, and caught a cold and fever. You know she’s been like that since she was young,” Dev replied. “She’s sleeping now.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Dev exhaled a harsh breath. “You can ask her yourself when she wakes up.”
“I know where you are,” Aaryan said. “I’m going to come and check on her myself. It will take me time. But I will come.”
“If you do that, my deal with her gets nullified, and I will insist upon starting it again.”
“Bastard.”
There were some sounds in Aaryan’s background, some rustling and then…
“Hi, Dev,” Sanjana said.
Dev smiled on hearing his sister’s voice. “Hi, kiddo.”
“Is Avi really unwell?”
“Yes. As I told Aaryan already, she’s down with a fever and cold.”
There was a long pause.
“Okay, please look after her,” Sanjana said.
His heart soared. Sanjana’s unwavering faith in him always managed to strike a chord in his chest.
“Dev,” his sister began, “Promise me that if she doesn’t recover soon, you will bring her back to Dubai.”
He shut his eyes. “Kiddo, I can promise you that if she’s unwell and if that’s what she wants to do, then I will do it.”
“Thank you. And keep me posted about her health.”
