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“It was the best scent in the world.” Aaryan sniffed, his eyes wet. “Does it sound insane that, at times, I think I can feel her around me? Like I just have to inhale, and I get a whiff of her scent.”
Avantika smiled. “I’ve felt the same for years.”
“Me too,” Vihaan said. “And I thought it was crazy; that I was imagining it.”
“You weren’t,” Avantika said. “Maybe they’ve always been around us, guiding us.”
Shaurya put a hand on Aaryan’s shoulder. “For years, you’ve mentioned that there was nothing you had left of your parents. I’m so happy you have this now.”
“You both look so much like Dad now,” Avantika whispered, watching the screen.
Her eyes misted, and her heart still twisted in pain, even though she was watching this for the second time. These videos were too precious.
Aaryan’s lips curved slightly. “We do look like him. Their faces had become a hazy memory for me. But this…God this…to see them again…” He touched his chest. “I can’t even...” His throat worked. He inhaled deeply, trying to control himself.
Avantika watched her eldest brother struggle to contain his emotions—Aaryan, who was the strongest of them all, opened and closed his mouth, taking his time to speak. “Why would Dev give this to you?”
“He has more drives like this he’d like to give you both,” Avantika said.
Aaryan’s brow marred in confusion. “Why?”
“Because he knew we’d lost everything, and he wanted to save something of our parents for us.”
She turned to Vihaan, who was still rooted to the floor, looking at the screen. Vihaan shook his head as if coming out of a trance and slammed the lid of the laptop shut.
“No,” he rejected. “He must have some motive behind this. This is some new ploy to entice us.”
“To do what, Vihaan?” Avantika argued.
“I don’t fucking know,” he said. “This seems too good to be true. Why give these now? He could have given them to us at any time.”
“None of us would have believed him if he’d handed these to us before.”
“I don’t believe him now either,” Vihaan said.
But she now sincerely believed that there was more to that night.
Avantika ignored Vihaan and faced Aaryan. “We need to hear him out, Aaryan. We do.”
Aaryan shook his head. “I can’t, Avi. I can’t bring myself to do it. Not right now, at least. I need time to think.”
“To think? Fuck!” Vihaan growled. “You’re in love with Dev’s sister, and she’s always been on his side. It seems to me that it’s only a matter of time before you agree with Avi. Am I to be the only sensible one around here? Am I the only one who thinks Dev is the enemy?”
“That is not what I said,” Aaryan replied.
“It is what you implied,” Vihaan countered.
“Fuck! Vihaan,” Aaryan said. “Don’t put your own twist on my thoughts.”
She watched her brothers argue. At least Aaryan seemed slightly more amenable than Vihaan. She had a feeling he would come around to listening to Dev at some point in the future, for sure.
Of course, neither of her brothers knew that she’d slept with Dev. She couldn’t confide that to them. They’d blame that for her change of heart over Dev. They’d see it as a sure sign of her betrayal.
Her heart jumped. Was it a betrayal when she’d begun to truly believe that Dev wasn’t a vile person and that she really did need to hear him out?
She remembered the agony on his face when he’d realized that Neil was his. Until that moment when Dev had come face to face with Neil, she’d pushed the thought of telling Dev about Neil from her mind. It was a topic she’d have dealt with at a later date, once she’d heard Dev out and made up her mind about him. But fate had decided for her.
At that moment, when her son and his father had finally seen one another, she’d been so afraid of Dev’s reaction. But then, once again, he’d proved her wrong. He hadn’t forced a meeting with Neil. When Dev had agreed to wait for her sake, a certainty had settled in her soul. Dev wasn’t who she’d always thought him to be. While she’d been deliberating over that for quite a while, now she believed it with a conviction that Dev wouldn’t ever harm her or her son.
