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A few bouts with exploding napalm could make a man feel alive again, right? And if I was very lucky, I might just never come back.
And then I heard it.
The slap of her flip-flops against the cobbled tiles of the walking path.
“Stop! Freeze, Your Highness,” she screamed.
I didn’t turn around because I knew why she was there. She wanted to apologise. And I didn’t want to hear it!
Tasha came running up to me and swung me around by the arm. I didn’t let her get a word in.
“Look, I know you’re feeling embarrassed, but you don’t have to be. I understand why you thought whatever you thought,” I said gently.
Tasha crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.
“Do you? How kind of you, Your Stupidness,” she snapped.
“Are you pissed at me because I’m letting you off the hook?” I asked disbelievingly.
“Again, how kind of you to do that! Let’s do whatever it takes to make the poor disturbed girl feel better, right?”
“Tasha…”
“You can stuff your pity and condescension where the sun don’t shine, Your Idiotness,” she snarled.
‘What the hell do you want from me, woman?”
“I want you to be mad at me, DV! I want you to be furious that I could think you would ever hurt me,” she cried.
“Iammad at you! And furious, and hurt, and a lot of other things! Well, I was. Then I understood why you’d think such a thing about me. It’s because we might have been betrothed for most of our lives, but we didn’t get to know each other at all. You don’t know me at all, so how can I blame you for thinking the worst about me?”
She shook her head sadly.
“You know, you’re the second person to say that to me today. Even Sandhya said the same thing. That I didn’t know her at all. And she was right. I didn’t know the ugly truth beneath her warm and friendly facade. But you’re wrong, DV. I do know you. You evidently don’t know me since you believed all that crap I fed you, but I do know you. Because I have loved you ever since I understood the meaning of the word. I spent my whole life waiting for you to love me back, but it looks like I might have to wait forever.”
I took one step closer to her.
“What the fuck do you mean by that, Tasha?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she stood her ground.
“I mean that I know you’re the most gentle human being on earth, incapable of hurting a fly. You would hurt yourself before you did anything to me. And I know how much my words pained you, DV. But I had to say all of those stupid things because I wanted to keep you safe. I knew the killer was trying to get at me, and I didn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”
I pulled her into my arms and squeezed her hard.
“How dare you? How dare you make that decision for me? Don’t you know that I would lay down my life for you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, you idiot! You’re not allowed to do stupid things like that becauseyourlife is way more precious than mine,” she yelled.
I laughed gently.
“Nothing is more precious than you, Tasha. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”
* * *
TASHA
I scowled into his chest.
