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Shivers went down my spine when he told me that. I recognized the song that had started, Bilionera by Otilia.
I didn't understand the foreign language part that it had. As if understanding my question, Viaan answered, "it's Spanish."
My lips turned into an 'o' as I continued to listen to the song. I didn't realize I had been staring into his eyes the whole time. Staring into the molten chocolate swirl in his iris, I continued to mindlessly practice the steps as questions started to form in my head.
"What is it?" He asked.
I contemplated whether to ask or not. Watching me hesitate, he encouraged me, "I'll answer whatever you ask."
I looked at him trying to see if he was lying. But Viaan hadn't ever lied to me before. So gathering my courage, I spoke, "I heard about your mother. I'm so sorry about what you all had to go through."
His hands stiffened on either side of me but he didn't stop nor spoke. Taking that as a slightly positive reaction, I continued, "She was really beautiful. You have her eyes."
"I get that a lot." His voice was slightly off but nothing that indicated that he was angry.
"I've seen everyone. Everyone except one person, where is your father? What is he like?" Viaan stopped and removed his hands at my question, making my heart drop. His eyes had gone cold and so did his expression. Looking at his expression, I had concluded that he wasn't going to answer that and my shoulders slumped in defeat.
But when he replied, it took me by surprise, "He is dead. We don't talk about him."
Telling that he turned around to leave the gym but I called out again hopefully, making him halt with his back facing toward me, "can you help me practice salsa? Vikrant feels more of a commander than a teacher."
We stood in awkward silence until he decided to turn around to face me. He looked his unapproachable self again like he had cut everything and everyone out.
"Answer me honestly," his voice sounded colder yet it didn't seize my heart but his next words did, "Did you really lose your purse?"
32. BATTEES
Ijust ended up staring into his eyes as drop by drop sweat trickled down my spine. A knot of nothing formed in my throat making me involuntarily trying to swallow it down. And all the while Viaan kept his narrowed eyes trained on me like a sword hanging over my head. The jazz music in the background wasn't helping at all.
"Well?" He exhaled loudly and crossed his hands across his chest after another five minutes of not getting any answer from my side.
"You are angry," I meekly pointed trying to calm down my thundering heart.
"No, I am not angry but I'm annoyed and losing my patience," he countered as he stepped forward intimidatingly.
Unintentionally, I took a step back, "You won't scold or take some extreme action, right?"
"Is there a need to?" He tilted his head slightly like a predator cornering his prey that he was only playing with. I shook my head rapidly, scared for no particular reason. Or perhaps with the thought that he would bring up my clumsiness or how much of a trouble magnet I was or that I don't value his hard-earned money and I had tried to lie to him...
That was it! I wasn't telling him! I was so not telling him! If I stick to the same lie, it would be eventually accepted as the truth, wouldn't it?
"I really lost it," I took another step back, scared that he would grab the truth out of me. I felt like the child trying to escape the inevitable punishment from the parent by acting innocent when both of us knew that I wasn't.
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief, taunting me as he took another step forward. The way he acted felt like he knew everything, scaring me, even more, when it wasn't even my fault! If he knew it already, I was dead for sure.
"This is the last chance I'm giving you, tell the truth Rynah. Or I know other ways to get the truth," he openly threatened me! He was threatening his own damn wife!
Knowing what he was capable of and how sure he was that I was lying to him had me panic-stricken, especially when he pulled his phone out.
"Okay! Okay! I will tell you the truth!" I raised my hands in surrender as I tried to calm him down like how we try to calm down a wary and wounded animal, though he wasn't either of those. He stared at me, waiting for me to continue.
"I... I threw it," I mumbled under my breath, making him frown, "What?"
"I threw it!" I yelled, feeling agitated.
"Why?"
"I was being chased by some delinquents when I went to visit Anjali this afternoon. So, I thought that they were after the money and threw it away to stop them from running after me," I explained looking at the ground. I didn't want to look at his face, not at all after it ended into an awkward silence between us. If I excluded the not so soothing background music.
