AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you excited? Nervous?” Jiya asked.
“Excited, yes,” he said. “Nervous, no.”
“I’d be stressing out like crazy if it was my horse running today.”
“Why should I be anxious?” He frowned as if the concept was foreign to him. “Xerxes is going to win, you’ll see.”
“I do like your confidence.” Jiya pressed a hand to her stomach. “But now that I’ve met Xerxes, I’m feeling like a coil of thorns is stuck inside. I’m terrified he will lose. He’s such a beautiful horse! I do want him to win.”
Rohan smiled. “He will.”
“You took her to meet Xerxes?” his mom asked. Her surprised gaze alternated between Rohan and Jiya before she fixed it on Rohan. “That’s a first.”
“What’s a first?” His father asked, putting an arm around his wife.
“Rohan took Jiya to meet Xerxes.” She faced her son. “Is that why you got late?”
“Yes, among other things…” He gave Jiya one of his heated stares, reminding her of theotherthings. His parents shared a glance. Shit. This was embarrassing.
His mom gave her a soft smile. She looked at her son, who was leaning against the railing, looking absolutely unaffected that his mother was trying to add two and two together, and soon she’d definitely reach the right conclusion, which was that there was something going on between Jiya and him.
Of course, there was something going on between them, but she didn’t want to announce it to the world right now, and not to his parents definitely.
“Actually, he asked me to bet on Xerxes, and I refused. So, he offered to make me meet Xerxes to convince me to bet on him,” Jiya rushed out, feeling rattled.
“Hmm…” his father said.
The horn sounded and the race began, distracting everyone and moving their focus to the horses running. Shouts and cheers erupted all around. Rohan plucked the binoculars from her hand and peered through them. Her eyes locked on Xerxes. Shit. He was last. Why was he last?
“Come on,” she yelled.
But still, he ran last.
“Why is he so slow?” she grumbled. “Oh, I can’t watch.”
Rohan lowered the binoculars. He chuckled on seeing her annoyance.
“Why are you smiling?” Jiya muttered.
“In six seconds, you’ll know why.”
The horses raced near the first thousand-meter mark, and still, Xerxes was last. Her heart began to pound. Just as they crossed the first marker, Xerxes picked up speed, moving forward, crossing two horses. There were at least eight more ahead of him. The coil in her belly tightened as he began to overtake another horse and then another until there were only four horses ahead of him.
The last twelve hundred meters remained. Xerxes charged forward, moving into third place and then second, until he was running neck-to-neck with horse number nine, which had been leading since the beginning.
She grabbed the binoculars from Rohan. “Give me that.”
“Come on, boy,” she cheered, following his progress through the device. “You can do it.”
The horses ran side by side until, in a burst of speed, Xerxes zipped forward. Her mouth fell open. Shit! He was flying, like he had wings on his feet. Dust flew from his hooves as he left all the other horses behind. He was one furlong ahead and then two and then three. The crowd went berserk. Everywhere, people shouted and cheered him on.
Bloody hell. He truly had no competition. He won by four furlongs. It was absolutely marvellous.
“He won! Oh my God, he was spectacular!” she said.
“He was…” Rohan said softly.
She was delirious with delight. She felt like it was her own horse who had won. Her adrenaline was at an all-time high. She ached to throw herself in Rohan’s arms. To rejoice with him, but she held herself back. Already, he was surrounded by his parents and their friends, who were congratulating him and opening bottles of champagne to toast him.
