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Jiya took a sip from her glass and found it empty. Bloody hell. She’d lost count of the drinks she’d consumed—first the champagne at the auction and then the mimosas. Great. Just great. Now, she was not only mad, but she was definitely on her way to getting drunk. And seeing Kanika chatting up both Rohan and Aditya was not helping at all. All her pent-up emotions were rising, making her madder. She stood, and her head spun.
“I’m going to the ladies’ room; I’ll be back in a moment,” Jiya announced. When Shauna started to rise, Jiya shook her head and asked her to stay. She just wanted a few minutes to gather herself.
She entered the ladies’ room, her head buzzing, and splashed water on her face before wiping herself with a paper napkin. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her red lips stood out against her pale complexion. Her dark hair still looked foreign to her. She missed her streaks; they’d been her signature look since years. But something needed to change.
She breathed out. She was at a fantastic nightclub with a gorgeous man beside her, yet she couldn’t stop thinking of another man—a man whose dark eyes were always on her. Even thinking about Rohan made her feel hot and achy. She was so annoyed with herself. Why couldn’t she control her reaction to him? The last thing she wanted was for him to figure out she wasn’t over him.
Fuck. She was such an idiot. She didn’t know what she was doing in life. This whole thing ought to be easy. But it wasn’t. It so wasn’t.
She shut her eyes and opened them again. She was a strong woman. She’d do what she’d set out to do. She’d chosen happiness for herself. Hence, she’d do everything in her power to be happy. She’d brave the odds and pay any price there was to pay, but she would be happy again. That was a promise she’d made to herself.
Her mind made, she stepped out of the ladies’ room. A large hand caught her wrist. She glared at Rohan as he began to drag her to a corner.
“What do you want?” She shrugged out of his hold. “Why are you always accosting me around the ladies’ room?”
His eyes flared. “What are you doing with Aditya?”
Now she was hopping mad at him. She’d tried to be calm and collected in front of him. She’d tried not to show that she still felt hurt by his cruel rejection. But now, everything came rushing out.
“The same thing you’re doing with Kanika,” she spat out.
“I’m not doing anything with Kanika.”
“Sure, that’s why you ran back into her arms the second you decided we were over.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Meeting her in Singapore was a coincidence. Same like meeting her here is.”
Oh! Her heart did a little happy tango on hearing that admission. She shut the dance out immediately. Irrespective, Rohan had hurt her. She wasn’t forgetting that anytime soon.
Rohan crossed his arms on his chest. “Now that I’ve cleared your misconception about Kanika, I’ll repeat my question. What the fuck are you doing with Aditya?”
The anger in his tone fueled her own.
“You and I are not together, Mr. Bali. You made that amply clear to me. Hence, what I do in my private life is none of your business.”
He had told her these very same words at one time, and now she took great pleasure in tossing them back at him.
He winced. “I guess I deserved that.”
He took a step closer to her. “I don’t want to see you with Aditya again.”
“You don’t want me. And then you don’t want me to be with anyone else either?” she snapped. “Life doesn’t work on your whims, Mr. Bali.”
He glared at her. “Stop calling me Mr. Bali.”
“No.”
He sighed. “Jiya, please…”
“Stop it. One day you want me, the next you don’t, and now you want to dictate how I lead my life?! I’m not a fucking toy. You clearly don’t care about me, so just leave me the fuck alone.”
“Is that what you think?” His shoulders fell. “You think I don’t care about you?”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
He moved his hand to hold her cheek, but she backed away. His hand fell to his side. “I care, Jiya, a lot.”
A ringing started behind her temples. It added to her irritation. Why the hell had she drank so much tonight?
