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“I like him,” she uttered impulsively before she slapped a palm on her mouth. “No. I didn’t say that. Please, forget I said that.”
All three of them laughed.
“She’s into him, I knew it,” Ananya whooped.
“We won’t let you take it back now,” Reina said. “So, spill.”
Sheena didn’t know what to tell them, or where to begin.
“He and I…” she began, still unsure of what to say and how to say it. “God. It’s complicated.”
Navya chuckled. “It always is.”
“Just when I thought something was blossoming between us, he just disappeared to God knows where in Europe. We haven’t been in touch since he left. No calls and no messages. It’s like…it’s like he’s forgotten all about me. Like I was never important to him.”
Navya shook her head. “Of course, he cares for you. He’s been asking each of us individually about you, and that too, daily.”
“If that is true, then why has he stopped communicating with me?” Sheena asked in a small voice.
“You know, he calls us daily, and he never does that,” Reina said. “Initially, we were surprised by his attention, and then the three of us spoke, and we all came to the same conclusion. The only reason he’s been calling us is to find out about you. I don’t think he’s forgotten you; rather, I think he’s unable to forget you.”
Her heart leapt at that possibility, but she put a break on that.
“It doesn’t make sense at all,” Sheena said. “Why ignore me then? God. I’m so mad at him.”
Navya gave her a reassuring smile. “This is the longest he’s been away in a while. Usually, he takes very short trips, even if it means he has to travel several times a month. But for him to have left the headquarters and work from all across Europe for a month is unheard of. Maybe he’s scared of what he feels for you and just needed the time and space to figure it out.”
“Sure. Let’s make it all about him,” Sheena snapped. “And let’s not even acknowledge the fact that him running away from me was hurtful and unfair to me. He should have talked to me instead of disappearing the way he has.”
“Hey,” Ananya clasped her hand, “Please don’t get us wrong. We are not justifying his behavior. We’re just telling you what we assume could have happened.”
Reina, the quietest of the three, was studying her. “Don’t be mad at him.”
“Well, I am mad at him,” she replied. “He’s just too…too difficult.”
She was mad at him, yes. The first time he’d kissed her, he’d made it out to be a pity kiss, the second time at the fair was…it was a sudden, unexpected kiss, maybe because of the adrenaline rush of being on a Ferris Wheel. Must have been that to him, because the third time they’d been intimate, he’d disappeared. So maybe he had regretted that as well. Awful man.
She hated that she missed him so much. She missed their conversations and their texts. She missed his voice and that soft smile which she thought he gave only her. She missed the way her heart sped when he was near. She couldn’t stop thinking of his mouth moving over hers, of his hands skimming down her body, of his fingers inside her. Even thinking about all that made her heart beat a little harder and made her skin feel a little warmer. He was the first man to whom she’d reacted so blatantly, and to think it had been nothing for him, was upsetting and disturbing.
Ananya tapped her hand. Sheena sucked in a breath and faced her. Shit. She’d been silent for too long, and now all three of them were looking at her curiously.
She faced the three of them. “Can we talk of something else, please?”
The girls shared a look before Navya said, “Rajiv can be very difficult.”
“And interfering…” Ananya added.
“Let’s not forget possessive,” Reina put in.
Sheena took a sip of her drink. “Can’t disagree with you on that. These elder brothers are all the same. Kabier is exactly like that when it comes to me.”
While Navya and Ananya smiled, Reina gave her a straight look. “But Rajiv is also warm and kind, and so damn supportive. Sometimes, his need to protect can feel a tad bit too overbearing, but his intentions are good. He’s always in the news with this woman or that one. But recently, there has been nothing on him, and we all feel it is because of you. He likes you, and he’s scared of what he feels about it. I’m not saying he was right to disappear on you. I’m just saying that you should give him a chance.”
Sheena shrugged, refusing to reply. As of now, she was quite mad at him. She grabbed a soft-shell taco and started adding the various condiments and sauces to it.
“Change of topic, please,” she pleaded.
The girls laughed, shaking their heads.
