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“It wasn’t my fault.”
Aryan had heard her say those words so many times, that by default, he was convinced that the whole thingwasindeed her fault. He forgot all his intentions of making peace and started pacing up and down, wondering just how this pint-sized creature could turn his world upside down so easily.
Now he’d have to put up with Arshia’s incessant whining about how arrogant and nasty Jessie was, and when he defended her, as he was bound to, his girlfriend would get mad at him, and since his mother doted on Arshia, she would get mad at him too, and he’d never hear the end of it. And it was all Jessie’s fault. As usual.
One thing led to another, and before he knew it, Aryan and Jessie were squabbling like a pair of school kids. Again, as usual.
That was when she broke out her siren smile, and Aryan forgot what he was about to say. He knew he’d thought of a very good rebuttal, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what it was. All he could do was stare at the curve of her lips hungrily.
There was a snort from near his feet, and Aryan looked down to see Zombie staring at him with his upper lip curled in disgust. Great. Even her dog thought he was an idiot.
Aryan shook off the thrall of her smile and scowled at Jessie.
“Enough, Jessie. You need to apologise to Arshia. Now,” he ordered.
The minute the words left his lips, he could have kicked himself. He was about to take them back when Jessie burst out laughing. He could swear her dog was laughing too.
She wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself.
“I’m going to ignore your ridiculous suggestion, Aryan, because to you, it might seem logical to twist the world around to keep your crazy girlfriend happy. But here’s a tip - the world doesn’t really revolve around her and her delusions. Even if she’s convinced that I set Zombie on her, I can assure you that I didn’t. I can’t even get that idiot dog to stop chewing on my precious Manolo Blahniks. He does what he likes, and if he wanted to play tag with Arshia, there’s nothing I could do about it. So, no, I have nothing to apologise for,” she said, firmly.
Zombie added his assent to that with a low woof, and Jessie nodded, as if that proved her point, and pulled out her phone.
Aryan could feel the makings of a headache throbbing at the base of his skull. He was sleep-deprived, exhausted and famished. In short, he didn’t need this crap. Not from Jessie, and definitely, not from Arshia. But there seemed to be no other option. He knew that Arshia would go on and on about it for the next whole week until Jessie did something else to set her back up.
“Munshi Ji, please have a tea tray sent to the maze right away, with mirchi pakoras and grilled cheese sandwiches,” said Jessie.
Aryan looked up in surprise to see her end her call.
“You look famished,” she said briskly.
“I’m all right.”
Jessie rolled her eyes at that.
“The world won’t end if you admit to feeling hungry, Aryan. You really need to do something about that superhero complex,” she snapped, grabbing Zombie by the collar and dragging him towards the exit.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m taking this guy back to the palace before he pounces on your food. I’ll ask Munshi Ji to see that you get to eat in peace. Just relax for a bit, because you’re in for a lot of whining from your girlfriend,” she replied, with a one-sided grin.
“Jessie… wait,” he began, but she didn’t let him finish.
“By the way, I heard the good news. Arshia’s parents are meeting yours tomorrow, right? To fix your wedding date. Congratulations. I’m sure the two of you will be very happy,” she said, before turning on her heel and walking out of the maze.
CHAPTER2
JESSIE
Iwalked out of the maze, dragging an unwilling Zombie by his collar. It was as if the big, loony glutton knew that there was food to be had. He had an unerring instinct for food, and an even more unerring instinct for suckers who would feed him, Aryan being one of them.
But Dr Clueless was not just a sucker. He was a Putz, with a capital P, I fumed. Asking me to apologise to his twit of a girlfriend, who didn’t have the sense that God gave a baby bird. Why should I apologise when she was the one who had hurt me?
I tried my best to stay away from Arshia Thakkar, but there were times when I had to be polite to her. Especially when she was at the palace at my mother’s express invitation.
Ma was very happy that her flaky daughter had finally found her purpose in life. Her words, not mine.
“Jessie, why don’t you invite your hospital friends over for dinner?” she’d asked as we binge-watched the first season of Narcos. I had finally convinced my mother to watch it, and she was enjoying it, despite her initial misgivings.
