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“He was so scared, Nivy! You should have seen him begging me to eat some crackers and drink ORS!”
“I was afraid you’d die on my yacht, and I’d rather have drowned my own boat than faced your mother over your corpse. Lovely lady, but she scares the bejeesus out of me,” he said, with a shudder.
“That’s just because you’re a lily-livered chicken,” I told him kindly, as I wound my arm around his waist and led him to the dance floor again.
The choreographer pouted in disappointment when I told her that I’d teach him the steps myself and stomped off in a huff. I laughed as Yash swung me around lazily, but found myself feeling strangely guilty as Neele Neele Ambar Pe came on. As if I was cheating on Aryan by dancing with someone else on what was ‘our’ song.
And as if I had conjured him out of nowhere, there he was. Standing at the edge of the stage. Staring at me stonily.
* * *
ARYAN
It was no one’s fault but his. He knew that. But as he watched Jessie twirl around the dance floor in the arms of that royal creep, Aryan wanted to punch something. Anything. A wall. Or a certain chiselled royal face.
For a minute, he fantasised about punching Yash’s teeth down his throat. Maybe he could reach down his throat and pull out his intestines to catapult him into outer space. That would teach him to smile at his Jessie. No. NothisJessie. He wasn’t being a jealous boyfriend. He was just a concerned friend. He didn’t want that playboy to break her heart when she was so vulnerable. Not that the little traitor looked vulnerable. She looked like she was having the time of her life. Dancing with that slimebag totheirsong.
Aryan wondered if he could get away with tripping the moron. He might break his ankles, or if Aryan was really lucky, he’d crack that big coconut head and be stuck in a hospital bed for weeks.
“Whatever you’re planning, don’t. Just don’t. He’s Veer’s oldest friend, and we all like him,” warned Nivy, handing him a scotch.
Aryan drained it in one go, without taking his eyes off the dance floor, and then howled when the liquor scorched its way down his gullet.
“That was a very expensive twenty-year-old single-malt that you just knocked back like a glass of toddy, you philistine!”
“Tasted just as bad,” he retorted.
“Okay, are you here for a reason? Apart from glaring at Jessie and making an ass of yourself?”
Aryan turned to her in surprise.
“Do you not want me here, Nivy? I know I haven’t been very involved in your wedding, but I had some time off and I thought I’d drop by to see if you needed any help. But I don’t want to intrude, sorry,” he said, turning to leave.
He had known that at some point, Nivy and he would drift apart because she would be moving into an exalted world that was very alien to him, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was hurt.
“Aryan, no! I didn’t mean it that way. It means a lot to me that you want to help with the wedding because I know that you don’t have a lot of free time. It’s just that I’m tired of playing referee between you and Jessie.”
He smiled bleakly.
“We’ve agreed to be on our best behaviour until your wedding, Nivy.”
“Oh my God! Not yourbestbehaviour! Anything butthat,” she said dramatically.
“I can’t believe they gave you a Filmfare, you hack,” he replied, with an eye roll.
“What.Ever. Just don’t ruin my wedding,” she warned.
An hour later, Aryan was sitting in a corner, nursing his second scotch. This time, he was sipping it slowly, enjoying the burn as it slid down his throat. Jessie was avoiding him, which was a good thing, he told himself. This was how it was going to be from now. They were staying away from each other. If only he could keep his eyes off her.
Five minutes later, though, he was glad he had been watching her because he was the only person who noticed how close Jessie was to the edge of the stage. And in those high heels, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
She threw her head back to laugh at something Yash was saying and teetered on her heels. Aryan jumped up from his chair and ran towards her. But he was too late.
Jessie lost her balance, even as Yash bent forward to grab her hand. And she hit the ground, with a cry of pain.
Aryan was the first to reach her, crouching in front of her, helping her sit up. He banked his fear and allowed the doctor in him to take over.
CHAPTER17
