& Then They Loved (Ampersand Love #3)

41. Little Master

41

Little Master

Vera

E very night, for the next couple weeks, Vera tried to find reasons to remain annoyed and distant with Vihaan. And every morning, she woke up plastered against him. She was beyond frustrated with herself because her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Vihaan, to give him credit, had done absolutely everything to drive her completely stark raving mad.

He’d refused to entertain the idea of maintaining separate bedrooms, making it impossible for her to control her subconscious need to sleepily rub against him like a cat in heat. He’d walk around shirtless, distracting her from any argument she’d try to make about the benefits of him crashing on the couch. He’d flirt outrageously with her, flustering her thoroughly until she’d snap back. He was completely undeterred by her barbs, accepting them with a grin so sunny that one would think she’d confessed her love.

He’d bullied her into coming to work with him every day and when it looked like he was transitioning back to Stork’s head offices, he’d insisted on getting her a car of her own. Unsurprisingly, she’d refused. Two days later, a shiny, red, luxury sedan with her initials on the nameplate had stood in the driveway of the home she now shared with him, with a driver to boot.

She’d retaliated by staying late at work and leaving well after the sky had darkened so that people didn’t see her using her fancy new vehicle. It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been enough gossip about her to fill the pages of a tome, she wanted to avoid giving people any more ammunition. On the third evening, her irate husband-turned-torturer had shown up at Ethos to haul her back home for dinner.

When she’d petulantly argued with him about his controlling ways, he’d pinned her with a hard look. “Nanaji has been waiting for you at the dinner table with me, refusing to eat till he sees your face. I didn’t realise your need to hate me stumped spending time with him.”

His reprimand had left her feeling like the spoiled brat she’d once claimed him to be. Needless to say, she was always on time for dinner after that.

Every attempt she’d made at keeping a distance between them, Vihaan erased with an endless source of tenacity and patience. In turn, Vera could feel her resolve to keep him at bay crumbling every single day.

It terrified her. It terrified her that when she woke up every morning in his arms to find him looking at her like she was his world, she liked it. It infuriated her that every time he was close to her, she wanted to sink into him for comfort. It frustrated her that his flirtatious winks and teasing innuendos were finding their mark and making her crave him and the intimacy he offered.

He called her his wife at every given opportunity and still, it was hard for her to believe that he was her husband.

It was ridiculous and an impossible situation to be in.

But the worst had been today. She got stuck at some research she’d been conducting and had walked into Vihaan’s office without thinking about it, wanting to discuss it with him to see if he had any ideas she should consider. His empty seat had brought her up short, and she’d stood there, staring as the many memories of them in his office taunted her in that silence.

And out of nowhere, she figured out why that emptiness bothered her.

She missed him.

She missed him.

They’d achieved a camaraderie before he’d brought up their past, before she’d found out why he’d broken her heart. And in those months, she’d become accustomed to having access to Vihaan without the need to hold herself back. The loss of that freedom and ease in communication had been weighing heavily on her, tormenting her with their emotional distance even though they lived together. This realisation had stunned her so thoroughly that she’d wobbled out to her desk and slumped into her chair, only snapping out of it when a concerned Jay found her, demanding to know why she looked like she was descending into a shock-based coma.

Close enough, considering she’d realised she was in love with her husband. Had they not fought, she’d have probably accepted this a lot sooner. Had she not let her anger cloud her judgement, she’d have confessed it also.

Which brought her to this moment, lying down in her bed in the massive bungalow she now called home, trying to take a nap on sheets that smelled like the man she could no longer run from.

She shut her eyes quickly, keeping her back turned when she heard footsteps enter the room. It was Vihaan. If she was home, he made it a point to be home as well. The closer he came, the warmer she got.

Seconds later, she felt him brush her hair back from her forehead. Slowly, with the care one would use to stroke a newborn kitten, he drew the back of his knuckles along her cheekbone and down the side of her jaw.

All too soon, his touch lifted, and she heard his footsteps recede. It was only then that she opened her eyes again. Almost as if he’d cast a spell on her, she raised her fingers to trace the path he had traversed. His gentle caress held such power over her, her skin seemed to come alive where he’d touched her.

She would have kept thinking about this moment had the angry buzz of her phone not jolted her back to the present. A motion camera notification popped up when she checked it. Vihaan had recently installed monitors around the house, especially in Nanaji’s room, so that Vera could check in on him without having to call or disturb him in case he was sleeping.

It was yet another thing he’d done that had wiggled its way past Vera’s steely armour and made a home in her heart. She sighed when she saw Nanaji getting agitated, knowing that she’d need to go and intervene now. Some days, she was his only tether to reality as his memories deteriorated, affecting his previously gentle personality. She sat up, fortifying herself to face Nanu’s anger if the need arose. One eye on her phone, she approached the bedroom door when the arrival of a broad-shouldered man on screen caused her to halt.

Vihaan

“I heard noises.”

Vihaan had just returned to his home office when he’d heard the sudden crash of glass. With Nanaji’s bedroom being in the same wing as his office, it was easy enough for him to pinpoint the source of the raised voices that had interrupted his work. His concern grew at the worried faces of the two nurses there. “What’s the matter?”

“We were about to go get Mrs. Oberoi,” the younger nurse told him.

“No, don’t do that. She’s resting. Tell me what’s happening.”

“D-don’t come near m-me!” Ambernath yelled, his eyes downcast, his face scrunched. He didn’t look angry—he looked traumatised.

“Sir, Mr. Talwar needs help, and he won’t let us,” informed Maria in a low voice, the more senior of the two care nurses, nodding her head quietly towards the sheets on the bed.

The issue became clearer when Vihaan noticed a telling green-yellow stain spreading out from under the old man. His heart clenched in pity. Mr. Talwar had always had a distinguished air about him. To have had such an accident and be unable to help himself, to have his faculties fail him while his brain was still keen enough to pick up on the incident, would be unbearably embarrassing.

“Hey, Nanu,” Vihaan smiled brightly, injecting his voice with levity. He bent down on one knee next to the bed, keeping his tone light. “What do you say I help you clean up, hmm?”

“Y-you?” Nanaji stuttered, sliding a worried glance at the two women standing a couple feet away.

“Don’t worry about them. It’s just you and me. Man-to-man, okay?” As soon as he said it, the frown lines on Nanaji’s forehead relaxed. With an arm supporting his frail shoulders, Vihaan lifted him up, shocked by how light he was. With an adeptness he’d never expected to have, he kept Nanu’s mind occupied as he helped dispose of his soiled clothes, assisting him in getting showered safely. A little while later, a fresh smelling Ambernath sat atop his clean sheets, obediently opening his mouth while Vihaan spooned some dal-chawal into his mouth .

“I al-al-always knew you liked my Vera,” Nanaji said, his words a little slurred, as if he was trying hard to remember how to move his mouth.

Vihaan nodded, smiling softly as he fed him another bite. “I wish I’d been as wise as you. But I have learned from my mistakes.”

“I’m g-gl-gl-lad you’re back, little m-master. My Vera was lonely. N-no friends. Now sh-sh-she has you.”

“She’ll always have me. I will never leave her again.”

“I t-trust you.”

With those simple words, Vihaan felt the weight of Ambernath’s expectations land upon him—of being able to care for his granddaughter in a way she deserved. It was wonderful, and humbling. Filling Nanaji’s shoes when it came to loving Vera was impossible, but it was clear that Ambernath had handed that responsibility to him.

“She’s b-been doing things alone f-f-for too long,” Vera’s grandfather mumbled, mostly to himself. “Sh-she needs help. She th-thinks I don’t remember. I don’t s-s-see her tiredness. She h-hides her worries, even from her m-me.”

Vihaan set the empty plate to the side. Using the damp towel that had been left for him, he gently wiped around the old man’s mouth, making him a promise, “I’ll take all her burdens. I will shield Vera to the best of my ability.”

“Hmm. Where is V-Vera? Is sh-she still at school?”

Vihaan’s hand stilled, his skin chilling at the question.

“I sh-should make her something to eat. P-p-poor girl st-studies so hard, sh-she forgets to e-eat.”

“She’ll be back soon,” Vihaan said, gently dissuading Ambernath from getting up. “You rest. I can get someone to make her food.”

“M-mooli paratha.”

“Huh?”

“Sh-she likes those. Sh-she always says she d-doesn’t w-want it s-s-so that I d-don’t spend time making it.”

Vihaan swallowed hard, nodding silently. He couldn’t speak.

“H-her mother asked for ev-ev-everything. But my Vera? S-She d-doesn’t say anything, a-afraid of b-being a burden. As if I don’t un-un-understand her.” Nanaji’s smile spoke of the immense love he held for his granddaughter. That even when he was slowly losing himself, concern for Vera was at the forefront of his mind. He looked around the room, brows knit as he frowned lightly. “W-where am I?”

The evidence of how quickly a man could get lost within himself shook Vihaan. But the doctors had been clear. Any obvious reaction from the caregivers could affect the patient as well. So far, they had been lucky in that Nanaji had not shown aggression towards the help, but he’d been quick to get annoyed, a marked contrast to the immensely patient and docile man he had always been.

“W-what is th-this place?” he asked, watching him suspiciously as Vihaan grappled with his emotions.

“This is your home, Nanaji.”

“And you?”

Vihaan felt his heart break, his eyes burning when he choked out a reply. “I’m a friend. Just visiting.”

“Oh,” Nanaji nodded, still confused but calmer with that answer. “Y-you sh-sh-should ask M-M-Mamta to make ch-chai before you go.”

Mamta. Nanaji’s wife, deceased now for well over two decades.

Vihaan nodded silently, unable to form words. He rose up, tucking the comforter around the fragile body that housed an even more fragile mind, helping him settle onto the plush pillow.

“Please rest,” he whispered, his throat feeling like a glug of thick syrup was stuck within. “I’ll leave now. Thank you for inviting me to your home.”

Nanaji’s eyes glazed over, a flicker of a smile tickling the edge of his lips as the medicines finally took effect, allowing him to slip into a restful sleep .

Vihaan stood watching over Ambernath for a few more minutes, almost afraid to move. He hadn’t expected to feel so affected by the stark changes in the man he’d known versus the frail human who’d shown a child-like trust in him, grateful for his help in shielding his dirtied body from the female nurses. And then, in the course of a single conversation, he went from a person who was lucid and present to someone who was losing himself deeper and deeper in the labyrinth of memories that were eroding with time.

How did his Vera deal with this? He’d always known she was strong, but where did she find the fortitude to witness her grandfather fading away in front of her, and still function without descending into a depressive state?

Had she experienced her grandfather forgetting her?

If he felt this wrecked over Nanaji suddenly not recognizing him, how affected must Vera have been?

His mind was in a turmoil, troubled anew by the realisation of how much Vera had undergone alone in the last decade and a half. Of the things her younger self had to have borne without any help from anyone. No wonder she’d called him out on leaving her when she’d needed him most. No wonder she couldn’t forgive him easily.

Wound in his own thoughts, Vihaan slipped out the door, never realising that the indicator on the camera monitor inside Nanaji’s bedroom had been blinking red the entire time.