Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
DHEER
D iya looked unwell. I knew she said she had a headache, but could a headache make you look so lifeless? It was scaring me.
“Hey, have you eaten anything? I’m such a brute for not checking on you earlier. I’m sorry, baby,” I said softly.
But she brushed it off.
“I’m fine. So what happens next?”
“You have to give a formal statement. Are you sure you’re okay, Diya? Because you don’t look fine.”
“Oh, give it a rest. I said I’m fine,” she snapped.
I clenched my jaw to resist retorting in kind. Maybe she was tired. She hadn’t had enough sleep in Milan, and maybe she was stressed about the whole mess with Ayush Goel. Unless we got a warrant to search their premises, it was going to be her word against his because the husband was liable to change his statement if Ayush so much as cracked his knuckles.
I picked up a bottle of mango milkshake from the spread on the side table and gave it to Diya.
“Drink this,” I ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.
She drained the small bottle and set it aside without even looking at me.
I didn’t know what it was, but she was pissed at me for something. Was this about her diet?
I knew I had strong opinions about women starving themselves because I had seen Isha go through far too many fad diets and extreme workouts just to look skinny, and I didn’t want Diya to be forced to conform to such unhealthy standards of beauty. But if it was the norm in her line of work, there wasn’t much I could do about it. And sabotaging her diet even unintentionally was only going to cause friction between us. I didn’t want to be responsible for destroying her career.
“Look, I know I might have been slightly harsh about the no-carbs thing yesterday, but that’s only because I… care about you. I know you’re an adult, and I promise I will not interfere in your diet ever again.”
I had to catch myself before I told her I loved her because I didn’t want to blurt that out in the middle of what was definitely a fight even if it was one-sided, and in full hearing of the cabin crew.
“Dheer, can we focus on the case, please? That’s my biggest priority right now because as soon as Ayush goes to jail for her murder, I can get back to my old life and we can end our marriage,” said Diya coldly.
I stared at her in shock because I hadn’t seen that coming. I was under the impression that we were building a permanent marriage. But Diya was planning something else altogether. She was planning to leave me!
I wanted to shake her hard and warn her that there was no way I was ever going to let her go. But then I realised that she had no idea I loved her. When we decided to get married, she wanted it to be a fake, temporary marriage. And she had no idea that I was determined to make it a real one.
I shook my shoulders to release the tension. It was fine. We were fine. All I had to do was show her what she meant to me, and she’d stop talking about leaving. First, I wanted to get this meeting with the police commissioner out of the way.
Luckily, the aircraft landed before I could reply and the pilot came in to see us off the plane.
When we got home after a long and exhausting interview with the officer investigating Sheela Devi’s death, Diya still looked wan and lost.
“It’s over, right?” Isha asked hopefully.
Diya nodded.
“It’s over,” she agreed, but the finality of her tone suggested that she meant more than just her part in the murder case. “I’m moving back home tomorrow.”
“What! Why? I thought you guys had worked through your differences,” yelped Isha.
Diya didn’t reply. She just patted Isha on her shoulder and walked into the house without even a backward glance at me.
“What’s going on, Bhai Sa?”
“I need to sit down and talk to her, that’s all,” I replied. “We need to figure out where we’re going.”
“Well, right now, you need to go straight to your study. There’s a guest waiting for you,” said Isha severely.
“Ah, yes. I’ve been expecting her.”
“Bhai Sa, you’re an idiot for calling her home when Diya is here. If she sees her, all hell will break loose,” she warned.
“It’ll just take five minutes, Isha. That’s all,” I swore, before heading to my study through a side door.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the dark room.
“You should have thrown open the curtains,” I said, with a smile. “You’ve made yourself at home here often enough.”
I turned to smile at Raksha and saw that she stood by my desk, looking extremely uncomfortable. I froze when I realised that she wasn’t the only person in the room. Diya stood just inside the doorway.