Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
AMAY
He saw her pale even as her lips tightened in that way that was so familiar, it felt like he’d tumbled down a rabbit hole into the past. Shit. Ishaan was right. He was getting so lost in the girl he’d once known that he was losing his grip on his sanity and the present he’d built for himself.
“Thank you for your interest,” she said, her voice mechanical and toneless. “But this isn’t your concern, any of yours.”
“You’re living in his home.” Ishaan pointed to Virat. “It kind of makes it our problem.”
“I didn’t ask to come here!” Dhrithi met Ishaan’s glower head on though her voice started to rise in agitation. “You know that! I had a hotel room booked!” Something seemed to strike her and she added, “Actually, I haven’t cancelled the booking so I’ll just leave now and –“
“Dhrithi.” Amay stepped in front of her, gripping her flailing, gesturing hands in his and trying to stem her growing hysteria. It had the added benefit of cutting off her line of sight of Ishaan. “You need help. Let us help you.”
“Why?” She stared at him baffled. “Why would you want to help me?”
“Yes why, Ams?” Ishaan’s obnoxious voice floated over.
Amay shut his eyes for a moment, wondering just how much of the truth he wished to share.
“Because you were once my friend,” he told her finally, opening his eyes and looking at her. “And I don’t abandon my friends, especially when they’re in trouble.”
“He has a saviour complex,” Ishaan muttered.
“Shut up Ish,” Virat murmured.
“I’m not in trouble,” she said looking warily over his shoulder at his two friends. Whatever she saw in their faces didn’t reassure her. “I’m not,” she insisted. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I was just running from him –“
She stopped talking, her face stricken at what she’d revealed.
“It’s okay,” Amay told her gently. “We know.”
Tears filled her eyes, glistening and unshed, as she stared at him.
“We know what he did to you Dhrithi,” Amay said, his hands tightening on hers. “Please help us help you.”
Her composure shattered. A broken cry tore from her lips as she collapsed into his arms. Her grief wasn’t quiet; it wasn’t restrained. It was a tidal wave of anguish, raw and unrelenting, pouring out of her like a storm that had been waiting too long to break. Amay held her close, his arms strong but tender, his own heart fracturing with hers. Behind him, he heard the door open and shut—Virat, no doubt dragging Ishaan out to give them space.
Her sobs racked her small frame, wringing every ounce of pain from her body, and Amay simply held her through it all. Minutes, hours—it felt like an eternity before her cries softened into sniffles and hiccups. And when she finally cried herself dry, he only held on tighter. Her head rested on his chest, her hands clutching the back of his shirt.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said finally, her words a broken whisper.
“Well, if you’d just let us help, we could do something about that.”
“Why?” she asked with another sniffle. “Because you know it all?”
“Well not me personally,” Amay replied. “Ishaan knows nothing. But Virat? Yeah, he kind of is a know-it-all.”
Dhrithi laughed, a watery chuckle and finally pulled her head back far enough to look at him. Amay moved one wet lock of hair away from her damp, tear-soaked cheek. And for a moment, time stood still.
She stared up at him, those big, dark eyes somehow bigger and more luminous in her thin, pale face. She’d lost so much weight with her recent ordeal that her skin stretched tight over her bones.
“Dhriths-“
She reached up, her fingers coming to rest on his parted lips, silencing whatever he’d been about to say. His heart stopped before starting again, a shuddering beat that threatened to crack through his rib cage. One touch and she’d erased the years they’d lived without each other, one touch and she’d wiped out their tortured history, one touch and she’d made him believe again; in hope, in redemption, in second chances.
His head dipped instinctively, drawn toward her like a magnet, and hers tilted in response. For a breathless moment, they hovered, lips a whisper apart. Shock filtered through him, mirrored on her own face and they shoved away from each other, ending up on opposite ends of the kitchen.
“We, umm.” Amay shoved a hand through his hair. “Should ask the guys to come back in.”
Dhrithi nodded dumbly, apparently completely at a loss for words. Amay tapped out a message on their group and a few minutes later, Virat and Ishaan sauntered in. Both came to a dead halt in the middle of the hall, their eyes darting from Amay to Dhrithi and back.
“What’s going on?” Ishaan frowned. “Did you two make out or fight? Either way, the energy is off.”
Virat sighed. “Is there ever a time you don’t just say whatever is on your mind?”
“Nope.” Ishaan hopped onto the counter beside Amay, his grin cocky and unrepentant.
Amay rolled his eyes, but Dhrithi’s voice pulled his attention back to her.
“Amay says you can help me,” Dhrithi said, her voice low and steady as she looked at Virat. “But I don’t even know why I need help.”
Virat smiled reassuringly. “Let’s start there, shall we?”