CHAPTER 69! VOICE NOTE #4
"You're my bestfriend! You're supposed to support me!"
"I support Aadhira."
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath. "Both of you, shut up. I'm not finished."
The bickering stopped immediately. Shourya lowered his foot and sat up straight.
I looked between the two of them, my eyes finally landing on Vivaan. "Did you two tell Aryav to talk to Sameera?"
Complete, dead silence fell over the room.
Shourya looked at Vivaan. Vivaan looked at Shourya. Then both of them slowly looked at Aryav.
Their expressions said the exact same thing.
Chugalkhor. [Snitch.]
Aryav took a quiet sip of his coffee, completely ignoring them.
I crossed my arms. "So your brilliant solution was to send my husband to Sameera?"
Shourya shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. "Aadhi, meri baat sun. We needed to know what was going on." ["Aadhi, listen to me. We needed to know what was going on."]
"You could have gone yourselves!"
Vivaan spoke up carefully. "She doesn't particularly like us."
I whipped my head toward him.
Vivaan realized his mistake half a second too late. "I mean she... likes Aryav."
Aryav's head turned slowly toward him. The look in his eyes was lethal. Vivaan shut his mouth instantly.
"So you think he is best option?" I asked, looking back at Shourya.
Shourya sighed, his playful tone completely gone. "I thought Sameera would tell me something."
"Tell you what?"
Shourya rubbed his forehead. "Whether Aryav was actually as committed to you as he claimed."
My eyes narrowed.
"So you used another woman to test my husband?"
"When you say it like that..."
"How else am I supposed to say it?"
I hated that part of me understood his logic. It was twisted, but it was coming from a place of desperate, overprotective anxiety.
I turned to Vivaan. "And you went along with this bhai?"
"Honestly?" Vivaan shrugged, leaning back. "I only agreed because I knew he wouldn't care about her and it will only make our work easy to find abhi."
I frowned. "How would you know that?"
"Because I work with him. I've seen him angry enough to scare an entire boardroom."
He shrugged.
"And then he'll put on his headphones and play one of your voice notes."
My hand stopped halfway to my face.
"What?"
Vivaan frowned. "Your voice notes."
"Why?"
"Because according to him they calm him down."
He said it so casually that I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly.
"He listens to me?"
"All the time."
My entire body went still.
Beside him, Shourya slowly turned his head. "Tu... kya bol raha hai?" ["What... what are you saying?"]
Vivaan, completely unaware of the bomb he had just dropped, kept going.
A wave of intense, burning heat rushed straight to my face.
Vivaan finally noticed the atmosphere. He looked at my bright red face, then at Shourya's utterly shocked expression, and finally toward the desk.
Aryav hadn't said a word.
He was staring at Vivaan, his face terrifyingly blank.
Vivaan swallowed hard. "I mean... he barely notices other women when you're around anyway."
My cheeks were on fire. I couldn't even look toward the desk.
Shourya was staring at Aryav as if he had just discovered a completely different human being. He pointed a slow finger at him.
"Tu..." Shourya breathed out, his mouth dropping open. "Tu meri behen ke liye itna pagal hai?" ["You... you are this crazy for my sister?"]
Aryav subtly looked away, glancing out the window.
That tiny break in his composure was all the confirmation Shourya needed.
"Oh my god," Shourya said, a wild grin returning to his face. "You are actually obsessed with her!"
"Shourya," Aryav warned, his tone low and dangerous.
"Aadhi!" Shourya turned to me, his eyes wide. "You didn't know?!"
"SHOURYA BHAI, STOP!" I yelled, covering my burning face with both hands. "Stop talking!"
Vivaan looked genuinely terrified now. He looked at Aryav, then at me. "...Did I mess up?"
Aryav didn't answer. He simply continued to stare at him with quiet, promised vengeance.
Vivaan immediately raised both hands. "Okay. Sorry."
Shourya sank back into his chair, folding his arms and grinning like he had just won the lottery. "This is officially the best morning of my life."
"I hate all of you," I muffled through my hands.
Shourya chuckled.
I slowly lowered my hands from my face, taking a shaky breath.
Aryav was still watching Vivaan with lethal intent, while Vivaan looked like he was contemplating jumping out the garden window. Shourya was practically glowing with delight.
I finally looked toward the desk.
Aryav looked at me, and for one stupid second, everything else in the room disappeared.
Then I remembered that my brother were sitting right there.
I immediately looked away.
Great.
Apparently finding out that your husband was hopelessly obsessed with you was embarrassing enough. Finding out in front of your brother was a completely different level of torture.