Chapter 4
DAKSH
I’m different?
Daksh sent the message strolling behind Ashish’s uptight fiancée as she marched through the airport, muttering to herself and replying to emails on her phone.
All around them, people milled in agitated groups and harangued airport staff who were quickly realizing that going into hiding was their best option.
The termagant Ashish was marrying came to a stop in front of their gate and plonked herself in one of the uncomfortable chairs.
Daksh eyed her stiff figure and bent head as she ignored him and kept tapping away at her poor phone.
Why the fuck did she need to sit at the gate?
It wasn’t like the flight was boarding anytime soon.
His phone pinged and he pulled it out to check his brother’s response.
I had to tell her something.
Daksh glared at the screen before typing out a response.
Or you could let her do her own thing. She’s an adult, for fuck’s sake.
The phone rang the second after the ticks turned blue. Daksh stepped away to take the call, noticing that Vedika’s shoulders relaxed the minute he did.
“Yeah?” he said, the minute the line clicked through.
“Just keep an eye on her,” Ashish said tersely. “Please?”
“Why?” Daksh asked baldly, turning slightly to watch the little granny mouse hunched over her phone. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing’s wrong with her,” Ashish snapped. “Vedu’s just…”
“Different?” Daksh supplied dryly.
Ashish huffed out a laugh. “Do me this solid. I’ll owe you.”
“Yeah.” The granny mouse was straightening now, looking around the airport with a gimlet eye. “You will.”
“Just stay with her till you guys get to Mumbai and I’ll keep Dad off your back for the duration of the wedding.”
Daksh paused. Now that was a tempting offer. “And how exactly are you going to do that?”
“I’m marrying the girl of his dreams,” Ashish muttered bitterly. “He’ll do anything I ask. Trust me. Just see that his golden goose gets back to Mumbai in one piece, and I’ll see that he doesn’t say a single word to you. Not even hello.”
“Deal,” Daksh said promptly. He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He clicked off from the call and then eyed the mouse. The best way to do this, he decided, was to annoy the shit out of her. She already thought he was ‘different,’ so he may as well use it to his advantage.
He marched over to where she sat and dropped his haversack on the ground. It missed her foot by inches, making her jump. She looked up from her phone, spearing him with that angry glare she seemed to reserve for him.
“Beer,” he said, crooking a finger and gesturing to her to get up.
She stayed firmly planted in her seat. “It’s ten thirty in the morning.”
“It’s ten thirty at night somewhere in the world, darling. Let’s go.”
“No.”
Daksh sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
That damned word again. Was this really worth it?
Maybe he should just take his chances with his dad instead.
Then he remembered why he’d run away from college and kept running and shook his head.
He could do this. He had charm and charisma, right?
Women seemed to like him he thought eyeing the woman in front of him.
Normal women, he amended. Not whatever this creature was.
Different, he reminded himself and took another deep breath as she stabbed at her phone.
“You don’t have to drink. You can just watch me drink.”
“Sounds thrilling,” she retorted. “I’ll pass.”
Daksh took a moment to stare up at the terminal’s roof. Do you hate me God, he asked silently. What did I ever do to you? When God didn’t bother with a response, he eyed the ground at his feet. Maybe he should be directing his questions to the Devil instead.
He looked up to see Vedika watching him, alarm and pity swimming in her big, expressive eyes.
“Let’s go,” she said, quickly, when she caught his gaze. “And get you that beer.” She grabbed the massive handbag in the chair beside her and stood, gesturing to him to lead the way.
Startled, he did, not questioning his sudden turn of luck. Maybe the key to getting her to do what he wanted was to act weird once in a while. But what was her definition of weird? His was sitting in front of a terminal gate that wasn’t opening anytime soon but then what did he know?
He could be checking into a fucking five-star hotel right about now, he groused as he walked with her scurrying behind him, looking for a place to grab a beer and find a sliver of sanity.
He spotted an empty table at a restaurant and ushered her to it before it got swallowed up in the crowd. “What would you like?” he asked her, watching the angry passengers jostling each other at the order counter. He glanced back when she didn’t answer him.
Whatever she was reading on her phone didn’t look like good news. He assumed it was to do with their flight status, which he already knew was grounded indefinitely.
“Fuck me!” she exclaimed suddenly, startling him.
“On a normal day, I’d be game, sweetheart, but not now, okay,” he told her with a grin. “Not a month before you marry my brother, at any rate.”
The glare she levelled at him this time was legendary. “I wouldn’t touch you even if the fate of the planet depended on it.”
“Not a fan of good looking, charming, funny men?” he asked, winking at her.
“Not a fan of STD’s,” she retorted crisply, slicing through his good humour with a scalpel.
For one long, taut moment, they stared at each other and then he forced himself to ask through gritted teeth. “What would you like to drink?”
“Coffee,” she said, through equally gritted teeth. “I didn’t get to drink the one I ordered earlier.”
Daksh pushed back from the table, fury riding him as he went to place their order. His brother didn’t just owe him a month of peace. Ashish owed him the fucking world for tolerating that rabid ferret he was marrying.