Chapter 31
VEDIKA
Vedika woke the next day feeling like a goat had pooped in her mouth and gremlins were hammering at her skull from inside while they danced the tango in her brain. Her stomach twisted violently and she groaned as she lurched out of bed and ran for the bathroom.
She barely made it. Vedika dropped her head into her hands as her stomach punished her for all her deviant behaviour the previous day. What the hell had she been thinking? Alcohol, so much alcohol, she could practically feel her brain sloshing around in her skull.
She dropped her head into her hands, slow, tortured tears escaping her. This was why she lived that painfully regulated life. This was what happened when she tried to put even a toe out of the structure she’d devised to keep her life on even keel.
An hour later, when she felt reasonably confident that she was done with the current episode, she brushed her teeth, washed her face and wrapped herself in a clean towel before leaving the bathroom.
She turned the air conditioner on high and fell back on to the bed, allowing the breeze to cool her damp, fevered brow.
A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door. She slipped her aching body under the comforter and pulled it up to her neck before calling out blearily, “Come in.”
Tani slipped in, shutting the door behind her.
She looked fresh and pretty in a green, short dress that draped over her mini baby bump.
Her long, unruly curls cascaded over her shoulders making Vedika acutely conscious of her own scarecrow like hairstyle.
Her head felt oddly light and free without the heavy weight of her long hair dragging her down.
Or maybe that was just her BP dropping from her body’s violent purging.
“Oh no,” Tani said softly, concern furrowing her brow. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing,” Vedika whimpered, turning her flushed face into the pillow. “Just leave me alone to die in peace.”
Tani laid a cool hand on Vedika’s brow before pouring cold water from a jug into a glass and holding it out to her. Vedika pushed herself into a sitting position and took a small sip, allowing the water to trickle down her sore throat.
“Thanks for letting me stay last night,” she whispered.
“Don’t be silly, Vedu. This is as much your home as it is ours.” Tani grinned suddenly. “Which is to say it’s neither of ours. It’s Mamu and Maasi’s.”
Vedika laughed, a choked sound. She took another sip of water. “Do my parents know I’m here?”
“Of course.” Tani smoothed some of Vedika’s spiky hair down. “We value our lives.”
Vedika groaned. “My father is going to kill me.”
“Uh huh,” Tani replied, settling down against the headboard beside her.
“And my mother will gloat about her genes finally coming through.”
“Hmm,” Tani hummed in agreement.
“I’m bald,” Vedika whispered next, mortification suffusing her as she hid her face in Tani’s shoulder. Tani, the perfect elder sister that she was, didn’t immediately jump to contradict her.
“It’s hair,” Tani said finally. “It will grow.”
“What the hell happened yesterday?” Vedika whimpered, burrowing deeper into Tani’s warmth.
Tani stilled. “You don’t remember?”
“I remember doing J?germeister shots with Kimi and the rest…it’s a blur.” She peeked up at Tani’s grim profile. “Is Kimi in trouble? It’s not her fault. I insisted I wanted to not be myself. I wanted to be ‘Not Vedika’?”
“Kimi is always in trouble. Don’t worry about her. She can handle herself.” Tani shifted so she was looking down at Vedika. “Vedu, why-“
A startled oof escaped Tani a second later. “God this kid is definitely taking after Kabir. He also kicks like this in his sleep.”
“The baby is kicking?” Vedika forgot her problems for a moment as awe suffused her. “Can I feel?”
“Of course.” Tani took her hand and guided it on her stomach to the right spot. A second later, a tiny jab against her palm had Vedika laughing with joy.
“This is all I wanted,” she whispered. “Love, family, children.”
“You’ll still have it, Vedu,” Tani said gently. “All of it.”
Vedika shook her head. “No Tani. I’m not…loveable.”
For a moment there was silence and then Tani exploded, “What in the world do you mean by that absolute rubbish? You have a million people who love you already and-“
“Not that kind of love. The kind you build a marriage on…The kind…” she groaned as she fell back on the bed, her stomach feeling oddly hollow.
“The kind where you feel excited by and safe with the same person. The kind of love that helps you feel seen, every last, dusty, crooked corner of you. I’m too different, too weird, for love. ”
“That’s not true.”
“It is,” Vedika cut off her passionate defence.
“Daksh didn’t seem to think so last night.”
That silenced her. “Daksh?” she asked, confused. “Last night?”
“You really don’t remember anything?” Tani reached for her but Vedika jerked back before her fingers could make contact.
“What do you-“ But something was tugging at her mind, an incessant whisper that wouldn’t shut up. And then it all came flooding back. Throwing herself into Daksh’s arms, wrapping herself around him like a barnacle. LICKING HIM…and last but definitely not the least, kissing him…
Her stomach twisted violently as she remembered the way Daksh had pulled away from her, handing her over to Kabir.
“Oh my God,” she whispered before she threw herself from the bed and ran to the bathroom, desperately clutching the towel to her.