Chapter 14: chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen“Maya.” She turned from her contemplation of the sudden downpour outside the window to see Yash hovering just inside her bedroom door. “Come to escort us off the premises?” she asked, dryly.“Come to apologise actually. May I come in?” He didn’t step in until she nodded. Maya folded her arms and watched him take in the neatly packed suitcase, nothing lying around. They were ready to leave. Maya was just waiting for one of the guys to come help her with her suitcase. She wouldn’t be able to lug it down the stairs on her own with her gimpy leg. “I’m sorry Maya. This whole thing escalated because of my idiotic joke.”A faint smile graced her face. “It was my idiotic joke first,” she said. He cocked his head to one side, pretending to think about it. “Well, if you really want credit for that debacle, then who am I to deny you?”Maya laughed, the sound surprising her. She wouldn’t have thought she would find anything amusing about this moment. “Very kind of you,” she said, smiling.His smile faltered, his gaze skimming over her face. “Maya…”Her smile vanished. “Let’s not,” she said, turning back to the window and the rain pounding down on the glass. “I don’t want to rehash ancient history.”He came to stand behind her, his presence a brand against her back. “Doesn’t feel so ancient to me,” he murmured. “Maya, that kiss-““Yash.” She spun to face him, stumbling a little. His hands closed around her, steadying her. “Let’s not do this,” she said, her breath catching at his touch.His gaze roved over her face, taking in her tension. He dropped his hands and stepped back. “Do you ever wonder, Maya?” “Wonder about?” Maya took a steadying breath. “Whether we just got our timing wrong?” She stared at him, disbelievingly. “You’re kidding, right?” He shook his head. “I know it started as just an arranged match but the time we spent together, talking and getting to know each other. It felt like more. To me, at least.” “Is this some kind of joke?” she asked, her voice rising. “Because it’s really not funny.”“Why would I joke about this?” Yash asked, anger darkening his voice. “My feelings are not a joke.” “No, only mine are,” she retorted, eyes flashing. “How dare you?” Yash stared at her. “How dare I?” He shook his head, a disbelieving laugh escaping him. “How dare I assume a gold digger could possibly have any genuine feelings? Stupid of me, for sure.” A gold digger? Maya clenched her fists. “You have some cheek,” she said, her voice low. “You abandoned me at my weakest, for not being perfect, for not being the ideal woman or some shit like that and you have the audacity to call me a gold digger!” Yash stared at her. “Are you delusional along with everything else?” Maya had had enough. She grabbed her suitcase. Gimpy leg or no, she was getting out of this toxic, gilded hell immediately. Yash blocked her path. “Get out of my way,” she gritted out. “This conversation is over.”“You don’t get to end conversations and relationships whenever it suits you,” he countered. “Other people’s opinions matter too. Other people matter too.”“Listen, you entitled asshole,” she seethed. “You abandoned me in a hospital bed because a lame wife didn’t fit with your glamorous life in the States so don’t you dare accuse me of-“Whatever else she could have gotten out was cut off by the arrival of her friends. Yash looked completely blindsided. He was staring at her like he’d never seen her before. “Problem?” Ved asked, sharply, his gaze going from Maya’s furious face to Yash’s blank one.“Nothing new,” Maya said, coolly. “Let’s get out of here.” “Hear, hear,” Kanak drawled, stepping back to let Ved through with Maya’s suitcase. Karam stayed quiet, his tired eyes taking in everything without saying a word. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure to have seen you after all these years,” Maya told Yash, who still stood silently in front of her. “But it wasn’t. Thank God we didn’t get married. It would have ended in an extremely expensive divorce.”Kanak laughed, a harsh bark of sound. Maya stepped past Yash and strode out of the room without a backward glance. Yash put a hand out to stop her but found Karam blocking his way.“Let it go, man,” Karam said, something that sounded an awful lot like pity coating his voice. “Sometimes, it’s best to accept that it’s too late to right a wrong.”“I was the one who was wronged,” Yash snarled, confusion and rage clouding his brain. Karam just threw him a speculative look before backing out the door. And then they were gone, taking the storm, inside and outside, with them.Â