Chapter 37: chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven“May I come in?”Yash looked up to see Kanak standing stiffly at the entrance to the cabin, a cup of steaming hot coffee in her hand. Was she planning to pour it on his head?“Your invoice was approved. As far as I know everything is in order for your campaign.” He turned back to his laptop. He didn’t invite her in. He wasn’t ready to have his skin flayed with her sharp tongue again.“I’ve come to apologise.” The words had his gaze flying back to her. This time, he nodded to the seat in front of his desk. Kanak marched in and sat down, her blue and purple hair standing out around her head like she’d been tugging at it. She stared at her feet, then at her hands, then twisted her fingers around the cup, then looked up at the ceiling, scrunching her eyes. It was a never-ending, fascinating process. Yash waited, silently for her to get to the point. “I apologise for the way I behaved yesterday,” she began, finally. “It was not professional. But I won’t apologise for what I said.” “Then why bother to apologise at all?” Yash leaned back in his chair and watched her.“Maya said I have to.” She heaved a long suffering sigh. “She also insists I make it clear to you that you did not in fact break her. She is unbreakable.” Yash felt a slow smile tugging at his lips. “Titanium.” Kanak threw her hands up in the air. “She is fucking Titanium.” Yash started to laugh, the sound bursting out of him and surprising Kanak as much as it surprised him.“Did she script your entire apology?” “And jabbed me in the back with a pen until I came here.” Kanak frowned. “Tell her…” Yash leaned forward.“No. No. No.” Kanak shot out of her chair, hands out. “You guys tell each other whatever you want directly. This go between is done for the day.”Fair enough. He watched Kanak head for the door like her butt was on fire.“Thank you,” he called out before she disappeared from sight. “For the apology, reluctant though it was.”She nodded, her eyes wary. “And I deserved everything you said yesterday,” he continued, quietly. “You had nothing to apologise for.” Kanak’s eyes warmed a fraction. “You’re not as bad as I thought.” “High praise,” he told her, lips twitching again. “Titanium’s friend,” she reminded him, smiling back and toasting him with her cup of coffee. The first genuine smile he’d got out of her. She turned around to leave and walked right into Aakash who’d appeared out of seemingly nowhere. The coffee went flying and landed all over his friend. Yash winced as he noticed that the front of Aakash’s pants had taken the brunt of it.“FUCK!” Aakash roared, jumping back. “Are you fucking blind?” Kanak had one hand pressed to her chest, presumably to calm her heart but it didn’t stop her from firing right up.“Don’t sneak up on people if you don’t want to live with the consequences.” “Who in their right mind would sneak up on you?” Aakash asked, disgustedly, trying to wipe off drips of coffee from his white shirt. “I’d rather stick my dick in an anthill.”“Please do,” Kanak retorted. “And don’t forget to send me videos of them snacking on your four inch willy.”“Four inch??” Aakash forgot all about his coffee soaked clothes, his outrage practically taking on physical form. Yash burst out laughing, drawing their furious gazes to him. “Please.” He waved a hand at them. “Don’t mind me. Continue.” Kanak shook her head at him, shoved past Aakash and stormed out. “Why the hell is she here?” Aakash asked, making his soaked way over to Yash’s desk. “She’s a consultant with the firm. Why the hell are you here?”“I’m worried about Aayushi.” Yash sobered up. With all the drama going on in his life, he’d forgotten all about his mother’s ridiculous matchmaking at Il Cuore.“Listen man…”“Relax,” Aakash smiled, sardonically. “She doesn’t want to marry you either. She says you’re too stuffy for her.”Stuffy? Stuffy?? Yash stared at his best friend who just stared blandly back. Okay fine, maybe he was a little stuffy, but just a little. “What are you worried about then?” Yash asked, even as he dialled housekeeping to ask them to send up some tissues and wet wipes for Aakash to try and clean up. “She’s very upset with how the havan for Vikram ended. She organised it for his soul to find peace and…”Yash had a bad feeling about where this was going. “Don’t tell me she wants to set something up again with everyone.” “Okay,” Aakash said, obligingly. “I won’t tell you.”“This is a disastrous idea.”“I agree,” Aakash said, still obligingly. “They won’t come,” Yash warned. “They might if you ask them.”“No.” Yash glared. “NO!” Aakash sighed, looking like the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “You’re right. It’s a stupid idea. But I’m worried about my sister. Vikram and she were always closer to each other than with me and with his death, I feel like we’re losing her too. She spends more time worrying about his soul than she does about her body and mind. I am worried I am going to lose her too.”“Has she seen a therapist?” Yash asked, concerned now. “Yes, and she claims the sessions are helping. The therapist said she needs closure. But closure about what? What is it that I don’t know? And if I don’t know how do I fix it?” Aakash massaged his brow. “I don’t know how to help her. I want to but I don’t know what to do.”“There is only one thing that could make them come again,” Yash said, feeling for his friend.Aakash looked at him, knowing what Yash was going to say and yet, needing to hear it. “If you apologise and invite them.”Â