Chapter 5: chapter 5

Chapter Five“What the fucking hell, Maya?” Ved snarled the moment the bedroom door shut behind them.Yes, what the fucking hell, Maya? What was she doing? Why did that woman always bring out the worst in her? Maya collapsed with a sigh on the side of the bed. “You can swap with Kanak when she gets here,” she told him, tiredly, slipping her aching feet out of her shoes.“That is not the point!” he snapped back. “I don’t mind sharing a room with you. Platonically,” he added as an afterthought. Maya raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m so hurt, Ved. Are you saying you’re not attracted to me?” His lips twitched in a reluctant smile. “Don’t be a bloody ass. Why are we stuck here instead of relaxing at a hotel?” Maya didn’t answer immediately. Her fingers fidgeted with the elastic rubber band on her braid, pulling it off and loosening the long strands. She sighed with relief as the tight tension on her scalp eased a bit. “I’m waiting, Maya,” Ved said. “It’s him, Ved.” She flopped back on the bed, arms outstretched and stared up at the ceiling, buried hurts and old resentments rising up to make her chest burn. Ved came to sit beside her. “Your ex-fiancé?” “And his precious mother,” she mocked, bitterness seeping through her words. Ved didn’t respond for a moment. And then he said, “And isn’t that good enough reason to run straight for the hotel?” “It is. Have I ever listened to reason though?” Maya turned her head sideways to look at him. He smiled at her. “It’s going to be an awful few days, Maya. And now we’re stuck here for every minute of them.” “I’m sorry. I’ll bake you a cake when we get back to make up for it.” “Chocolate cake with chocolate icing?” “Yes, you plebian. Maybe chocolate truffle with almond cream and –“ “No.” Ved folded his hands across his chest, mutinously. “I want chocolate cake with chocolate icing.” Maya rolled her eyes at him. “Fine. I’ll make you your basic ten-year-old fetish cake.”“That’s my girl.” Ved jumped on to the bed making the mattress and Maya bounce. She squealed and sat up. “Stop it, you idiot. The last thing we need to do is break their bed also.” He laughed and gave it one last bounce before stopping. “Can you imagine the scandal that would cause?” Maya didn’t need to imagine. As far as these people were concerned, they were the cockroaches that survived the holocaust. “You didn’t know?” Ved asked now, his voice gentling. “That he knew Vikram?” Maya shook her head. “I had no idea his family knew Vikram’s. Whatever the connection is, our short engagement didn’t have time to probe it.” “Plus you didn’t really give us a lot of details,” Ved mused. “Just that you’d bartered the chance to do your MBA with agreeing to marry the guy of your parent’s choice.” She had. Maya looked back at the ceiling. And then he’d dropped her like a hot potato the minute he’d found out about her leg. So much for in sickness and in health…In all fairness, they had only been engaged not married, so it wasn’t like any sacred vows had been exchanged.Her fingers twisted in the soft sheet beneath them. Ved captured them and forced them to stop moving before she worried a hole in the otherwise pristine sheet. “You don’t have to prove anything to them, Maya,” he said. “Let’s check in at the hotel. Then all we need to do is tolerate them for a few hours during the functions.” “Running away already?” A slinky voice cut through their muttered conversation. “Kanak!” Maya sat up in a hurry and tumbled off the bed. “Maya Papaya!” Her ever glamorous and sophisticated friend hauled her to her feet and they fell into each other’s arm with squeals and giggles. Maya was so glad she’d changed her mind and come.Ved grumbled under his breath before letting them pull him into a group hug that had them all laughing and talking at the same time. “We’re rooming again for the first time since college.” Kanak slid her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose and smiled at Maya. “Kicking me out already?” Ved asked, mocking her previous question.“Oh shush boy. We have things to discuss that’s not meant for your delicate ears. Karam is unpacking in the room next door. Go burp, fart and scratch your balls or whatever it is you he-men do together when you’re happy.” “Later women,” Ved hissed and mock glared as he strode out of the room with his bag. “Kanak!” Maya said again, so thrilled to see her friend that her eyes filled with tears. “Oh Maya.” Kanak hugged her tight. “It’s been too long since we met in person and that was my fault and my fault alone. I just needed to get away from India and everything in it for a while. I’m so sorry.” “Forget it.” Maya sniffed. “I’m just grateful that you’re back. Calls and messages only go so far.”“We’ll catch up on everything soon but first, tell me, was that your bastard of an ex-fiancé I saw downstairs?”  Maya smiled. “You remembered. You were the only one I showed his picture to and we did a video call with him once, if I’m not wrong.”“We did. Fucker was charming as heck then. Who knew he’d turn out the way he did.” “Never mind him. You said, Karam was here too?” Maya squeezed Kanak’s hand, so grateful to have her friends with her again.Kanak nodded. “He’s here.” Nothing had changed. Vikram had been the glue of their group back in college and was still the one bringing them all back into each other’s lives all these years later. Her heart ached at his absence even as it lifted to see the others. Maybe it was finally time for them to find some closure.Â