Say You're Mine (Lovestruck In Bangalore #1)

Chapter 15

I VIKRAM I

God, she's trying to kill me.

I'm sure of it.

I almost fucking kissed her in a restroom, for fuck sake. If hadn't heard  those guys come in, I don't think I would have stopped. And from the look on her face, she wouldn't have stopped me either.

Karthi will fucking kill me if he knows about this. What the fuck am I doing?

I can see that she's confused about my sudden change of mood. She keeps glancing at me from the passenger seat. I don't look her way, I can't.

As soon as we reach the summerhouse, I give her some lame-ass excuse and hightail out of there. I go back the way we came from and drive around for a while to clear my head. 

It's lunch time when I get back and when I get there, Rekha aunty drags me to an empty seat beside Varun, who doesn't even lift his eyes from his food, and serves me a plate of rice and curry with some side dishes. I look around for Meera but she's nowhere to be seen. That's good, I tell myself.

I see Meera's cousin, Vinash sitting across from Karthi. So, Remya's back. Meera will be with her somewhere. Why am I still thinking about her.

"Where are the girls?", I hear some one ask. I think he is one of shraddha's cousins. She has a lot of them, so at this point I don't even remember their names, to be honest. I look around the living room and realise he's right. There are no girls around except for some children or aunties.

"They are getting ready for the evening's function. Shraddha's makeup artists arrived some time ago and they wanted to get theirs done too. So, they're all upstairs", Rekha aunty says.

"Why didn't you go with them, Rekhamma?", Vinash asks after taking a sip of his water.

"Are you saying that I don't look pretty?", Rekha aunty asks him with a hand on her hip and eyebrows raised.

"Well, now that you mention it..", Vinash drawls with a smile.

"Ambika, did you hear what your son just said to me?", She asks the aunty who's been serving rice to everyone. "He said I don't look beautiful without makeup."

"That's not what I-", Vinash tries to start but he gets interrupted by his mother. "That's what you get for babying him all these years", she throws back at Rekha aunty.

"Now, now. You know I was joking. You always look beautiful. Stop fishing for compliments, Rekhamma", he says making her smile.

And I watch fascinated. I can't help but feel a little jealous of their relationships, their big family, the way they constantly tease each other yet compliments or supports them the next minute. I wish I had that. But I still had a pretty normal life, so it's not like I can complain or anything.

"When the hell did you get here?", Varun asks me when he lifts his head from his plate. Fucking finally.

"I just went for a drive", I tell him, calmly. Keep cool. He's an idiot. An idiot who knows when I'm lying .

"You've been going for a drive a lot, Vikram. Who is she?", He asks. I keep my poker face on.

"What the hell are you talking about?", I ask him.

"Don't think we don't see you. You've been going out of your way to drive that girl around town", he says.

"I don't know what you're talking about", I tell him. That's right. Denial. It's the ultimate answer to all uncomfortable situations. That and indifference. I think I read that somewhere.

"Of course, you don't!", He mocks and I ignore him. It was better when he had his head in his plate.

"Anyways, Karthi has been looking for you. He asked me to tell you to meet him at the beach in the evening", he tells me and immediately I panic. Does he know? That I almost kissed his soon to be sister-in-law? That too, in a fucking public restroom, of all places? Of course not, you dumbass. How will he know?

But maybe he's finally had it with me constantly flirting with her. Yeah, I'll get my ass handed to me today.

"Don't worry. We're just having drinks and he didn't see you,so he asked me to bring you. But good to know, I was right. Is it Shraddha's sister, what was her name? Or is it her cousin?", He asks and he doesn't even bother hiding his gloating smirk.

"Fuck you", I whisper and I can feel him laughing at me.

I pick up my plate but before I can move, Rekha aunty snatches it from my hands and asks me to just wash my hands. I try to protest, but she just gives me a pointed look.

I wash my hands and find Varun just behind me waiting to wash his hands. We thank Rekha aunty for the meal before heading towards the front door.

I'm almost there when I hear someone say, "Yeah, Meera is the one studying in Delhi." at the mention of Meera's name, I whip my head in their direction and it's just one of her aunties talking with someone.

I quickly face ahead as Varun opens the front door.

"Meera, huh? She's Shraddha's sister, isn't she?", He asks and I think to myself, how stupid can I be? This fucker has been waiting for me to slip up.

"Just shut up", I shove him with my shoulders.

"Not bad, Vikram. Not bad", he says laughing.

I should stay away from Meera. If this idiot can see it, then I have no doubt that anyone could see it too. And you can never be too careful when it comes to desi aunties and their keen eyes that never miss anything.

And if Karthi's mom came to know about it, she'll probably be here with my mom asking for Meera's hand in marriage. I'm lucky that my mom couldn't come. If she were here, she'd already be planning my wedding along with Karthi's mom.

I should probably avoid any situations where Meera and I will be alone. But even as I say it, a small voice inside my voice tells me that it's not gonna happen.

Because, I just can't stay away.