Once Upon a Time in London

Chapter 26

Tina squeals and then winks at Dev playfully, grinning wildly, "So, you got Anjali that dupatta ha?"

I place a hand to my temple as I shake my head, Tina will never change.

Dev grins teasingly, "What, you wish I got you one huh?"

Tina shakes her head as she rolls her eyes and then smirks at him wolfishly, "So should I be expecting wedding bells to be in tow?"

Rahul who had been standing next to the pair tilts his head towards them just a fraction.

I sigh and make my way to Tina, "Yes, and those wedding bells are yours, so you better finish all the preparations soon."

Tina rolls her eyes, "Fine fine, let's go" she starts heading towards the car park but not before I catch her next words, "Someone needs to grow a pair and express their feelings."

I sigh as Dev stiffens and Rahul's eyes narrow.

Robbie's black sedan purrs to life just as we make our way over to the car park.

Tina scurries off to the front seat as I make my way to the backseat.

On our way to the bazaar, I took the window seat right behind Tina, with Dev in the middle seat and Rahul by the window seat behind Robbie, so I am surprised to find Dev in my spot as I shuffle into the backseat.

I push open the door behind Robbie's seat, with the intention of asking Dev to shuffle into the middle seat so I can sit by the window but before I can even step out of the car, Rahul opens the door and stares at me blankly, waiting for me to move out of his seat.

I awkwardly move back to the middle seat as he shuffles into his seat behind Robbie.

I look over at Dev, hoping he'd be willing to step out of the car so we can swap seats but he's staring out the window, something on his mind.

I sit there, between two people, one whose eyes won't meet mine and one whose eyes won't leave mine.

I can't concentrate on any of the jokes that Robbie's making that Tina keeps laughing on or tune into their conversation when I can feel my face heating up as Rahul's gaze burns into my cheek. Dev is still staring out the window, I can no longer make any sort of conversation with him to avoid this tension.

I take a deep breath as I turn to face Rahul, ready to confront him but any words of insult are choked up in my throat as I finally look at him, he isn't staring at me after all. His gaze just grazes my cheek, looking at something just past it.

He's staring at the blue dupatta covering my head.

The dupatta that Dev got me.

I'd wrapped it around my head to protect my ears from the chilly Jaipur air.

He finally meets my eyes, "The mirrors are pretty."

I nod as my eyes sting for some reason.

He continues staring at me and then nods slowly as he turns his head to look out the window.

A sudden need to tell him more rouses in me, "It reminds me of the night sky" I blurt out, he turns to look at me, face blank.

"Of Lyra" I finish.

His face changes just the slightest, if I hadn't known where to look I would've missed it.

But I do.

His eyebrows relax just the slightest, his lip quivers for just a second, his gaze no longer feels as stern, a silent understanding passes between us as he finally smiles.