Titaliya

Chapter 43

Veda wanted to ask who Aditi was. For the first time, she was seeing Rishabh showing genuine affection and respect for someone. There was no derision there, no anger. But after saying her name, he grabbed another drink from a passing waiter and settled into drunken incoherence, no matter how any of them tried to get him out of it.

Surprisingly, she had fun. Sanjay never made her feel like she was the third wheel, although it was obvious he would prefer to be alone with Asha any day. Ranveer came over a few more times, being a gracious host. His smile was friendly and sincere, but Veda noticed that he was only being nice. It was his engagement, and it was not one of the happiest days of his life.

Veda smiled into her drink. She wasn't one to judge. Ranveer's marriage would still be better than her own. As the night passed, the older people and children retired for the night. A DJ came out, and people started to dance.

Sanjay called Asha to dance, and she hesitantly took his hand. Veda was left with Rishabh, who was sleeping at their table. He woke with a start when there was a drop beat in the music.

"Good morning, sunshine," Veda said. As Khushi, she had seen the world in terms of black and white. People were either good or evil. Now, she realized it was more of a spectrum. Rishabh wasn't evil. He was a boy with something in his past, and anger was his method of giving the world back what it had given him. He was no angel, but he was redeemable.

"My bad," Rishabh said. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes. Veda noticed just how young he was. He was her age. He was the kind of boy she might have dated if she'd led a normal life. Not someone half a generation older, who was born an old man.

Rishabh looked away in embarrassment. "Thanks for coming. I know you didn't have to, and considering I didn't treat you great and then beat up your boyfriend, it was really nice of you to come. I'm sorry for being a prick before."

It was more accurate to say she had beaten them both up, but Veda let it slide. It was already a huge step in the right direction that Rishabh had gotten over his pride and apologized.

"It's not a big deal," she said. "Also, before, you were saying something about someone named Aditi?"

Rishabh turned red.

"It's okay if it's something personal," Veda said. "You just seemed really sad about her."

"It's nothing," Rishabh lied. "Ancient history. Just that typical old movie story. She was an employee at our company. My brother fell in love with her, my dad found out, and she just... disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

Rishabh shrugged. "I'm guessing he either paid her off or threatened her. I'm hoping it was the first thing."

"You're hoping she took money to forget your brother?"

"It's better, imagining that she's happy and well-settled with the money my dad gave her, rather than thinking she was scared for her life."

Veda smiled. It was hard not to. Rishabh thought very differently from her. She had a sense that he wanted to be like his dad. To be calculating and ruthless. But trying to be that was going against his nature itself, which was deep down, kind.

In another life, Veda thought. In another life she could've fallen for this boy, with his rough edges and his damaged childhood. Perhaps she had a type.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked him.

***

I'm not dead, yay!

I just moved to a different country and got involved busy with school and real life. I tried to log into the account linked to this Wattpad a while ago, but with me not having access to my phone number for verification, I couldn't.

Finally managed to get in today, and here's to continuing this story. 🥂