The Fashion of Love | Adult F/M Romance [COMPLETE]

ch. 3 - January

JANUARY

When Ravi said he'd make sure her new year was happier than the one before, Sora hadn't known what to expect. Maybe nothing. Like Hana, Ravi was prone to making a vow one day and breaking it the next. She shouldn't have expected anything. Only something made her believe him. Despite the broken promises she'd endured these last couple of years, she believed him without hesitation. She set her heart on it.

Because in the almost twenty-five years they'd known one another, she didn't think Ravi had ever looked at her the way he had on New Year's Eve. In every visit since, the look had been the same. She was growing accustomed to that, too, and the warmth that settled over her like an embrace when he said hello and lingered once he'd gone.

Something in the air had changed. The New Year smelled so much sweeter than the treachery of yesterday.

That first month, Ravi stopped by her office three times a week to talk to her. He'd come between meetings and loiter until her assistant gently shooed him away. When they were still finding their feet together, they spoke about Hana and Anthony and everything-oh, god, everything-until Sora found herself crying a fourth time and he swore not to ask her any more about the year before. After that, he asked about everyone else. About his father Manendra and her youngest sister, then about his mother's final days without him. When they'd said all they could about their parents, he asked after the next generation, specifically the neverending saga of his daughter, his step-daughter, and the men who loved them. It was one of their longer conversations that didn't involve her meddling sister. More and more the relationship they were building was about the two of them instead in spite of Hana. She was convinced--she was letting herself be convinced that there could be more to Sora and Ravi than the shared experience of being people who Hana had let down.

She believed that because no matter the topic, no matter the hour or how worryingly fatigued he seemed, he asked after her health and her mood. He asked about her day. He asked about Tommy and he listened. He sat and listened to her speak so quietly sometimes she thought she was alone. But she wasn't, not with him. She said things she never expected to be able to say, safe in the knowledge that they'd go no further. She didn't know why she trusted Ravi after this long, but she trusted him. Ravi Misra was dangerously endearing.

Every visit, no matter how brief, ended in a strong-armed embrace. Like he couldn't help himself, he always hugged her goodbye before he departed, back to Misra Headquarters and his father's borrowed guest house, back to Hana's growing insistence on a reunion and his own uncertainty. He always hugged her, his adroit hands clutching her tight enough to keep, and she got used to it. A good day just wasn't as good without a hug from Ravi. It was a small thing he added to her life, and it was the best thing. Little by little, Sora began to feel strong enough to start giving that wonderful thing back.

...

...

Sora met her former step-son in his office at HMG on a very busy Thursday for the office of the CEO.