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“Our families have known each other for years. We’ve grown up in the same social circles. We move in the same crowd and share the same values, the same lifestyle. I know,” he paused, clearing his throat. “I know you have feelings for me.” His voice got quieter even as her cheeks got hotter. “I’ve known for a while.”
When he stopped talking, she waited a moment before asking, “And?”
His eyebrows rose. “And?” he repeated.
“So far, you haven’t told me anything I don’t already know, Agastya.”
She heard her brother snort beside her, but she didn’t stop talking. If Agastya thought he was going to shame her into silence by talking about her feelings like this, then he wasn’t the man she fell for.
“What else do you want to know?” he asked her, looking intrigued.
“Why do you want to marry me?”
“I just told you. We move in the same social circles-“
“No,” she interrupted. “Don’t list the reasons why you think I’d make you a good wife. Why do you want to marry me? Why me? Why now?”
He stared at her, clearly unused to being cut off by someone. When he spoke, she was pretty sure the world stood at attention and listened. But not her. Not today.
She heard her brother suppress a laugh and clear his throat to try and cover the sound. Agastya shot him a venomous look, but Ram just grinned unrepentantly.
For a moment, he said nothing and then he sighed.
“You are uniquely suitable to be my wife,” he said finally.
She opened her mouth to interrupt again but he held up a hand silencing her. “It matters that we belong to the same social circles, that we share the same values and live the same lifestyle. You’re friends with my sister and my brother. God knows, not everyone can manage to be friends with Harsh and yet, you are. I know you love them. So do I,” he said simply. “It matters to me that my family likes you, the people I love already love you. You will fit seamlessly into my life. Your family will fit seamlessly into the role that will be expected of them.”
She stayed silent, watching him, her heart twisting in her chest. He was saying all the right words and yet, he was not saying the ones she wanted to hear.
“This marriage has advantages for us both, Veda.” He didn’t look away from her as he said, “I think we will be good together.”
“Why now?” She brought the elephant in the room to take centerstage.
“You think I’m asking you to marry me so your father will recant the story he broke? I don’t need to.” Agastya smiled, a cold, cruel smile. “That story is a lie. It will take me a little time, but I will prove that it is a lie and when I do, I will smear that fact all over the competing press channels. I will make it the prime focus of every news channel, both state and national. I will make sure that no one ever broadcasts an allegation without multiple verification, ever again.”
“You will destroy my father.”
“He attempted to destroy mine,” he reminded her.
“The channel,” Ram spoke up. “Made it very clear that these were unverified allegations.”
“And that will save you legally,” Agastya acknowledged. “But in the court of public opinion…” He left the threat unsaid.
The Gadde siblings fell silent.
Agastya leaned forward, catching Veda’s eye. “You don’t want me for an enemy, Veda. But, I promise you,” his voice went sinfully soft. “You’ll want me for a husband.”
She stared at him, knowing that Agastya didn’t lie. Knowing that Agastya only ever spoke the truth. It wasn’t a truth she wanted to hear but it was his truth. He did not love her but he wasn’t marrying her only to squash the story either. He’d decided she’d make a good wife and so he’d chosen her.
She could live with that, she thought. She could marry the man she loved and be the wife he hoped for. She could be more, even more. She could maybe, one day, even be the woman he loved.
“Do you love me, Veda?” he asked now, throwing down his trump card.
Her cheeks flushed but she didn’t look away. She would never be ashamed of her feelings. She would never shy away from acknowledging them.
“Yes,” she said, watching his eyes flare at her admission.
“Then let’s do this.”
