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Veda took a deep breath, keenly aware that everything in her life hung on this moment. Ram reached for her hand, holding tight. She squeezed her brother’s fingers, drawing strength from his unrelenting, unquestioning support.
“Let’s do this,” she answered.
Nine
AGASTYA
Relief flooded through him at her words. She’d agreed. He’d managed to convince her…That unrelenting twinge of guilt pinched harder. Wincing, he rubbed a hand over his chest. He hadn’t lied, he told himself. Every word he’d spoken was the truth.
He stood to shake hands with her brother, Ram’s hand closing over his in a bone crushing grip. He certainly didn’t hold back, Agastya thought as he withdrew his aching fingers. But then he didn’t blame him. Agastya would do the same if it had been his little sister.
“I have something for you,” he told Veda, turning to face her.
Her cheeks were flaming red, her eyes round and holding a slightly manic edge to their look.
“For me?” she asked, sounding doubtful.
“Yes, you.” He pulled out the ring box he’d shoved into his pocket before leaving the house. Her eyes got rounder. Any minute now they were going to pop out of her head.
“Presumptuous much?” Ram scoffed.
Agastya didn’t bother looking at him, keeping his eyes on his fiancée. Shit. He had a fiancée.
Veda’s gaze kept darting from his hand to his face, tense and wary.
He opened the box and took out the ring. “I hope you like it,” he murmured, slipping the humongous solitaire diamond circled by petals of tinier diamonds on to her ring finger.
It was way too large for her slender fingers and slid right around, hanging with the diamond facing towards the ground.
“Oh!” was all Veda said, her eyes on the gaudy ring.
“You really chose well,” Ram murmured, as the ring slipped right off her finger. She tried to catch it but it landed on the carpeted floor with a slight thump.
Veda picked it up, looking embarrassed. “I’ll have it resized,” she said.
“No.” Agastya held his hand out for the ring, feeling foolish. “I will.”
She dropped the ostentatious ring, one of the millions his mother owned, into his open palm with a speed and alacrity that spoke volumes about her feelings for it.
Agastya closed his palm around the ring, the diamond digging into the ball of his thumb. The slight pain centered him, reminding him of why he was getting engaged. It was foolish to feel rejected because Veda didn’t like the ring, or it didn’t fit her. It was not like he’d put any thought into it. He’d asked his mother to give him a ring to give Veda and she had. He hadn’t even bothered to glance at it before coming over.
So, why did he feel like an idiot now?
There was a slight commotion at the door and he saw Naresh step aside to allow Veda’s parents into the room.
“Hello hello.” Chaitanya Gadde smiled broadly. “Sit sit. Why are you standing?”
“I was just going to leave,” Agastya told him. “You’ll be happy to know that Veda has agreed to marry me.”
“Of course she’ll marry you.” Chaitanya Gadde waved a hand in the air like his daughter’s acquiescence didn’t matter. “You’ll have whiskey?” he asked, walking over to the bar in the corner. He didn’t wait for an answer before he started pouring whiskey into a crystal glass placed there.
His wife, a stunningly good looking woman even at this age, hovered next to Ram, looking bewildered and seemingly having no context to what was happening.
“Veda is marrying whom?” she asked her husband’s back now.
“Him.” Chaitanya gestured with his glass at Agastya. Whiskey sloshed over the top and onto his hand before it dripped on to the carpet.
“Nanna.” Ram moved towards him, but Chaitanya waved him off. “I’m fine. It will dry up.”
