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“No,” she said. And then she was gone.
Agastya stared after her retreating form, but she didn’t look back, not once. It would seem there were no more chances for him.
Thirty-Four
VEDA
She stood by the window watching the sun rise after the darkest night of her life. Her mind blank, her gaze clear, and her heart a shattered, bloody mess, Veda stared out at the first day of her new future. What was that future going to be?
“Chinna,” Ram rasped from behind her. “You haven’t slept a wink.”
“Neither have you,” she replied, not looking away from the mango tree that grew in the corner of their garden.
Between them, Raashi sprawled in the middle of the bed, snoring softly in little, muffled snorts. She’d finally passed out at around three in the morning after making elaborate plans to castrate Agastya.
“Take the day off from dance practice.” Ram came to stand beside her, his worried gaze scanning her face. “Don’t go out, Veda. The media circus is going to be intense over this. Stay home. The other media wouldn’t dare come here.”
Agastya! If it was going to be intense for her, it was going to be absolutely manic for his father and him. Her heart clenched for what was coming. They were in the eye of the storm now. There was nothing but turbulence ahead.
“I have to go,” she told her brother calmly. “I’m performing in less than a week in Delhi. I can’t miss practice.”
“Vedama,” Ram sighed. “Now is not the time for pride.”
“If this isn’t the time for pride, when will it ever be the time?” A sour, metallic taste filled her mouth, bitterness manifesting physically. "All I have left is my pride.”
“You have us. You will always have us.”
“I have to get ready for practice,” was all she said, leaning briefly into her brother for a side hug before going to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
She shut the bathroom door behind her, locked it, and let her mask fall. Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she staggered from the pain and hurt streaming through every inch of her. She turned the shower on full blast and climbed into the tub beneath it, sliding to the ground, her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms circling them, trying desperately to hold herself together and failing. Dropping her face into her arms, she sobbed, allowing her heart to weep to its heart content. Water pounded down on her head, an incessant drumbeat that felt like an accompaniment for her heart as it shattered.
She stayed like that for an age, her clothes plastered to her aching body, her mind emptying itself into a void of agony.
Someone knocked on the door, a tentative sound.
“Coming,” Veda said hoarsely, knowing if she didn’t answer, her brother would break the door down to get to her. She pulled herself up slowly, feeling her bones protest like an old woman’s. She stripped out of her sodden clothes, tossing them into a heap in the corner and dried herself. Wrapping Raashi’s bathrobe around herself, she left her hair in wet tangles down her back and went looking for clothes.
Raashi, the tentative knocker, looked relieved to see Veda emerge from the bathroom. “I’m coming with you,” she announced.
“That’s not necessary,” Veda murmured.
Raashi held up a thick, fat book that looked like a very handy weapon to bash someone’s skull in. “I have to study. May as well do it there.”
“Raash-“
“I am coming with you Akka.” Raashi’s eyes gleamed fiercely behind her glasses. “Don’t argue with me.”
Too exhausted to fight, Veda let it go. She had bigger battles ahead of her. The ones that came from a place of love she could let slide. Raashi and she dressed in silence, Veda hefting her dance bag onto one shoulder as they walked out of the bedroom.
Her mother was crocheting something at the dining table as they approached. “All okay?” she asked quietly, her gaze roving over Veda’s wan face.
Veda nodded, not trusting herself to speak without bursting into tears. Amma didn’t get up, but she beckoned Veda over. When Veda bent to hug her, Amma kissed her forehead. Ever present tears stinging her eyes, Veda blinked furiously as she straightened.
“Love you Chinna,” Amma whispered.
“Love you too,” she whispered back.
“Veda.” Nanna’s voice came from behind her and her back stiffened. Agastya was not the only man who’d betrayed her.
