AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nanna.” Raashi shook her head. “I am the one who is sorry. I betrayed your trust. I should have never allowed him to manipulate me the way he did. I failed miserably at making the right choices.”
“You were a child Raashi,” her father replied gently. “Like you said at the dining table, if anyone failed, it’s the adults who were meant to be taking care of you. I’m sorry.”
Raashi gave him a one-armed hug, a look of peace on her face. “I’m sorry too.”
“And Raashi, when you’ve had some time to settle down, bring your business plan to me. I would like to discuss it further. Maybe we could even talk about funding.”
She beamed, looking like she’d swallowed the sun. “Thank you, Nanna.”
They watched her father walk away, looking like someone had taken a massive weight off his shoulders.
“What’s this business plan about?” Harsh asked, pulling her back against his chest and holding her close. Staying away from her was proving to be physically impossible.
“Initially it was a program which focused on women in STEM, helping them procure funding and grants for their research projects. But now,” she turned in his arms, cupping his cheeks with her palms. “I’d like to start a school that works with children with learning disabilities, identifying and tailoring programs that help them integrate into mainstream education.”
He'd often wondered what it would be like for someone to see him, to truly see him and tonight, looking into Raashi’s tired, red rimmed eyes, he knew.
“So, do you see a future in Hyderabad now?” He needed to know. He was desperate to know.
“I’ve always seen a future in Hyderabad.”
“Do you see a future with me?” It had to be the weirdest question in the world for a husband to ask his wife, but they were the weirdest couple he’d ever known. And yet, somehow, their coupling seemed to work.
“Do you?” She lobbed the question right back at him, her serious eyes trained on him.
He nodded. “More than ever.”
“It didn’t seem like it. Not before.” She cocked her head to one side, quizzically. “You didn’t like me defending you to your father. Was it what I said or was it whom I was saying it to?”
“That’s not –“
“I’ll never stop fighting the world for you, Harsh, even after this marriage ends. And you can’t make me. Because I will spend eternity fighting everyone for you, even if it means fighting you to do so.”
“Raashi?”
She tipped her chin up, wary eyes watching him like he was the Big Bad Wolf.
“Shut up,” he said mildly.
“You shut up,” she fired back.
“As intellectually stimulating and refreshingly mature as this conversation is,” Veda said dryly from behind them. “We’re waiting for you guys to join us in the living room.”
Harsh’s arms tightened around Raashi before he forced himself to let go. “There are too many people in this house,” he grumbled. “Let’s move out.”
Raashi giggled. “We just got off their shit list. Let’s not launch ourselves back to the top of it.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Veda said airily, ignoring Harsh’s pointed glare. “You guys obliterated that list.” When neither of them answered, she tipped her head towards the crowd in the living room. “So, coming?”
With a muttered curse, Harsh followed Raashi back into the living room.
Fifty-Two
RAASHI
I want to be alone with you.
She stared at the message on her phone. Harsh and she had exchanged numbers, of course they had. They’d married each other after all. But their messages to each other had always been about bare minimum communication.
