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I held out a hand placatingly.
“I’m sorry, Diya. Of course, you’re free to be friends with whomever you like,” I said, ignoring the way her face tightened at my words. “But everyone knows that Ayush Goel is trouble.”
“I’ll decide that for myself, thank you very much,” she replied coldly.
“It won’t be much use to you if you find that out the hard way,” I reasoned. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Her eyes shuttered and she seemed to recede into some place within herself.
“Nothing he could do to me could even compare to the way you hurt me, Dheer. If I could survive that, I can survive anything,” she said starkly.
Her words were like shards of glass cutting into my heart. But I persisted because Ayush Goel was bad news in a very scary way.
“I might have broken your heart, Diya, but Ayush is the kind of poison that can destroy your life,” I said desperately.
She shot me a bitter smile.
“There is nothing left to destroy, Your Highness,” she said bleakly before she turned and walked away from us.
Ayush came up to her and shot me a suspicious glance as he put a possessive arm around Diya’s shoulder.
I wanted to rip that arm off and feed it to him, but I couldn’t justify such violence yet. I had hope, though. I was sure he would do something creepy enough in the course of the evening to justify it, and I was going to grab that opportunity with both hands.
“Leave her alone, Bhai Sa,” scolded Isha, and I scowled at her.
Why was everyone saying that to me tonight?
“I’m not doing anything,” I replied defensively.
“I know that look, Bhai Sa. You’re dying to jump in and rescue her from the big bad billionaire, but she doesn’t need your help,” said Isha drily.
I forced the tight muscles in my jaw to relax and nodded shortly. She was right. Diya was an adult. Besides, I could always find a way to scare off that prick if he got too close to her. I kept that thought to myself because my sister was capable of kicking me in the shins if she thought I was being too bossy.
I tried to stay away from Diya for the rest of the evening, but my eyes kept seeking her out. She seemed to have forgotten all about me as she worked the room on Ayush’s arm, smiling politely at everyone who stopped to greet them.
Isha dragged me to the buffet arranged in the dining room and I stared disinterestedly at the spread. I wasn’t in the mood for food when all I could think about was Ayush’s arm around Diya. Was she serious about him? How long had this been going on, I wondered.
I could ask Isha, but I ran the risk of getting ripped to shreds by her sharp tongue. My sister was very clear that her loyalty belonged to Diya, and I had never tried to sway her because I knew Diya needed her.
After torturing myself for a while, I reminded myself that nine years ago, I had made a choice. For a reason. And if that choice meant that I had to suffer in silence as Diya dated other men right under my nose, then suffer I would.
"I can't stand this anymore, Isha. I'm leaving," I growled. "I'll send another car for you if you want to stay a while longer."
“That’s okay, Bhai Sa. Diya will drop me home," said Isha, and I walked out of the ballroom.
The next day, at the breakfast table, I waited for Isha to tell me something… anything about Diya and Ayush. But she was silent as she buttered her toast absently and proceeded to crumble it to bits on her plate.
“Why aren’t you eating?” I asked gruffly.
“I’m not hungry,” she replied, without meeting my eyes.
“Is it about what that moron said last night?”
“He wasn’t wrong, Bhai Sa. I was overweight, even if I’ve lost most of the excess weight now.”
“You were fine, Isha. You were and still are beautiful from the inside out. Your weight is not going to make any difference to that beauty,” I scoffed.
She shook her head sadly.
