Page 122 of One Hellish Passion

“No problem, take your time,” Dhruv replied. “I am not going anywhere till dinner.”

“Perfect,” she smiled back and headed to her room.

Ranveer watched her leave, her ponytail swaying as she strode to the bedroom and shut the door behind her. Garima got a phone call and walked away leaving the brothers to talk.

“So, Bro,” Dhruv concentrated back on Ranveer. “I heard Daadi wants you both to get engaged?”

Ranveer rolled his eyes.

“Yes, if she had that liberty, she wouldn’t have left us to start back without being engaged.”

“Wow, she is really cool. So, when have you decided to get engaged?”

“Depends on Maya,” he poured some wine for them.

“Then it is easy,” Dhruv picked up his glass. “No woman can resist committing to you.”

“That’s what you think,” he sipped.

“Why? Isn’t she interested in marrying soon?”

“She is unsure.”

Dhruv gave a sarcastic stare to his brother.

“That’s confusing. You take such good care of her and Garima aunty.”

“Past, Dhruv,” he muttered. “The past always messes with the present and the future if you don’t close it gracefully.”

“Past? What past?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I am all ears.”

Somehow Ranveer decided to share some brief details about the past he and Maya shared.

“I was mean to her, destroyed her career, threatened her. She felt discouraged and lost her confidence because of me. All this was around four years ago. I didn’t know we would end up in each other’s lives after that again and want things to work.”

Dhruv was shocked. He kept the glass on the counter again.

“You did all of that to a woman? Why?”

“A bloody misunderstanding.”

“Oh, Bro,” he rubbed his palm over his forehead. “That’s what your problem is. You don’t trust people easily, neither hold back before making a judgment.”

“True,” Ranveer shamelessly confirmed.

“I don’t understand how did you get back together again after all of this? I mean how did she agree to date you?”

Ranveer got speechless. He couldn’t tell that they were faking it, and now he wanted to make it real.

“It’s not important. I have told you what the problem is. Find a solution for it.”

Dhruv sighed.

“Any woman in her place would do the same. Trusting you again is not going to be easy, Bro. And even if she trusts, it’s hard to ignore what you did to her in the past.”