Page 9 of Game on, Love

“Who did you make a promise with?” I asked again.

“Me. I asked Axel to bring you.” It was Vedant who spoke, and even if I wanted to hold my shock in, I didn’t.

Eyes wide, I turned to Rihaan. “You’re not dying, are you?”

In my head, that seemed like the only explanation as to why Vedant and Axel would have a conversation off-track and without their PR teams forcing them to do so.

“No,” Rihaan grumbled, and I flinched.

“Good to know. Why exactly am I here then?” When he didn’t say anything, I turned to Vedant, who was already glaring at Rihaan.

“Can you behave for like five minutes?” He spoke to Rihaan with such venom in his voice that it took me aback. I hadneverseen him like this before.

“No,”Rihaan matched his icy cold voice before he took a step towards Vedant. “You pull this, and you askmeto behave? It’s supposed to be a celebration and honestly, do you even know how angry Dad is?”

“I did this because YOU begged me to. I barely have a relationship with her, and you think I would’ve risked it had I known if your sorry ass can’t find it in him to behave? Because your ego isthatfragile?” My breath was stuck in my throat, and with the way the rest of us were standing, we all knew that one wrong movement would set them both off completely.

But Vedant’s next words made me forget how to breathe altogether.

“After you found Ma’s journals, you werecrushed.The shit you said that day? It is scared into my brain. I am not saying I am an expert on mending relationships; we all know I’m not. But we are all broken. Bruised by the same damn thing, but you were the one who was used the most, and as your big brother when you came to mebeggingto help, how was I supposed to say no? And frankly? I couldn’t care less about how dear old Dad is feeling right now.”

Vedant and Rihaan stared at each other with narrowed eyes, their anger bouncing off like a ball.

When his question was returned in his silence, Vedant shook his head in disapproval before his eyes found mine again, but all I could do was stare back at him.

“I was drunk,” Rihaan’s words were like cold water poured over, and my eyes found the floor.

I couldn’t look at either of them, couldn’t make sense of what either of their words meant or why it hurt so much to hear them.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and I knew it was the same amber eyes that made me feel the same comfort and vulnerability as the clouded sky, but I didn’t want his comfort.

I didn’t even know his name.

Yet, every nerve in my body worked together against my brain, which knew better and found his eyes.

His eyes traced my face in a way that made me feel so exposed that it made my skin crawl. When our eyes connected again, for the first time, it felt like my soul found the comfort it had ached for, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

A loud champagne popped nearby, and the moment was gone. All of us remembered where we were, the sound of the chaos once again becoming a background noise to our shared moment.

“I am so sorry.” I wasn’t sure who had said it, wasn’t sure what they were apologising for, or who it was even for.

I just knew that I couldn’t be part of whatever it was any longer.

Without bothering to say anything, I turned around, made my way through the crowd and left.

AXEL FOUND MEbefore I left the hotel altogether and insisted on taking me back home.

He must’ve expected me to fight him on it because when I gave in without another word, his own shoulders sagged in relief.

The drive back to my place was silent. I had no energy to say anything, but even if I did, I wasn’t sure what I would have said.

I just wanted to go home, curl up with my cats and cry.

So when he parked the car inside the building, I didn’t bother saying anything.

When he got out too and walked with me to my flat, I didn’t tell him that it wasn’t necessary.

And when I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and took in the sight of the disaster, I couldn’t hold it any longer.

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