Page 68 of Forged By Fate

“Need any help?” asked a very familiar voice, and I froze in place.

Four months. It had taken him four months to show up.

I left the mangoes where they were and stuck my key into the front door. Gino and Perpetua were out on a short holiday with the rest of the band, and I was all alone in the house tonight. I wondered if Viren knew that.

“What do you want?” I asked bluntly, as I threw the door open and began flinging the mangoes over the threshold.

“Can you look at me, please?” he begged. “I haven’t looked into your eyes since the night of the accident.”

“Poor you,” I replied with a bitter laugh. “The wife you abandoned in the hospital won’t play your games any more. I’m sure it sucks.”

He drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. I was aware of everything about him, even if I refused to look at the bastard.

“I’m really, really sorry, Sunaina. Running away was a huge mistake.”

“Yes, it was,” I quipped, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Can you forgive me?” he had the audacity to ask.

“No,” I replied coldly. “Because this is ayouproblem. It has nothing to do with me.”

“Really? Are you trying to say you don’t miss me?”

“Of course, I miss you, you blithering idiot. But it doesn’t change the fact that you took my heart and stomped all over it before you abandoned me. And now you’re back, apologising for it after four months. Why?”

“Because I can’t live without you,” he growled.

“And yet you did just that for the past so many months,” I pointed out.

“Yes, I did. I existed. But that’s all it is - a joyless existence,” he said hoarsely. “You took all the sunshine…all the joy out of my life when you left.”

I rubbed my face in exhaustion.

“Get to the point, Viren. What do you want?”

He didn’t reply for a few moments, and I finally looked at him because this wasViren! How was I ever going to keep my eyes off him?

I found him looking me up and down with a scowl.

“You’ve lost weight,” he accused.

“Yes, because I’ve been gymming regularly. Again, what do you want?”

“I don’t like it,” he went on, ignoring my question.

For fuck’s sake! It was like talking to a stubborn toddler!

“You don’t have to like it. My body does not concern you anymore,” I snapped.

“Everything about you concerns me. And it always will! That’s what I’m here to tell you, Sunaina. I was wrong in thinking I’d stop being afraid of losing you if we weren’t together. That fear became part of my life the day I fell in love with you, and now I have to live with it for the rest of my life because I don’t know how to stop loving you.”

My throat went dry and when I swallowed, it felt like there were shards of glass stuck in there.

He was in love with me? My heart did a pirouette in my chest, and I had to give it a very stern lecture because he couldn’t just waltz in here and tell me he loved me, and expect me to forgive him.

“Tell me how you did it,” he said desperately.

“Did what?”

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