Page 38 of Born in Ruin

“We don’t know if we can trust her.” Virat’s low words were a scalpel to her pride. Forever on the outside, she thought. Always looking in. She hadn’t known until this moment how badly she wanted to be accepted by them.

“I do.” Ishaan rose from his chair and came to stand beside her, aligning himself with her. “I trust her.”

I trust her.

The words seemed to reverberate through the room, shock on everyone’s faces except for Dhrithi who had the biggest smile splitting hers.

“I trust Yukhi too,” she said softly.

Amay glanced at Virat before shrugging. “I guess we have to.”

Well, that was a ringing endorsement.

But it was Virat she watched, that calm exterior not fooling her for a second. She had a feeling the day Virat Jha’s mask came off, was the day the whole world took cover. When he spoke, though, the only thing he said was, “We can talk after lunch.”

Mayukhi accepted the plate of lasagna Amay handed her, catching the fork before it fell off the edge. She followed Virat on to the large balcony that extended out from the living room. Huge French doors framed the wall between the living area and what was essentially a deck attached to it.

Ishaan’s home was a dream come true, an architectural magazine’s centerspread. It still didn’t fit in her head with the man she knew, or maybe, she amended, the man she thought she knew.

She’d just taken her place in a beanbag in the corner when Virat came through with glasses of water for everyone. He set the tray down on the table in the centre of the ridiculously soft shag pile rug. Mayukhi had already slipped her heels off and curled her toes into it, allowing the comfort of its exquisite softnessto envelop her aching feet. She could feel the aftermath of her drinking binge from the previous day seeping into her bones.

Ishaan landed on the rug by her feet, his back hitting the bottom of her bean bag as he dug into his lasagna, a bad-tempered scowl on his face.

“What bug crawled up your ass?” she murmured, kicking him gently in the ribs with her foot.

He muttered something that sounded an awful lot like ‘bloody thieves’ but she wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right.

“Whom?” she asked. “Naveen and gang? Is that what they’re doing? Stealing stuff?”

“My own bloody friends,” he snapped, his voice low and vengeful.

“Your friends are thieves?” Mayukhi was a bit taken aback. It was a bit rich for a group of thieves to take some time to decide if they trust her or not.

“Yes.” He shoved his fork into his lasagna with a level of violence that felt wholly inappropriate. “You see that shelf in the glass cabinet?” He pointed through the glass doors to a fancy looking cabinet in the living room.

“Uh huh.” Mayukhi took a sip of water.

“Do you know what’s in there?”

Mayukhi stared at the cabinet and then at the top of Ishaan’s head. “Nothing?” she ventured cautiously.

“Yes, nothing!” Ishaan hissed, his head turning to glare at her like she’d got the answer wrong. “Do you remember the trophy I won for academic achievement at school?”

“Umm no,” she said warily, wondering if she needed to sit somewhere further away from his insane ass.

“NO?” Ishaan was bellowing now. Mayukhi glanced over at the others. Amay and Dhrithi were laughing and even Virat was smiling, though he shook his head while he did it.

“It was the best student award. How can you not remember?” Ishaan looked like he was about to launch to his feet, his outrage acting like jet propulsion.

“Maybe because I actually had a life?” Mayukhi threw her hand up in the air. “Who cares about a stupid school trophy?”

Fucking nerds. A school trophy? That’s what this was about?

“I do!” Ishaan actually did jump to his feet. “And you guys,” he told the others. “Are dicks.”

The others had stopped laughing, Dhrithi’s face going round with anxiety, a trauma response that they all recognised.

“Ish, I’ll bring it back,” she said, putting her plate down. “I-“

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