Page 56 of The Ex Factor

“I don’t blame him for Sameer,” I said with a frown.

“But he does. He blames himself, and that’s why this is so unsettling, Aarti. It doesn’t matter how we came about the information, the fact remains that you were spotted with Sujit. You know Papa will never like that. And did you ever consider the possibility that maybe Sujit is using you to get his revenge on Tara?”

“Sujit is not that person,” I objected. “He is a kind, considerate man. A good friend. And I am not involved with him.”

I wasn’twithSujit. I wasn’t dating him. I wasn’t sleeping with him. Yet all of me—my body, heart, and soul—yearnedfor him. What did one call such a relationship? A crush? An attraction? An infatuation? An obsession? Or was it something more? Something deeper and meaningful?

“Our business has concluded. We arrived at an acceptable number, and he has signed the lease for another five years,” I added absently.

“Good. That’s the last thing we need. Another scandal,” Aakash said. “Neither you nor the business can afford it right now. And I care about you, Sis.”

“But you care more about the business and its reputation,” I spewed out the accusation.

That irked him, and the gentleness of our conversation blew up into acrimony.

“Yes, I care about the business and the family’s reputation. We’ve barely reeled in from that fucked up surprise public proposal to Sameer, and you’re going out with Tara’s ex, and you don’t see how messed up it is?”

“For the last time, I’m not going out with Sujit. He was a business contact. Now he’s a friend. He understands what I went through because he did too. He understands it much better than any of you. I’m not going to stop talking to him or hanging out with him because someone somewhere spotted us and thought we were fucking. That’s their problem.”

“That’syourproblem, Aarti, and ours!” Aakash cried in the same loud tone I’d used.

“Goodbye, Aakash, and don’t ever call me about this again.”

“Stop this BS, and I won’t have to.”

I’d never hung up on Aakash. That had never been the spirit of our relationship, but that day I did.

Hurt, angry, and humiliated, I couldn’t decide if I should open the door and walk into Sujit’s arms or stay here until my anger dissipated. I knew Sujit was outside, worrying, pacing, unsure if he should approach me.

I was right. When I walked out through that door into the living room, he stopped pacing and looked at me with concern in his eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked from where he’d stopped in his tracks.

“Did you hear it all?” I inquired with a sigh.

“Not everything, but I heard my name mentioned several times. I also heard the F-bomb dropped several times.”

I rolled my eyes and walked around him to sit on the couch. “TheF-bomb, really?”

He sat beside me. “Are you alright?”

“My brother asked me if I was sleeping with you and said it was unhealthy. He also said it would be a terrible blow to our business and social reputation if I had a relationship with Tara’s ex.”

“What did you say?” The intelligent eyes behind those glasses glimmered with a sentiment I couldn’t pin down.

“The truth—that we’re friends and that I’m not going to stop hanging out with you because he thinks it’s unhealthy.”

Sujit nodded and shifted to put distance between us. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

I gave him a side-eye. “If I’d wanted you to leave, I would’ve thrown you out myself. I don’t need my brother telling me what I want or what I should do.”

“Good, because if you’d chosen to throw me out, you would’ve had to put away the groceries yourself.”

I frowned. “What groceries?”

“Well, I thought you might need some staples, so I ordered delivery while you were on the phone. I hope it’s all right.”

The little things.

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