Page 81 of Not Your Basic Love Story

“I should tell him not to drink so much,” I said, moving towards him.

Dev stopped me. “He’s fine! My cousins are party animals. Trust me, he’s in good company. Relax. Everything is fine. Look around. Everyone’s having a good time. Your mom is even eating some Indian food. See?”

I glanced around. He was right. My mom was sitting at a table with Shawan with a half-eaten plate of food, showing off her collection of essential oils. Oh god, Mom, please don’t be giving her the sales pitch. Jag and my dad were talking about cars, eyeing up Jag’s Mercedes. Miranda and Derek had found another couple who were expecting, discussing all things baby-related, which was nice. I had no idea where Priya and Angelina were, but they were two peas in a pod. I didn’t have to worry about them.

Then, why did I have this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, as if I was waiting for something to go wrong?

I tried to brush it off—pre-wedding jitters.

The next hour or so was spent with Dev continuing to introduce me to people, me explaining my job over and over again, them joking about me taking their Dev away to the Big City, which ceased to feel like a joke after the tenth time it was brought up.

Then, it finally happened. Sonja found her way to us.

Her dazzling smile lit up the room, completely disarming me. The way she strolled up, the sway of her hips, everything; she was like a movie star. I could sense her natural charisma, her charm. She had thatje ne sais quoi,which floated ahead of her like her tasteful vanilla musk perfume.

Suddenly self-conscious, I looked down at my messy plate of half-eaten food and set it down quickly, spilling some sauce on the white tablecloth.

“You must be the Rebecca Dev is always talking about,” she said, reaching her hand out to shake mine, her fingernails perfectly manicured. It hadn’t even occurred to me to get my nails done for the party, and they looked rather boyish in Sonja’s elegant grip. Her handshake betrayed her, being oddly firm. I’d expected the limpwrist of a proper lady. But no, Sonja wasn’t fucking around. She wanted me to know she was there. Challenging me.

On another note, Dev was talking to Sonja about me? What was this “always?” How often were these two conversing?

I managed to plaster on my best smile and took Dev’s arm, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out anything to say to this woman. Really, there was a lot I wanted to say to her, but nothing polite.

Even Dev, the king of making awkward situations less so, struggled as he looked between Sonja, me, and the glass in his hand.

Sonja plowed through. “I hear you’re an engineer. That sounds like interesting work!”

“Well, no, not technically.” I was about to explain why, but decided not to expand on my lack of degree any further. The last thing I want to do is make myself out to seem lesser in front of Sonja, of all people.

“Oh?” She was very obviously confused.

Dev sensed my discomfort and chimed in. “Rebecca’s working on a prototype for an eavestrough turbine to take houses off grid.”

Sonja’s brows shot up. “Really!”

“She’s using the 3D printer I got for her. It’s really interesting! Here, I’ll show you some pictures—” He proceeded to whip out his phone to show off the tiny prototype pieces I’d built so far.

Sonja leaned in close to him, clearly interested, though if it was in the pictures on his phone or just getting a better whiff of his sexy cologne, I couldn’t be sure.

I eyed the two of them. Their proximity was making me uneasy. “Dev, didn’t you say your dad was getting some investors together?”

Jag sidled up. “I did, indeed! Is it ready?”

It was so far from ready. But with Sonja here, I couldn’t back down. “Um. Yes. Close, I mean.”

Dev stepped away from Sonja and pocketed his phone but continued to brag. “Didn’t you apply for some government grant?”

Now I had Jag’s undivided attention.

I doubled down. “Yep. I applied for the Green Energy R&D Grant and filed my patent. If I get the grant, I’d be about halfway to my goal of scaling up and installing models on buildings.”

Jag grinned. “That is great news! I’ll arrange a meeting with some business partners, see if we can get you the rest of that funding. I’ll get everything sorted for next week.”

Though the smile stayed on my face, internally, I was screaming. A meeting? With his business partners? Next week?! I wasn’t even sure if the thing would work in real life yet! I fought back the anxious ball of stress in my stomach and changed the subject. “What do you do for work, Sonja?”

“I work with Dev in the shops. Jag and my dad went into business together a long time ago, and they’re co-owners. I have my accounting degree and help run them. We’d still be working together, except he decided to go back to school. But, you never know how things go, what the future holds.”

“And a great accountant you are, Sonja!” Jag complimented. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest, the way Jag looked at her. Jag obviously liked her, probably more than me.Iwas going to be his daughter-in-law.Iwas supposed to be his favourite.

---