‘Or maybe you could just let her speak,’ Meera told Kashvi, walking into the apartment through the open door, followed by Swayam. She patted Kashvi’s head gently, trying to calm her down.
Thank god Meera is here, Siya thought, and felt the tension drain out of her body. She’s the only person who could help her figure a way out of this tangled mess.
Swayam shut the door and leaned against it. ‘Yeah, then maybe she can answer how, if the entertainment news is to be believed, our two best friends hid the fact that they’ve been married for two years?’
His grin was mischievous, flaunting the fact that he was glad to pour gasoline on the fire. She narrowed her eyes and scolded him, ‘You’re not helping.’
‘I’m not here to help.’ Swayam shrugged with a grin, folding his arms against his chest.
‘Then why are you here?’
‘I am here for the popcorn. Siya Kashyap is married to her sworn enemy. I can’t miss out on watching this plot twist of the year unfold. You’ve got Meera if you want moral support,’ he said, strolling in and casually jumping down on the plush leather Barcalounger.
‘Swayam, don’t.’ Siya warned him with a look that made her junior associates shake in their boots.
He brushed it off him as casually as if it were dirt. He asked, eyes gleaming, ‘Iknewsomething was up! All those brooding looks, storming out of dinners, and now suddenly… weddingbells? I knew all that tension had to mean something. Was this the plan all along?’
‘Are you done?’
‘No. Instead, I’m beginning to wonder if this had been the endgame all along. Did you two meet on some matrimonial site for rich people?’ Swayam asked innocently.
‘Both of you did seem awfully cosy dancing at our second wedding,’ Meera observed, and Kashvi glared at her sister suspiciously.
‘Don’t encourage him, Mihu.’
‘Trust me, I don’t need encouragement. I’m a one-man army,’ Swayam announced smugly.
Siya looked down at her lap and began fidgeting with the hem of the old hoodie. It had become so comforting and familiar to her that she forgot it belonged to Abhay. ‘Excuse me, whatever happened to calling before showing up at my apartment?’ she asked, trying to distract herself fromhisthoughts.
Swayam raised an eyebrow. ‘When do we ever call before we show up at Meera and Raghav’s home?’
‘That’s precisely a tradition I’d love to break!’ Meera chimed in with a glare directed at him. ‘Raghav and I are newlyweds, and we’re yet to spend a single weekend without you and Luv showing up for parathas and life updates.’
‘C’mon Mihu, friendship vetoes common courtesy. True friends know that,’ Swayam said, blowing her a kiss. Meera threw a cushion at him in retaliation.
Kashvi snapped. ‘Guys! Can we please focus on why we’re here? I need answers!’
Silence followed in the wake of her anger. Siya looked at her sister and noticed her hands fisted at her sides in the way she did when she was trying not to cry. Confusion, tinted with betrayal and a desperate need to understand, shimmered in her eyes.
Siya hadn’t meant for Kashvi to find out like this. She’d meant to tell her gently, when her own pulse wasn’t thundering in her ears, and she hadn’t found words to explain a decision she was yet to fully process herself. So, she decided to play offence.
She exhaled slowly and pulled on a manufactured calmness as she said, ‘What I want to know is why you’re home. Weren’t you supposed to be in Uttarakhand until next Friday?’
Taken aback by the sudden shift in conversation, Kashvi huffed out a breath. For the first time since she’d barged in, she hesitated. ‘On our call last night, I could tell you were feeling down. I called you all afternoon today, but you didn’t answer. You’ve been overworking, skipping meals… I was worried about you, so I flew back early.’
Siya sighed, trying to ease some of the pain bubbling in her chest. ‘Kashu, you worked for months to get onboard their volunteer program, and you walked away from it just like that?’
Kashvi retorted back. ‘Don’t do that. Don’t try to flip this on me. Did you honestly not think that your sister deserved a heads-up before the entire damn country?’
‘Entire country? What are you talking about?’
Kashvi exclaimed. ‘The news! All the media channels in the first class lounge were showing your wedding story as their exclusive headline. I thought it was some fake entertainment segment until they started showing pictures of you and Abhay.’
Swayam laughed aloud and waved his phone in the air. ‘Oh no, it gets better. You haven’t seen the “explosive new twist.”’
He picked up the remote from the couch and flipped through the channels before settling on one. The moment he turned up the volume, the high-pitched voice of the news anchor filled the room. Her narration overlapped with dramatic B-roll footage of Abhay stepping out of a car, then of Siya from an old charity gala playing on a loop.
‘…has announced a new alliance between rival jewellery empires, Kashyap Luxe and Agrawal Jewels. We are shocked to find out that Siya Kashyap has been secretly married to Abhay Agrawal for over two years. In light of this development, a Kashyap representative has said that Abhay and Siya will be making it official with a private ceremony in the presence of friends and family next weekend.’
