Chapter 34
Riya stared at him, completely awake now. "Whoa, whoa… what marriage?"
Druve looked at her as though there was nothing unusual about what he'd just said.
"Are you kidding me? You just said you like me!"
"I didn't."
Riya blinked. "What?"
"I said you're my everything."
Her mouth opened, then closed. Druve's expression remained completely serious.
Riya stared at him for another second before shaking her head. "Okay, fine. I'm your everything." Her cheeks warmed despite herself. "But marriage?"
She pointed between the two of them. "We barely know each other! And you want to get married already? Don't you think that's too rushed?"
Druve looked at her for a moment. "Are you sure we barely know each other?"
Riya opened her mouth immediately. "I—"
Nothing came out. Her brows slowly pulled together. Oddly, the answer that should have been obvious suddenly wasn't.
She had known Druve for only a few days. She knew that. Yet sitting there looking at him, it didn't feel that way at all.
There was a strange familiarity about him that she couldn't explain. His expressions, his silences, the way he reacted to things—somehow none of it felt new to her. She felt as though she already knew what would annoy him, what would make him soften, when he would speak and when he would simply look at her instead.
Riya's lips parted again, but she still couldn't answer. Why did it feel as though she had known him for a very long time?
Her confusion showed plainly on her face. Druve simply watched her. A small smile touched his lips.
He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Don't think too much."
Riya looked at him.
"Let's get married tomorrow."
Her eyes widened. "What? No, Druve—"
His expression changed before she could finish. The smile disappeared. His eyes softened, and he looked at her with that quiet, wounded expression.
"I'll be hurt if you say no."
Riya stopped. Her eyes narrowed.
He was acting. She knew he was acting. Druve knew she knew too. And still, the refusal wouldn't come out.
She stared at him, lips pressed together, determined not to fall for it. Druve simply held that expression.
Then, as though he were making some enormous compromise for her sake, he spoke softly. "Since you think tomorrow is too early…" His eyes remained on hers, that same wounded look firmly in place. "We'll get married the day after."
"Okay."
The word slipped out before Riya's brain caught up. Something in Druve's expression shifted.
Riya's eyes widened as she realised what she'd just agreed to. "Wait, I—"
His mouth covered hers before she could take it back.
The kiss was brief but deep, firm enough to swallow the protest already forming on her lips. Riya's eyes closed instinctively, and when Druve pulled away, he stayed close, his hand still against her face.
"You can't refuse now."
There was no teasing in his voice. His thumb moved once over her cheek as his eyes remained fixed on hers.
"You agreed."
Riya stared at him.
Druve pulled her back into his arms, holding her close. Only then did some of the tension inside him ease.
He had already lost seven years with her. Too much had happened while they were apart, and now he knew someone had tried to take her life. He couldn't risk losing her again.
Marriage wasn't a joke to him. The little expression he had used to get her to agree might have been deliberate, but what he wanted was anything but playful.
He wanted her with him. Every day. Every night. Close enough that he could see for himself that she was safe.
His arms tightened around her.
Seven years apart had already cost them too much. He wasn't giving distance another chance to take her away from him.
Meanwhile, outside Riya's room…
Vikram was walking through the corridor when a faint sound made him slow down. At first, he couldn't quite place it. The house was quiet at this hour, and the sound was muffled enough that he might have ignored it if it hadn't come again—a broken, uneven sob from behind Riya's closed bedroom door.
Vikram stopped completely. His eyes moved towards the door as his brows drew together. He stepped closer, listening, and another broken sound slipped through, clearer now that he was standing near it.
Druve.
For several seconds, Vikram simply stared at the door. Why was Druve inside Riya's bedroom?
More importantly—
"What the hell is he doing in my sister's bedroom crying?"
Concern overtook his confusion, and his hand immediately went towards the handle. Before his fingers could touch it, another hand closed firmly around his wrist.
Vikram turned sharply. Aadhira stood behind him, her hair slightly dishevelled from sleep, but her eyes were fully awake and fixed on him.
"Viki, wait."
Vikram looked at her hand around his wrist and then back at the door. "That's Druve."
"I know."
The certainty in her answer caught him immediately. His eyes narrowed as he turned towards her. "You knew he was in there?"
Aadhira's brief silence was enough.
Vikram stared at her. "You knew Druve went into my sister's bedroom alone and you didn't tell me?"
"I knew exactly how you'd behave." Her eyes dropped pointedly towards the hand she had just caught halfway to the door handle. "That's why I didn't."
Vikram followed her gaze to his own hand before looking back at her, visibly unimpressed. "Aadi—"
"That's Druve, Viki."
"I know."
His answer came immediately. He trusted Druve. That wasn't the problem. Knowing exactly who was behind that door didn't magically switch off the brother in him.
His hand shifted towards the handle again, but another faint sob came through before he could reach it. The irritation disappeared from Vikram's face almost instantly.
He looked towards the door. "What happened to him?"
Aadhira's expression grew serious too. "Riya made a sound earlier. She sounded scared. Druve heard her and went in."
Vikram turned back towards her immediately. "What kind of sound?"
"I don't know. Maybe a nightmare. He went in before I could understand much more."
Another broken sound reached them, and Vikram's attention returned to the room. "And now he's crying like this?"
Aadhira glanced towards the door. Even she looked unsettled now. "He might have found something."
Vikram looked at her.
"About Riya. About Sruthi." Her voice lowered. "Maybe something happened in there that made him realise something."
That stopped him.
Vikram's eyes slowly returned to the closed door. They both knew Druve well enough to understand that whatever had reduced him to this wasn't something small.
Aadhira's fingers slipped from his wrist into his hand. "Give them some time."
Vikram didn't answer. He remained beside her, listening, his worry no longer only for Riya.
Then the crying stopped.
Vikram noticed immediately. He waited a few seconds, his gaze fixed on the door, before his expression began to change.
Aadhira caught it. "Viki…"
"Why did he stop crying?"
"Maybe Riya calmed him down."
Instead of reassuring him, that seemed to awaken every overprotective instinct he had managed to hold back until then. His eyes remained fixed on the door before he turned towards Aadhira.
"Aadi, what are they doing in there?"
"How would I know?"
The answer came easily, but the look on his face made the corner of Aadhira's mouth begin to lift.
"Viki, if I have to worry about someone in that room, it will be Druve."
Vikram slowly turned towards her. "Druve?"
"Yes, Druve." Her smile grew despite herself. "I'd be more worried about what Riya might do to him."
Vikram stared at her. "Aadi."
"What?" She looked perfectly innocent. "You know your sister."
"She's my sister."
"Exactly."
Aadhira's smile widened, and Vikram's expression became increasingly offended. "Aadhira."
She bit back a laugh, which only made it worse.
"This isn't funny."
"I know." She tightened her fingers around his hand, trying to bring her expression under control. "But she's safe, Viki. That's what matters."
Vikram knew that. It didn't stop his attention from returning to the door. After another moment, he took a step towards it, only for Aadhira to quietly move into his path.
He paused and looked down at her. Aadhira looked back as though standing directly between him and the door was the most natural thing in the world.
Vikram shifted slightly to the right. So did she. His brows drew together. He moved to the left, and Aadhira followed again, this time with the faintest smile threatening her lips.
"Aadi, are you seriously going to follow me from side to side?"
"If that's what it takes to keep you from opening that door, yes."
He let out a slow breath and tried to look over her shoulder. Aadhira shifted just enough to block even that, making him look straight back at her.
"You know blocking my view doesn't actually change what's happening inside."
"No. But apparently it stops you from marching in every time your imagination gets the better of you."
"My imagination is perfectly fine."
Aadhira's eyebrows rose, and Vikram caught the look immediately. "Whatever is going through your head right now, keep it there."
That finally brought a smile to her face. "I haven't said a word."
Aadhira tried to suppress the smile, but it only made it more obvious. Vikram shook his head, half exasperated and half suspicious, before his gaze drifted towards the door again.
And that was when Druve's voice carried faintly through it.
"Let's get married."
Aadhira froze. Her eyes widened as she turned towards the door. For a second she simply stared, making sure she had actually heard what she thought she had. Then a smile slowly spread across her face.
She turned towards Vikram. The smile immediately faltered.
He hadn't moved. For one second, his expression remained completely blank as the words registered. Then his brows drew together and his jaw tightened.
"How dare he—"
Vikram moved straight for the door.
"Viki!"
Aadhira caught his arm with both hands, but the sudden movement dragged her forward with him.
"He's proposing to my sister!"
"Yes, I heard him!"
Vikram reached towards the door, and Aadhira immediately stepped in front of him, planting both palms against his chest.
"Move, Aadi."
"Viki, isn't this what we all wanted?"
"That doesn't mean he gets to propose to my sister in the middle of the night!"
Aadhira struggled not to smile at the sheer offence on his face. "Viki. Riya trusting him, getting closer to him—this is good. Give them some time."
Vikram clearly knew that. Unfortunately, knowing it wasn't making him any more willing to leave the door.
Aadhira caught his arm and started pulling him away. Vikram resisted, and what began as a firm tug quickly turned into an absurd little struggle in the middle of the corridor. Every time Aadhira managed to pull him a step back, Vikram turned towards Riya's room again and took her right back with him.
"Would you stop standing like a wall and walk?"
"Would you stop trying to drag me away from my sister's room?"
"No."
Aadhira wrapped both hands around his arm and leaned backwards with more determination.
Vikram used the moment she loosened her grip to turn towards the door again. Aadhira immediately grabbed both his arms and pulled him back, while he turned towards her at exactly the wrong moment.
The movement brought them together far too quickly.
Aadhira stumbled forward. Vikram's arm went around her waist instinctively, catching her before she lost her balance. Her hands landed against his chest, her face lifted in surprise—and his lips met hers.
Everything stopped.
Aadhira jerked back, one hand flying over her mouth as she stared at him, completely flustered. Her cheeks warmed almost instantly, and for once she seemed to have absolutely no idea how to react.
"Yo… you… you kissed me."
Vikram just stared at her.
His heart was hammering so hard that his mind seemed to have stopped working with it. Druve, Riya, the proposal—everything that had occupied him only seconds ago disappeared completely.
"Aa… Aadi… I…"
The words refused to arrange themselves into anything useful.
Aadhira gave him a small angry look from behind the hand still covering her mouth.
"Don't talk to me. Err…"
She pulled herself free and turned away, walking quickly towards her room.
Vikram blinked after her. Then his eyes widened.
"Aadi!"
She didn't stop.
He immediately went after her. Riya's room and Druve's proposal were forgotten so completely that he didn't even look back.
"Aadi, wait. That was an accident." He hurried after her as she continued down the corridor. "You pulled me so fast—I was trying to catch you. I didn't do it wantedly."
Aadhira reached her room and put her hand on the handle without turning around. Vikram caught up with her before she could open it.
"Aadi, wait."
He caught her hand and pulled her back towards him, wrapping his arms around her.
"It was an accident," he repeated quickly. "I didn't do it wantedly. It's not that I didn't want to, but—"
He stopped.
Aadhira's eyes widened.
Vikram realised what had just left his mouth.
There was no taking it back now.
"If I had done it…" He hesitated for barely a second. "It would never be just a peck."
Aadhira's eyes widened further as she stared up at him. "What?"
Her pretend anger disappeared completely.
She had known from the beginning that the kiss was an accident. She had only wanted to get Vikram away from Riya's room and give Riya and Druve the time they needed, so pretending to be upset had seemed like the easiest way to make him follow her.
But she hadn't expected this.
"What did you say?"
Vikram stared at her, his arms still around her.
"I said…" His voice dropped slightly. "If I had kissed you, it would never be a peck."