𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐬

Chapter 11: Love Destroys

"No! You can't keep making vague statements and the leave. You have to tell me everything. Explain to me why we can't be together." In desperation, her hands reached to grasp the sleeve of his kurta. "Why?"

"Don't make me say something I might regret."

Meera's eyes were widened in shock. Her grip tightened at first before loosening abruptly as her hands fell on her sides like dead autumn leaves falling from the tree.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Dev clenched his jaws, his hands flexed by his side.

He shouldn't have said that. He didn't mean it. Well, not in such a crude manner, anyway.

He only meant to say that words of promises when not followed by actions left a lot to be regretted. And he didn't want that.

He tried to convey as much as Meera stumbled away from him. By her expression he knew she took it the worst way possible.

Alas, he never got the time to clarify as they heard someone's approaching footfalls.

Few heartbeats later, his best friend was standing with them, covered in blue and red, eyeing them curiously.

They were at a decent distance that it wouldn't raise any questions. Still, Meera's flushed cheeks and Dev's stony look camouflaging his guilt left a lot to wonder.

"What are you both doing here?" Ayaansh lifted an eyebrow, looking around.

They were in the secluded part of the yard, just near the garage.

Meera glanced at Dev in panic. He had already reverted back to his composed self. The stormy haze in his expression was smoothed over. He didn't look like someone who was just having the most pain inducing conversation of his life but rather someone who had just caight her on a stroll.

The same couldn't be said about Meera. She was fumbling as if caught in a crime- which she kind of was.

"Meera was walking around with her friend and your mother asked me to call them for lunch." The lie rolled off Dev's tongue effortlessly.

"Where's her friend?"

"He left." There was carefully concealed smugness in the way he said it which thankfully, her brother did not catch on.

And once again Meera was both impressed and a little scared of how easily Dev could come up with false truths. Not even a shadow of what he really felt touched his face. How many times had he used the same trick on her? How many parts of his had he shielded from her? And what secrets lay beneath his mask?

She did not have the time to contemplate when her brother was regarding her dubiously. After what happened, she couldn't meet his gaze.

He directed his attention back to Dev. "You're coming too, right?"

"Maybe later. I need a shower first."

Meera began to relax.

"You have a room here," Ayaansh pointed out. "I am not letting you go home before our talk. You'll tell me exactly what's going on."

She stiffened again, her gaze already on Dev whose expressions didn't reveal anything.

He ought to make an excellent poker player. He showed no signs of unease. Except maybe for the faint flutter of his fingers and the subtle tightening of his lips.

Ayaansh didn't pay heed to them. Or perhaps he'd just missed it. If Meera hadn't been scrutinizing him, she would've missed them too.

"I am sure we can have this conversation after I am cleaned up," he said calmly.