Entangled Relationships

Chapter 16- The unspoken feelings

The Uber pulled up under my apartment building. We got out and started walking towards our house. I was ahead so that he won’t be able to see my face. I was smiling like an idiot the whole time but every time he looked at me I went back to pretending to be in my neutral face.

“I want lemon chicken for dinner Kartik.” I opened the door and started walking towards my room.

“Okay it will be ready by the time you come down.” He spoke from the end of the stairs.

“Okay there is beer kept in the fridge if you want.” I said and walked into my room.

After my shower I walked down the stairs to find Kartik by the stove checking on the chicken. He turned around to face me and smiled. He took a sip of the beer that was on the counter. My hair was wet and I had black shorts paired with a regular gray t-shirt on.

“See right now if I had a maid you wouldn't have to do this.” I said and went towards the freezer to grab a beer.

He chuckled, “that's okay I like cooking.”

“Alright,” I took a sip of my beer, “if you say so.”

We were both silent. I sat on the counter and pulled my left knee up to my chest while looking at my phone. It had 19 missed calls from Harsh and 34 messages about ‘where I am?’ and how he is ‘sorry.’ Ignoring all of that I started checking my emails.

“Could you not sit like that?” Kartik’s voice sounded hoarse.

I looked up at him confused. He had his fingers wrapped around the beer bottle way more forcefully than necessary. His other hand was gripping the corner of the counter. His facial expression was hard and his eyes were dark.

“Sit...like...what?” I asked slowly trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

“With your legs up.”

I looked around for a second to find a solid reason. “Why?”

“Because,” he closed his eyes shut. He pressed his lips together and bit on his lower lip.

“Because?” I asked softly.

He opened his eyes fast, “Amit wanted to talk to you.” He avoided my question entirely.

“Yeah well he can call me.” I said looking down at my phone again.

“You were in the shower.”

I looked up at him confused again, “I didn't get any missed calls on my phone.”

What is tonight?

Confuse Myra night.

My phone started ringing again. “See that must be him.”

I ended the call, “no, it's Harsh.”

“Is he still bothering you.” He sounded angry.

“No Kartik,” I looked down, “it's a personal matter.”

He remained silent. I went back to replying to my emails. My screen changed to an incoming FaceTime screen after couple of seconds. I picked it up as it was Amit.

“Hi baby.” I waved at him like a child.

“Forget your ‘hi baby,’ I'm mad at you!” Amit pouted through the screen.

“Why? What happened?” I was suddenly concerned.

“You didn’t tell me that bastard Harsh Vardhan has left you at the fashion show!” He sounded very pissed.

I looked at Kartik who had his head down.

Why is this guy telling my business to people?

People? You mean Amit?