Backroom Deal [ongoing]

•EIGHT•

"It's finally great hearing from you. I've been meaning to explain" I add a chuckle at the end. "Are you nearby?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm almost up to your floor. You're not busy, right? Sorry, I just wanted to surprise you"

"No, come up! But, shit, maybe I should have picked up some take out or cooked extra if I knew that you were going to stop by. And no, I'm not busy right now"

Aileen scoffs and I can almost hear the eye roll. "No need. Open the door, I'm here" she says. The knock on the door confirms it. I hang up and go to the door.

Once I open it, I'm greeted by a best friend with a mischievous expression on her face. I notice the pantsuit she has on, meaning that she just came from work.

She steps inside, sits on my couch, and I close the door to join her on the spot beside her. Her eyes briefly land on some boxes that I was packing for move-in day in two days.

"I was around the area to help my brother with something. The idiot needed some consultation on the financing for his car.  I've been busy as hell and didn't even get the time to properly catch up on things until this morning. And imagine how surprised I was when I saw the news articles from a few days ago. And then some of the ladies at work were talking about it too."

Aileen's brother does live in my neighborhood with their parents and it's common for her to visit them. He's an undergrad junior at U Chicago right now and studying to become a doctor. And if my memory is correct, he's also on his mid-semester break right now.

"How is Arjun doing?" I ask. "And auntie and uncle?"

"They're good. He's good. Just a pain in the ass because he impulsively bought a car and couldn't figure out how to finance it. Jeez, the guy can name all the enzymes in the citric cycle or whatever that's called called but can't figure out money." She shakes her head. "Enough of that. Tell me why I'm hearing that you're marrying someone who you've nearly murdered several times during college. I thought you claimed to hate him? Is that why you didn't want to meet Brandon's friend back at Valiant? You guys were seeing each other then? And—"

"The engagement is fake."

She blinks rapidly and leans forward. "I'm sorry. What?"

"Perhaps I should get the wine and snacks?" I waggle my brows at her.

Her eyes sparkle but she shakes her head and gives me a pout. "That would be perfect but I'm driving tonight. And I already ate. Mom could not let me leave without that extra biryani"

I feign to be hurt and put a hand on my chest. "And you couldn't save me any?"

She snorts. "Please. I think you and I both know that her biryani is my life"

I laugh and get up to go to the kitchen. After pouring two cups of tea from the already hot infuser, I return to the couch to give her a cup . "Just know that this is between me and you only."

She nods and makes a motion with a key over her mouth to feign a turn. Then she mimics tossing it out.

I explain the events of last week, all of which happened behind closed doors. After the clusterfuck of things happening one after the other, it felt good to voice it out to someone who I knew would at least listen and understand. Especially since I couldn't talk to anyone else about it. And that pent up frustration slowly molded into something that I could work with and throw out.

Several minutes later, her confusion deepens after taking in everything. "Nova, what the hell? I thought this shit only happens in those Bollywood movies. Not to people in real life."