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“Still,” she mumbled, “that’s unfair.”

“You don’t need to feel sorry for him. I’ve known that man for six months, Nandu. He’s incapable of even helping himself, let alone helping someone else. You really think he’s going to show up here daily? Please. He’ll show up once or twice, get bored, and leave. Just wait.”

Before she could answer, the front door opened, and there he was. Shaurya Ahuja, with a tall frame and disapproving jawline, walking into their home like he owned it. Varun followed close behind, already grinning like he was in on a joke no one else had heard.

Nandini’s breath caught as their eyes met first, as if they were drawn to each other out of habit, not intention. She quickly looked away, her heart fluttering traitorously.

He had actually come?

Was he here for her grandfather… orfor her?

That question again reminded her of the way she had roasted him yesterday under the mango tree. She hadn’t meant to call him hot. That had just… slipped. Just like her resolve had slipped the moment he pinned her gently to the tree, and the intoxicating smell of his cologne filled her lungs, turning her knees to jelly.

And that was when she had said the dumbest thing imaginable.“Hot and outdated.”

It was the only verbal shield she could come up with to deflect how much, how deeply she felt in that moment. But the truth was… that kiss hadn’t been outdated. Not in the slightest. It was the kind of kiss that set impossible standards. The kind that made her toes curl and her pulse race. The kind her fictional heroines would fantasise about for ten pages straight.

And now he was here. Again.

She barely heard what Varun was saying to her grandfather. Her focus was on Shaurya, who looked far too calm for someone who’d been insulted and emotionally blackmailed into home visits.

Varun stepped in first and greeted Grandpa with the kind of exaggerated cheer only he could get away with. “Oh, wow, Grandpa. You already look halfway healed to me!”

Grandpa beamed, pleased. “It’s all because of Nandini and Lakshmi. They fuss over me like I’m royalty.”

Before anyone else could respond, Shaurya’s voice cut in. “Well, of course. You didn’t leave them much choice after rejecting the male nurse from the hospital.”

Grandpa’s happy smile thinned slightly, turning into a frown. “You are right. But why would I need a nurse now?” He turned his gaze deliberately toward Shaurya. “Not whenyou’veso graciously agreed to oversee my recovery personally.”

Varun cleared his throat in a poor attempt to defuse the tension, but Grandpa wasn’t done yet.

“By the way,” he added, “after your little declaration yesterday that you’d show up here every day to look after me, I expected you this morning. Not at brunch o’clock.”

Before Shaurya could retaliate, Varun jumped in smoothly. “Oh, he was busy. That’s why he couldn’t come earlier. Right, Shaurya?”

Shaurya rolled his eyes but said nothing. Grandpa, of course, zeroed in like a hawk.

“Busy? Doing what?” he asked, arching a knowing brow. “Furiously typing on that fancy laptop of his?”

Before Shaurya could fire back, Varun chimed in with a sly grin. “No, no. He was busy fixing some… umm…outdatedthings back at the villa.”

That did it.

Across the room, Nandini’s eyes snapped to Shaurya. Their gazes collided, charged with something unspeakable. Her breath caught and her cheeks coloured instantly as yesterday’s words from the mango tree returned to haunt her:hot and outdated.

He’d told Varun about it? That means now Varun, too, knew about their kiss that night?

Oh God! Her eyes widened, then narrowed into a glare aimed straight at Shaurya.You told him?Her gaze screamed.

Shaurya’s cocky demeanour faltered and he looked instantly regretful. His expression morphed into panic as he realised just how not okay she was with this. He raised his eyebrows slightly, as if to silently sayI didn’t mean for it to come out like this.

But Nandini wasn’t buying it. Not even for a second.

No matter what his expressions said to her, it wasn’t enough. She crossed her arms, her eyes blazing, daring him to explain.

Shaurya, realising the extent of her fury, shot a look at Varun, a look that could’ve peeled paint off a wall. But Varun kept grinning, having no remorse. He was enjoying this.

Nandini dropped her gaze fast, pretending to inspect the nearest tablecloth like it held the secrets to the universe.