Page 20 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)

“Do you ever smile?”

“Virat.” Celina tugged at his shirt. “I asked you a question.”

“Sorry.” Virat deliberately looked away from Majid, refocusing on her. “What was it?”

“Do you ever smile?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Of course I do.” They were crossing Majid at this point and Virat caught his whispered ‘Romeo.’ Ignoring it, he kept their pace through the hallway calm and unhurried.

‘When?” Celina asked, waving at someone at the far end. Her precariously balanced books tilted in the other hand. Virat reached over and grabbed them instinctively.

“There you go,” she said breathlessly, as she juggled a book in midair. “Always saving me.”

And he always would, he thought. His back prickled under the weight of Majid’s stare. He had a trump card when it came to Majid though, so he wasn’t really worried. Whatever Majid brought his way, Virat could repay twofold.

“So,” Celina said now. “When do you smile?”

They stepped out of the building and into the fresh air of the extensive school grounds. In the distance, under a large mango tree, beside the basketball court, Amay sat with his friend Dhrithi. Virat waved and received a wave back.

“Virat.” Celina stopped walking, her hands on her hips. “Stop ignoring me.”

“Celi, I’m not –“

The rest of his words died in a mortified rush as he realised what he’d just uttered out loud.

The nickname he’d only allowed himself to think was suddenly out there, dangling in the vacuum that seemed to have sucked out all sound from around them.

Virat turned a bright red. He wanted to run and hide.

He had never, NEVER, in his entire life blushed until today!

“You’re not?” she prompted, pretending to have not heard the nickname he’d called her. “Not ignoring me? But you haven’t answered me yet. What makes you smile?”

“You do.”

Horror suffused him as his wandering tongue betrayed him for the second time that day.

“I-I-I,” he stammered.

She just watched him, her eyes wide.

“I have to go,” he said, word vomit spilling out of him. “Now.”

He ran from there, passing a startled Amay who half rose to his feet to follow. He was going to just keep running. Forever. That was the only way to recover from today.

He made it till the swimming pool, finding the bench inside the boy’s changing rooms empty and sitting down, trying to catch his breath.

“Vir?” Amay’s breathless voice reached him.

He moaned under his breath. Oh God no. Not now. He didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. He just wanted to die of embarrassment on his own. Was that too much to ask for?

Amay rounded the corner. “You run way too fast, idiot,” he huffed, collapsing on the bench beside him. “I couldn’t catch up.”

“That’s because you don’t run at all,” Virat muttered, staring at his feet.

“Here.” Amay shoved a crumpled piece of paper at him.

“What is it?” Virat eyed it like it was a cobra poised to bite.

Amay shrugged. “She told me to give it to you.”

“She?”

Amay smiled, a teasing grin. “How many girls do you think would be interested in sending you notes? There is only one she for you, no?”

Yes, there was only one ‘she’ for him. But he’d mucked that up royally, hadn’t he?

“I don’t want to read it,” Virat said, feeling nauseous.

Amay rolled his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.” He shoved the paper at him and Virat took it reflexively. His fingers shook as he slowly unfurled it, smoothening the creases out on his thigh. His eyes ran over the words, barely processing their meaning over the thundering of his heart.

‘You make me smile too. Love, Celi.’

A smile the size of the earth’s radius split his face as the words sunk into his thick skull.

Amay grinned. “Like that huh?”

“Like that,” Virat accepted, his thumb smoothing the creases out of the crumpled paper.