Page 58 of Lawfully Yours

Her gaze snapped across the room, and sure enough, Kushal stood there watching, sipping his drink, waiting. She crumpled the tissue deliberately and tore it into pieces without breaking eye contact. Although he raised his glass in mock salute, taking another slow sip, she could see he was seething.

He could make anyone bend, but not her. She was as stubborn as a flame that refused to go out.

Cake-cutting time arrived. Everyone gathered around Raj Verma, who cut the cake and fed Arundhati the first bite, hugging her tightly. She fed him back, laughing warmly, returning the hug.

Then Raj turned to Kushal, feeding him a piece as well.

Soon, music buzzed around them, and Raj pulled Arundhati onto the dance floor. She laughed, spinning lightly with her uncle. But even in the twirls and graceful moves, her eyesflickered back to Kushal, who leaned against a pillar, glass of scotch in hand, his gaze shadowing her every movement.

And then it happened.

One of her younger cousins, a tall, pretty girl visiting from Bangalore, made her way to Kushal with a hopeful smile, asking him for a dance. Arundhati, still dancing with Raj, stiffened. Unknowingly, she held her breath, curious and tense without understanding why.

Would he accept?

Would he take her cousin’s hand, step into the crowd, and sway with her?

Kushal didn’t even hesitate. He politely declined, motioning toward Akash, the junior lawyers at Verma & Associates, and paired her cousin with him instead. She didn’t mind, laughing it off, but Arundhati realised only then how tightly she’d been gripping her uncle’s hand during the dance.

Only when Kushal refused did she let out a small, almost imperceptible sigh of relief.

Raj noticed immediately.

“It’s bad manners to ignore your dance partner,” he teased, gently twirling her around again.

Arundhati flushed and tried to look anywhere but at her uncle.

“I wasn’t,” she said quickly.

Raj chuckled, easily reading her. “Unless you want to change partners?”

“No. I don’t want to dance with Kushal,” she muttered under her breath, but it was too late. Raj had already heard it.

“So, it wasKushalyou were busy watching while ignoring me?” Raj said, feigning hurt with a laugh.

Arundhati was so embarrassed she could barely meet his eyes.

He smiled kindly and added, “You both have so much ego, Aru, you’re really making this harder for each other.”

She pressed her lips together, stubbornness flaring back to life. “I have every right to keep my distance from him.”

Raj opened his mouth to say something more, but just then, another cousin dragged him away for a dance with her, leaving Arundhati free again—free to think, free to feel, and most annoyingly, free to glance once more toward the shadows where Kushal lingered.

And her heart jumped.

Because even now, he wasn’t looking at anyone else.

He was still looking at her.

She had barely managed to calm her racing heart when the server approached her again, discreetly slipping another folded tissue into her hand.

She didn’t need to guess. She knew it was him.

Reluctantly, she unfolded it.

“Waiting for you at the pool. Don’t make me wait, Aru.”

Another note with full of arrogance.‘Don’t make me wait, Aru!’ Seriously?She scanned the spot again where seconds ago he was standing, but now he wasn’t there. He was gone.