Page 10 of That Same Old Love

Samrat and Mahi began to walk towards the parking lot. When they were far enough, Samrat looked at her.

“What did you say to my sister? Why did she look so hurt? I remember specifically ordering you to behave.”

Samrat’s tone pissed her. “I’m not a dog for you to order me to behave! Besides, I didn’t say anything except to apologize, and to tell her that I haven’t deliberately sought out Srishti’s friendship. So lay off me. I’ve been attacked and warned enough for tonight!”

Something about her tone must have made Samrat not want to push her more. He began to walk faster, forcing her to run behind him to keep up.

When they were only a few minutes away, she tripped over something in the grass and landed on her bottom. “Great. Just a very great ending to an even greater evening,” she muttered.

When she tried getting up, a shooting pain made her right ankle throb like hell.

Samrat stopped and looked back. He saw her sitting on the ground.

“What happened?” he asked her impatiently.

“I’m trying to see if this grass is as comfortable and plush as it looks,” she snapped out at him. “What do you think happened? I tripped and fell down.” She grimaced at the rapidly increasing pain. “I think my ankle has twisted.”

Samrat looked skeptical, and slowly approached her, but made no effort to reach down for her. “Hmm really… Which leg?”

She glared at his tone. “Does it matter?”

He knelt down next to her, to see her ankles clearly.

“Which ankle? This one?” He touched her rapidly swelling ankle.

“Ow!” She yelped in pain. “What the hell are you trying to do… Ouch! That hurts like hell! Get your freaking hands away from me, you sadist!” she shouted at him.

He sighed loudly. “Okay, looks like you are not lying. You are really hurt.”

“Thanks Einstein, for the deduction and believing me,” she hissed out.

He sighed again. “I’m going to lend my hand. Use me for support.”

She nodded grudgingly and slowly stood up with the help of his hand.

Oh great. I’m in shitload of pain and having one of the worst nights ever, but somehow I can still notice how big and strong his hands are, she thought resentfully.

Holding her shoes in one hand, she somehow managed to hobble to a SUV and sat in the back seat, when Samrat opened the door for her. He pressed a button to flatten the front seat completely, making it a makeshift foot rest of some sort. He placed her legs on it gently.

“Oh wow! I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said, forgetting her pain momentarily.

It was some sort of a luxury car, and the controls and the interiors looked like something out of a James Bond movie.

Samrat slid into the driver’s seat. “It’s an electric and solar powered car with a lot of self-driving features added to it. And it’s mine while I beta test it.”

She was surprised. “Wait. You’re leaving Srishti’s birthday party?”

“Looks like I have to for a while.”

She was annoyed by the implication. “You don’t have to. I already told you and everyone else. I can take a cab.”

“Really? Will the cab driver or some random driver help you hop inside your house?”

She kept quiet at that. He had a point. Better the devil you know than some stranger to help her into house while she was helpless.

Samrat chose a setting that had his address pre-loaded and the car began to drive by itself. He still kept his eyes on the road.

Her ankle was painful, and she wanted to distract herself. “Why do you own or drive just SUVs? It’s kind of weird driving them in India with all the traffic and parking issues. I would assume you are rich enough to afford some Ferrari, or an Aston Martin, or something super expensive.”

He looked back at her briefly, checking her feet. “I’m six feet and three inches tall. I prefer bigger cars, especially ones that are not stuck to the ground. I don’t care how expensive a car is as long as it’s functional and safe.”

The ride got bumpy when they hit some unavoidable potholes.

“Ow Ow Ow. God I hate these roads! You should come up with some hybrid flying cars soon.”

“Sure. I’ll start on that right away. Just in case you decide to sprain your ankle by wearing those ridiculous high heels again.”

She was annoyed, since he was partially right.

But she had always been a little conscious of her height.

And during her marriage, Dinesh wanted her to wear only flat shoes.

Heels were not allowed because they would make her almost as tall as him.

So after she left him, she always made sure she could wear heels whenever she wanted. Which was most of the time.

“Oh shut up and drive, or navigate… or whatever it is you are doing. Drop me off soon at my place and rush back. Your fans are eagerly waiting for you. I’ve seen your next hand-picked bride.

A sweet and gentle thing. Just the way you would prefer.

But then arrogant bullies like you are always drawn towards that kind.

Easier to bully them I suppose,” she said irritably, remembering the pretty and kind Preethi, who was approved by his family and friends.

Then immediately she felt like an ungrateful bitch. “Sorry… I didn’t mean that. I… uh… just have an extremely low threshold to physical pain, and right now you are the only one in the vicinity I can vent it out on.”

He was quiet for a few seconds and then, “There won’t be another wife for me, hand-picked or otherwise. My wife died five years ago and I promised myself to never marry again.”

She was surprised at his statement. “Hmm. Very few men can say that in this day and age. It either shows your capacity to love someone that deeply… or just your arrogant stubbornness towards a promise you might have made when you were in mourning.”

He didn’t reply.

After a couple of minutes, he stopped near a hospital where Mahi got her ankle examined.

It turned out to be a light sprain and her ankle was wrapped up tightly and she was asked to take some pain medications to dull the throbbing pain.

The hospital visit was surprisingly very quick since Samrat ‘knew’ someone at the hospital.

Soon they were heading towards her house.

Her ankle was slowly getting numb. She removed the shawl and placed it like a pillow under her head, feeling relaxed and much better. She also felt a little dazed and sleepy.

“Why was tonight bad for you?” he asked casually, still watching the road.

She sighed. “Well it wasn’t bad-bad. I don’t think it can ever get that bad for me.

Not anymore. It was just a little unsettling that Ananya and her friends seem to think that I’m some sort of femme fatale, who is out to steal their husbands and brothers, while trying to deliberately involve children in my sick twisted games. ”

Then she scoffed loudly and said, “FYI they think that we’d both make a match made in hell.”

He was quiet and didn’t comment on his sister’s friends’ deductions. Until a few days ago, he thought of her in a similar manner.

“What do you mean by it can’t ever get bad for you?” He was curious about her way of thinking, and ignored the match made in hell comment.

She didn’t know why she answered him. Maybe it was the medication, combined with the low sugar from not eating for a very long time.

“Well… each time I thought my life had hit the bottom, someone always lowered the bottom. Finally, I had reached rock bottom a few months ago. Nothing can ever come close to that period. Whatever happened tonight is barely scratching the surface compared to that.” She sighed softly and looked at him on the rearview mirror.

“And you know what they say—the thing about hitting rock bottom is that there is only one way to go. And that’s up. ”

He didn’t comment.

Soon he stopped the car in front of her house.

He helped her out of the car and tried to get her to walk.

The medicine made both her legs almost numb and she was finding it difficult to walk.

After a few frustrated minutes, he simply picked her up in his arms, fully expecting her to fight or argue with him about it.

She just giggled. “Ooh Tarzan is carrying me. And I even caught you almost naked in your red underwear last week, remember?”

She felt the muscles in his arms and abs with her fingers as she made her comments.

“Gym shorts. I was in my gym shorts,” he growled.

She giggled. “God! Why can’t you have a normal conversational tone while speaking to me? You always seem to growl at me. It makes me want to agitate you more.”

She looped an arm around his neck for stability.

Samrat was both annoyed and turned on with her touching him. And holding her in his arms wasn’t helping either.

I’m in hell , he thought viciously, when she fumbled around her messy bag with a single hand, looking for the house keys and taking her own time. The wine odor combined with the scent of roses, emitting from her was pretty strong, but it no way deterred his inconvenient hard-on.

Finally, she found her keys, and soon they were inside the house, where he gently lowered her on the bed.

“What happened?” he asked as she swayed possibly feeling lightheaded.

“I think it must be the low blood sugar.”

He remembered her mentioning to him that she had skipped lunch. “Did you eat anything at the party?”

“No. People have been fighting for my scintillating company most evening. First you, and then our juniors.” She leaned back on the pillows. “I have some cut fruit in my fridge. Can you bring me that along with some water?”

He nodded and left her side.

When he was almost at the bedroom door, “Also bring me the leftover cheesecake from my fridge along with a spoon.”

He turned to look at her, “Anything else, madam?” he asked in amusement.

She grinned. “Yeah, while I’m eating, take off your clothes and dance for me in your underwear.”

Breathing noisily through his mouth, he left the bedroom, shaking his head now in annoyance.