I woke up with my head throbbing and pounding on the side of my head. What happened to me last night? I couldn't remember much. Just that there were people I was climbing over and drinking other people's beer mugs.

There was nothing else that clicked in my head. Had I done something? Clearly not 'cos I was safe and sound. Wait a second. I pushed the blankets off my body and I paused. How did I even get here? And what was that smell? I sniffed myself. I reeked of vomit. Oh God, I needed to take a nice, hot shower to get rid of this disgusting smell.

I was a mess like this in front of Romir and his friends? Okay, so I shouldn't care but still. I hated that I was a complete, out-of-control mess who didn't know how to control emotions.

Turning my head, as always, the pillows that I'd placed between us as a barrier were intact and Romir's side of the bed was made and clean. No sign of life, at all.

It wasn't until after I showered and changed into loose cotton pyjamas that I felt like myself again. Opening and closing my eyes didn't ache.

Rubbing my head didn't seem to ease the ache though and I shuffled out of the room. Jose uncle was watching TV and turned his head when he heard me.

"Good afternoon." Afternoon? "I saved a sandwich for you."

Bless his soul. I knew Romir had meant that for Jose uncle, but my stomach grumbled so loudly that I didn't even care to protest.

"Did you eat?" I said through a mouthful of tomato and shredded curried chicken. Wow, Romir made this? It tasted bloody amazing. I took another bite.

"I did. He made me two. I was full with one, anyway." I knew he meant to save me one. I smiled internally.

"Thanks." I wiped at my mouth to get rid of any crumbs. "Do you have any painkillers, by the way? My head is killing me."

"In the middle drawer over by the front." He pointed to the hall so I went down there. He was talking about the wooden antique drawer pushed up against the wall nearby the front door. I took two medicines and washed them down with water, waiting for the effect to kick in and to feel better again.

"I feel like I got run over by a truck," my voice came out all deep and croaky.

"Go take a nap, sweetie."

"Ugh, I don't want to take a nap again." Not only did I not want to sleep in that gross bedsheet — which I needed to change because of probable vomit stains — but I also didn't want to take a nap and wake up groggy again. I already did that once and I wasn't about to do it again.

"Want to watch a movie with me, then?"

I shrugged. "Sounds good. Let me go to the bathroom first." I grabbed my phone and headed to the toilet. I checked my phone first on instinct only to see that I had a message from Varun.

Wait, why was he messaging me? My eyebrows lifted, easing the creasing on my forehead when I realised that I had messaged him first. Oh my god. I slapped my forehead, the sharp sting a welcome punishment for my actions.

Varun: Call me. We need to talk.

The only reason he wanted to talk to me when he didn't before was so that he could feel better about himself. Be the 'better' person and forget the guilt that would come with cheating on someone because at least he could tell a bunch of people that he 'tried' to mend things with me.

Piece of dog shit. I wanted to cry like the pathetic piece of shit I was. I ripped a toilet paper square and placed it on the tap next to the sink and did my business. After, I came out feeling like a zombie. The headache had subsided but the pain in my chest that I wanted to numb, came back in full force and I swear it was like someone clawing my heart open.

After changing the bedsheets just to give myself something to focus on, I sat next to Jose uncle and watched a movie, nothing but quiet between us until the movie ended and the credits rolled. There was only one thing on my mind though, now that I was sitting near my uncle.

"I'm sorry you had to see me in the state I was in," I said.

He chuckled, turning the TV off. "It's fine, sweetie. I've seen Romir in states worse than that. I am very used to it."

"What do you mean?"

He hesitated, fumbling with his fingers in his lap. "That's not something I can share," he began, "but let's just say that he isn't a very easy person to get along with."

Because of his ex-girlfriend? I couldn't voice it because Jose uncle didn't know that I already knew. Instead of prying into Romir's matters, I let curiosity take over about Jose uncle himself. "Can I ask a personal question?"

"You want to know about how I got into the wheelchair."

"Wh—" How did he know that?

He took one look at me and smiled. "You are very easy to read. You haven't stopped staring since the day we first met you."

Yikes. "Sorry about that."

"It happens. I would do the same." He paused, eyes darting left and right on the floor. As if he was thinking of what to say. "I got into an accident. I came out unscathed, really." He hesitated, voice lowering to a tearful whisper. "My niece passed away in the accident. Being in this wheelchair reminds me every day that I, unfortunately, was lucky."

That was why Romir's sister never showed up to the meeting. When they mentioned his mum and sister but only the mum dying, I figured something had happened to his sister but I had thought she'd moved somewhere else and was living her own life.

She was dead?

I thought back to the photo I'd seen. They did have similar features; they had the same sharp, glaring eyes and beautiful on-fleek eyebrows, and dusky skin. Was that...his sister and not his ex, then?

My chest tightened and I felt a bit of pity for Romir. He'd been through so much. But at the same time, he was still a stranger and all he'd done was treat me like shit. To be fair I was doing the same so I couldn't fully blame him.

"What about you?" I asked. "Aren't you married?"

"My wife," he began, "left me to go back to Andhra after that. She couldn't process everything that had happened. She said she needed space so I'm waiting on her to come back."

"I'm sorry." I choked on my own tears. "I can't imagine losing a loved one." I thought about my own sister who was still alive. If the roles of Romir and I were reversed...I wanted to call my sister and tell her that I forgave her and to start all over again. 

But it was one thing thinking about it and another to actually do it. Thinking about what she did just coiled my stomach in further and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"My sister and I don't get along," I confessed out of the blue. Since we were sharing our deep, dark secrets, why not?

"Why?"

"She'd always hated me. I—sometimes I even wonder if anything she showed to me was the real her." I licked my lips. "Whenever she visited us from India after she moved, she refused to speak to me." I didn't want to tell him everything, though. "She's just a very selfish person."

Jose uncle squeezed my shoulder. "I'm sorry your sister isn't such a good person."

"All she cares about is money more than the feelings of everyone else around her. Now all of a sudden she shows up and wants to be all buddy-buddy. I hate people like her."

"Like what?'

"Gold-diggers." I never thought Anjali to be a cunning, evil person. It was one thing to lie because she was afraid of what we would say but it was another to continue that lie and leave even her boyfriend for money.

"But," Jose uncle said, "people do make mistakes. I am not excusing her actions, but the reason she must be talking to you is because she feels guilty, yes?"

"After all these years she feels guilty now?"

"Regardless of how long it took, she feels guilty. The sorts of people you should forgive are the ones that are reaching out to you."

I thought about this. She was trying. I shuddered. Even entertaining forgiveness on her part without any consequences made me want to shake. I didn't want to talk about her anymore. I didn't want someone like her in my already messed up life.

***

I made tea, feeling much better than I had earlier in the morning.

"And that's the end of this week's presentation," I heard my lecturer say through the live stream as I hurried back over, "but I hope you guys read chapters 11 and 12 for next week's topic on brand management. Have a good night." I pressed the 'end meeting' button and slapped the lid of the laptop down.

It was always nice knowing that there were no more classes left for the day. I cracked my neck from side to side and sipped my green tea. The liquid burnt my tongue but the heat of it trickled down my throat and into my chest, warming it up.

I put my hand on the coffee table expecting to find my phone right next to my laptop. I sat up, alert. Where did my phone go? I put my cup down and looked around. I had it with me before.

Before. Did I have it when I was watching the movie with Jose uncle? He was taking a nap now so it wasn't like I could ask him if he'd seen it. Oh crap. Was it still in the bathroom? I stifled a groan and pushed myself up from the floor.

Geez, just when I thought I could do some relaxing. As I made my way over to the bathroom, the door opened and a rush of steam aired out, wrapping me in a humid mist. Before I could stop myself, I bumped into someone.

That someone being Romir.

We looked at each other. He was completely wet and topless; the bottom half of his lean body was covered in a towel and he had already strapped on his prosthetic. 

I tried to keep the surprise off my face. The surprise that he was much fitter than I'd realised and gave him credit for. He wasn't rock hard or wrestler-built or anything like that, but his upper body— covered in droplets of water running down his dewey, fragrant skin — was pretty solid.

I lifted my eyes to his and saw him narrow those beautiful eyes that I envied. I hoped I wasn't blushing at being caught. Turning my eyes down to look at my shirt, my senses came back down to reality. There was a wet puddle stain right in the middle. 

"You got me wet!" Then I blushed again. I hadn't meant it like that! 

"Sorry," said Romir in the most robotic voice I'd ever heard. Luckily, he didn't care about the unintentional innuendo. 

Deep breaths, Arshia. Deep. Breaths. Then I thought about the bar and how I got here. It must have been him, obviously, there was no one else. That helped the rage subside and momentarily faded over the fact that my shirt was now wet and clinging to me.

"About last night," I said, stopping him from walking past me. "Thank you for helping me out. That was sweet."

His head tilted to the side as he gently dried the back of his head with a white towel. He studied me. I shuffled in the same spot. God, his gaze could be so unnerving. "I wanted to save myself from the embarrassment."

My mouth fell open before I could even comprehend what he'd said. He wanted to save himself from the embarrassment?! Because I was an embarrassment in front of his colleagues? I bristled in place as I watched him walk off, flinging the smaller towel over one shoulder and holding the other, the one keeping him from being nude, in place.

I was a fool for even thinking of thanking him. Now he probably thought I—I was in love with him or something. I growled under my breath and grabbed my phone from the bathroom which was sitting next to the tap on the toilet paper like I'd left it. Of course it was there.

Then I went to our room so I could change but then realised he was there, too. Romir spared me a side-glance that read 'why are you everywhere'  before grabbing a shirt and heading toward Jose uncle's door.

I picked out a tight, long-sleeved blue top with a ruched chest. It was casual and lounge-worthy but also nice to wear. I didn't completely look like a hobo in it. I flung open the door and chucked the other top in the laundry basket before heading down the hall when I heard Romir and Jose uncle talking.

"—she's a great girl, in my opinion. I am telling you, you should get to know her. Give her a chance."

"I'm not interested."

"You need to be amiable—"

"The only thing I need is peace." His footsteps drew near so I quickly tip-toed out of there and to the coffee table. I picked up my mug, but the tea had gone cold.

"Crap," I mumbled. I turned the TV on and headed toward the kitchen to heat the mug for at least twenty seconds.

I opened the fridge and took out the prepackaged salad bowl I bought from the grocery store and brought it over to the floor I was sitting on; I much preferred eating there and watching something rather than forcing conversation at the dining table.

I was halfway through my dinner and I hadn't realised Romir and Jose uncle had come out and was seated behind the dining table until Romir spoke.

"We eat dinner at the dining table," said the monotone voice.

"And I eat dinner watching TV so we both win," I shot back. He didn't say anything but I could feel his sinister gaze cutting through the back of my head. I ignored it and continued eating, alternating between doing that and drinking my tea when the doorbell rang.

Silence. Then there was a whole commotion that came from the front door. Putting my salad bowl on the table, I tried craning my neck to see what was going on but obviously, I couldn't see anything because of the kitchen island and an archway in the way.

I looked at Jose uncle who shrugged. "He didn't tell me anyone was coming," he said. Getting up, I inched closer to where Jose uncle was so I could get a sense of what was going on.

Then as the voices became louder, the footsteps drew nearer and we all froze. Two people, one of which included Pravin, were here.

Uninvited, apparently.