Vyom shook his head in frustration and went to his own room. He didn’t know what bothered him more about what had just happened in the dark: the actual physical act of her kissing someone else, or the terrifying fact that he had deep, violent feelings about it.
Inside her room, Urvin leaned her back heavily against the solid wood of the door. The soft, warm glow of her tiny fairy lights lit up the room in soft pinks and oranges.
She let out a slow, shaky breath. The date had been fine. That was all. Just… fine. Karan was nice enough and polite. They ate dinner and talked about art, campus life, and plans for the weekend. There was a college party coming up; maybe they should go. Blah, blah. He probably wouldn’t have even kissed her at the door if she hadn’t leaned in and started it. The kiss was… acceptable… and completely forgettable.
The only part of the entire night that wasn’t forgettable was the intense, burning look on Vyom’s face after she turned on the living room light. As she unzipped her tight corset dress and let it fall to the floor, she couldn’t unsee his face. He had sounded furiously upset with her, but that raw look in his dark eyes… She recognized it. It was deep hurt.
No, not just hurt. It was something dangerously close to it.
She pulled on her most comfortable, short cotton sleep-shorts and a loose, thin t-shirt, sitting down in front of her dressing mirror. It shouldn’t matter at all what Vyom thought about her being on a date. But it did. Truthfully, she only agreed to go on the date because she desperately wanted to get out of the apartment. Though, she only wanted out because she had found herself dangerously drawn towards Vyom in a way that she not only couldn’t explain, but in a way that she knew she absolutely shouldn’t be feeling.
Urvin, too, had begun to make desperate excuses to herself. She was young and finally out living on her own away from her strict Punjabi parents. She had told herself it was just a fake, innocent attraction. She just wanted a boyfriend after having not been allowed to date back home in Chandigarh. And that chance came at the right time, so she went out with Karan to distract herself.
Still, she shouldn’t care so much about what Vyom thought. He was just… Vyom. Her younger brother. Her friend. Her annoying roommate that she had always deeply cared for, even when she had pretended not to. He was the boy she lived with, cooked with, teased relentlessly, played games with, and looked forward to sharing quiet nights with in their own apartment when they were completely alone, with nobody watching. All she wanted was to feel that crazy, warm fluttering in her chest when she leaned her body against his on the couch, and he let out that happy sigh of his that he probably didn’t realize she could hear.
That’s it. That’s all he was. Nothing more.
Urvin paused as she caught herself in the reflection of the mirror while unpinning her heavy silver earrings. She looked deep into her own hazel eyes and saw the terrifying truth inside. That fluttering thing she felt in her chest wasn’t normal.
