Page 72 of The Rules of Playing with Fire

Her rather hasty marriage had ended in a disaster.

She cringed with a grin. “Ouch, below the belt.”

“Excuse me,” Sona said. “I’ll let you both sort out…whatever this is.” She looked at me as she placed her plate on a nearby table and walked off.

Anju’s expression grew nasty. “Wow, you went all desi this time? Easier to manipulate, I guess. Is that what turns you on these days, Mihir? Fat chicks?” Anju said, shifting the weight of her svelte body to push out a slender hip.

Furious as I was at her words and that she’d managed to drive Sona away, I responded not with a snarl but with an even tone.

“This is why we could never be, Anju,” I said with a vengeful sneer. “You have no clue what turns me on. That woman you called ordinary is the most exciting, stunningly brilliant woman I’ve ever been with. She’s experienced me in ways you never did and never will. It’s pathetic that you’ve held onto the idea of us after a lousy one-night stand.”

She tried to retain her fake smile of bravado but instantly gave up with a growl. “I wasn’t a lousy one-night stand, you bastard. We were together for over a month.”

“Together is taking liberties with the language.”

“You’re ruthless, Mihir. You’re a real fucking bastard.”

“I am, but you knew that before you jumped into bed with me,” I said, then turned my back to her and marched toward Sona.

“Hey…Sona!” I caught up with her just before she stepped into the mandap. “I’m sorry about that.”

She pressed her lips into a forced smile. “No worries. It’s all fine.”

“Can we talk?”

“We really don’t need to. It’s none of my business.”

“Well, you’re in my life now. I want it to be your business.”

Mom turned around in her chair and waved at us. Sona smiled back and started walking away from the mandap.

Sona frowned. “She’s an ex, I’m guessing?”

“Yes.”

“Still hung up on you, it seems.”

“I hooked up with her like I did with other women, but she assumed we would marry. When I ended it, she married with haste to someone in Atlanta. It didn’t work out, and now she’s back here, divorced and out for revenge.”

Sona stopped walking and turned to me. “She’s not looking for revenge! Don’t you see it? She’s in love with you.”

“Yeah, too bad, because I’m not in love with her.”

“That’s coldhearted, Mihir,” Sona said, shaking her head in disapproval.

“I’m sorry, but what do you want me to say? I don’t love her, I don’t empathize with her, and I don’t forgive her for what she said about you.”

“I don’t think she wants your love, Mihir. I think she’s looking for validation that she meant something to you. That she wasn’t just a toy you cast away when you were done playing with her. Isn’t that why she used that precise term? Toy?”

My brows furrowed. I had never thought about it in the way Sona was suggesting. I had known Anju since we were kids. One night after a party years ago, we were in bed, and then we weren’t. For me, it had been pretty straightforward. Maybe it hadn’t been for her, but that still didn’t excuse her reprehensible behavior toward Sona.

“All this is…just too much for me.” Sona heaved a sigh. “This isn’t my lifestyle. These are not my ethics. I’m not interested in catfighting, especially with women who think I’m somehow inferior to them. And even so, I’d never hurt another woman, in any way, over a man. It’s just not worth it.”

A spark of anger ran up my spine straight to my head. “Are you saying I’m not worth fighting for?”

“You’re twisting my words, Mihir.” She began walking away, then stopped and turned to me. “And you didn’t think I was worth defending either. I expected you to be enraged when she said those things about me, but you were just your cool, detached self. You smirked! That’s how much I mean to you.” She shook her head. “But then, I don’t know why I thought I would mean anything at all!”

I held her arm. “That’s what she wanted, to see me angry and bothered. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of having hurt me. If you had stayed, you would’ve heard what I actually said to her. But you chose to walk away, because, apparently, I’m not worth the angst.”

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