Yash’s poker expression melted away, and even he looked amused. “I recall it too. I was the one to pull you out of the water fountain before you ended up drowning.”
Aryan clenched his teeth, once again cursing his brothers and their damn good memories.
He had tried to ignore the fact that he had known Tanvi briefly during their childhood. He didn’t want that brief meeting to impact the revenge plans. But their first meeting was way too eventful for him to forget or ignore.
He recalled it clearly even though both he and Tanvi had barely been seven years old at that time. Tanvi and her parents were invited to stay for a weekend at the Vardhaman Estate.
He had an immediate crush on her. It was the first time he had liked any girl. And as any seven-year-old boy, he tried to attract the attention of his crush by pulling her long hair followed by a goofy grin.
Although it had only been one long yank, seven-year-old Tanvi had made a big stink of it. She punched him hard in his stomach and pushed him into the water fountain. And then, she immediately ran and complained to his mother about him being a bully.
He had only been seven at that time, but he had been equally pissed, scared and smitten of the girl who had punched him when he tried to get her attention. He reasoned that although the seven-year-old girl looked like an angel, she was actually a she-devil.
“I don’t think you spoke to any girl for a long time after that incident.” Bhargav sounded amused.
Aryan ignored his brothers’ amusement. “Ha ha, laugh it up, big bros. At least I didn’t fall in love with a girl when I was nine years old or accept a girl’s proposal when I was twelve.”
His two brothers had a more complicated history with their pawns. The kind that would make the deception and lies harder to implement.
“You should have listened to me when I said you should have switched your pawns. Yash should have gone after Kashyap and you after Mohan. Then you wouldn’t have had the... distractions.”
His brothers didn’t say anything. But their silent, knowing looks spoke volumes.
He felt both annoyed and also like a hypocrite.
He had been putting off analyzing how things had changed between him and Tanvi. Two weeks had passed since the deal began, and in the meantime, he was slowly beginning to lose his mind and sleep.
He was more than distracted by his pawn. So much so that he couldn’t wait to get back to his apartment each evening to spend every moment with her. Even now, when things in their plan were deviating and close to getting fucked up, all he wanted to do was spend time with his fiery pawn.
Fuck.
“Excuse me,” he said, getting up from the couch. “I’ll speak to you both later.”
Bhargav watched him with a small amused smile. “Good night, little bro. And say hello to your beautiful neighbor.”
Fuck.
***
Aryan frowned as he took the stairs to the apartment. He was deliberately returning to his place later than usual. He had spent the last couple of hours in his penthouse he still maintained in the city. He often caught up with his work during the day at the penthouse.
But after spending a couple of hours in his near-empty penthouse that evening, he had begun to feel restless. He felt a deep craving to look at a beautiful face with flashing fiery eyes ready to argue and banter with him. He also felt the craving to kiss the pouty lips and taste the smooth curves of her body until she lost control.
Fuck.
He was painfully aroused.
He had kissed many women over the years. To him, kissing was the preliminary to having sex. He kissed a woman to make his intentions clear. But until his fiery pawn, he had never kissed a woman knowing he wouldn’t have sex right after.
He kissed Tanvi Shetty simply because he wanted to pleasure the woman who obsessed him in many ways. He wanted to drive her crazy like she drove him with her smiles and fiery nature.
Kissing her and arousing her excited him more than being with other women sexually.
Fuck.
No. I am not obsessed with her. My brothers are wrong. I can resist her easily.
He decided not to kiss her that night. Even though it would lead to more frustration, he was going to use the excuse of work and stay away from her.