Page 121 of Reckless Dare

It was all a lie.

He pretended to love me as a dare, just so he could break my heart.

Abhiram Simha won the dare. Because right at that moment, her heart shattered into a million pieces.

CHAPTER 38

“Seriously, bro. Can you at least pretend you are not eager to dump us so you can meet Ava?”

The jet had just landed at the Simha University airport. Abhi and his cousins got out of the plane and headed to the area where they had parked their bikes. While the rest of the group was still getting on their bikes, Abhi kickstarted his and was preparing to take off.

He put on his helmet and nodded at his cousins. “See you guys in the morning.”

There was laughter when he took off. Abhi’s mouth twisted. His cousins were right. He was quite eager to see Ava. The two-day separation felt much longer.

He had deliberately told Ava he would be returning the next day to surprise her. He wanted to sneak into her room and wake her up with a kiss.

The smile on his face widened imagining the surprise on her face. He couldn’t wait to talk to her, touch her and be with her.

His heat racing in anticipation, he increased the acceleration of the bike.

It took exactly forty minutes. He had to park the bike near his housing unit before he broke into a run towards Ava’s apartment. He gave a cursory glance around, ensuring no one was around before climbing the tree close to her room. He reached the top and jumped into the balcony.

With excitement, he reached the patio door to open it. His smile disappeared and he frowned.

The door seemed to be locked.

He looked inside the bedroom. The lights were turned off and Ava was lying on top of the bed turned the other way.

He almost reached for his phone to call her, but decided against it. He didn’t want to wake her up from deep sleep. She had early morning classes and he didn’t want to be the cause to distract her.

Although he was slightly disappointed, his heart continued to race in anticipation of meeting her the next day. Their passionate reunion would have to wait another day.

*****

The next day couldn’t arrive fast enough. He had barely slept a wink before waking up to get ready. The first class was pharmaceutical sciences and he planned to catch Ava before the class began.

“Hi, Abhi. I didn’t see you the last two days. Where have you been?”

He briefly glanced at the girl in front of him who was smiling eagerly.

“I went home.”

“Oh! To your parents’ house? I saw the pictures once in the Architectural Digest. It’s beautiful.”

Normally, he wouldn’t mind someone having such conversation. People were often curious and fascinated by his family. But right then, waiting to see Ava was making him impatient.

“Excuse me,” he said and walked away.

Sighing, he sent Ava a message.

Abhi: I’m outside the class waiting for you.

Five minutes later, he received a message.

Harvard: Stop texting me. I don’t want to talk to you.

Abhi frowned looking at the message from Ava. Was she angry that he didn’t wake her up the previous night? His mouth twisted with a smile, looking forward to driving away her anger.