Page 58 of Forged By Fate

I nearly spat my champagne out at her words. Who could possibly hate a four-year-old?

“Why did she hate you?” I repeated.

Sunaina shrugged again, munching on her chocolate viciously before she spoke.

“Maybe because I’m unloveable. My Baba was forced to love me because I was his child. But nobody has loved me after him. Do you know what it’s like to go through life constantly feeling unworthy of love, Viren?”

“Your stepmother is an absolute delight,” I said sarcastically. “But just because she didn’t love you doesn’t mean you don’t have love in your life, Sunaina.”

She looked up sharply at my words.

“What do you mean?” she asked, going pale.

“Well…Daima, Sufi and Aisha absolutely adore you. They wouldn’t if you had been unworthy of love. In such a short time, you’ve become the centre of their universe.”

And mine, but I wasn’t going to tell her that because it was stupid. This whole conversation was stupid! Why were we sitting around a hot tub talking about love like schoolgirls? Next, she’d want to make those awful friendship bracelets I kept finding all over the house.

“You don’t look happy to hear that. Why?” I barked because she looked absolutely miserable. As if I’d killed her puppy.

“Because when you list all the people who supposedly love me, there’s no mention of your name,” she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. “If I’m so worthy of love, how come my own husband doesn’t love me?”

Damn it! This is exactly why I didn’t like to sit around and talk about my feelings. Because they weren’t conversations. They were traps!

And they made you look at parts of you that you had hidden away for so long you didn’t even recognise them anymore.

I took her hand and pulled her into my lap, and this time she came willingly. I wasn’t trying to cloud the issue with sex, but I needed to hold her while we had this conversation.

“That’s because your husband is incapable of love,” I confessed into her hair. “He’s a fucking coward whose heart turned to stone a long time ago. You can’t squeeze love out of a stone, Sunaina. So don’t waste your time trying.”

She raised her head and looked into my eyes. Her own were wintry as hell, making me feel as if she could see all the way through to my soul and found it sadly lacking.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t have created a family to replace the one you lost, Viren. If you were as stonehearted as you claim, you wouldn’t have taken Aisha in the way you did.”

“Aisha is my niece. She’s family. And you don’t choose to love your family. You simply do,” I replied, shifting in the tub restlessly.

“And Daya Bua?”

“She practically raised me, Sunaiana. She was more of a mother to me than my real mother, who preferred attending high society brunches and parties to spending time with her baby. How can I not love Daima? She’s the only mother I’ve ever known.”

“And Sufi?”

“I don’t love Sufi! He’s my assistant, that’s all,” I said defensively.

Sunaina raised her head to glare at me.

“Bullshit! He’s told me all about how you mentored him when he was living at the LGBTQ+ shelter, and how yousponsored his education and gave him a job. Trust me, Viren. Sufi is as much part of your little family as Daya Bua and Aisha.”

Fuck me, but she was right! I did love the little troublemaker like a brother. Great! Now I had another person to worry about!

“And the only one left out is me,” she said bitterly. “All over again.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard.

“Are you blind? Our whole world revolves around you. What more do you need, Sunaina? I can’t sleep at night because you’re the star of all my nightmares!”

“Excuseme?” she snapped.

“You and Aisha. That’s all I dream about… You and Aisha…trapped in a burning car…struggling to get out. I’m running to save you, but I’m too late. Every damn time. And every night, I have to watch the two of you die right in front of me. So, please tell me why I should make the mistake of loving you if I’m going to lose you the way I lost my parents and Deven,” I snarled.

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