Page 127 of Obsession

Anna looked at the scene in front of her, her eyes finally landing on him. Her smile vanished when she understood what was happening. There was only one possible reason for Mihir to be in her house, and she clearly had understood what it was. Not wanting to create a scene, she smiled at everyone. “Hello, family.”

“Hi, everyone,” Aditya greeted.

Mihir bristled in annoyance.

Sheena rose and went to them. “Aditya? When did you come to town?”

Aditya kissed her cheeks. “Hi, Sheena. Mumbai misses you. You haven’t visited in so long.”

Leaving Mihir, Rajiv also went to his friend. “This is a surprise. I thought you were in Singapore. You didn’t text that you were coming.”

Aditya smiled. “I was in Singapore, but then I found out I had a meeting here.” He looked at Anna and smiled. “Ananya and I have been in touch, and I texted her that I was in town. She was free and fetched me from my hotel. We thought it was a good idea to surprise you all.” He looked around the room and grimaced. “Apparently, that backfired. I didn’t know you were busy else…”

“Oh please, you are family,” Anna interjected. “Armaan and Vedant are family too.”

Her refusal to even acknowledge his presence made Mihir’s blood simmer some more.

Aditya met Anna’s parents first. His brothers stood along with their girls and they, too, met Aditya. While the girls met him warmly, his brothers looked distinctly mad. Their hellos were stilted and their handshakes brief. He wondered what that was about.

Finally, Aditya turned to him. “You are also here, I see.”

“Just like you are,” Mihir said, unable to hide the contempt in his voice.

Anna stepped between them and put her hand on Aditya’s arm, leading him away. It took all of Mihir’s restraint not to punch the man’s face.

“Anna…” He took her name as a warning.

Her gaze met his, and she must have seen the fury simmering in his eyes, because her eyes widened a fraction. Yet, she didn’t drop her hand from the other man’s arm. In fact, she held on to his arm tighter and ushered Aditya to her parents. Only when she removed her hand from that man’s arm did his breathing return to normal.

Her parents spoke graciously to Aditya, asking after his mother and his work. It was clear that Aditya’s mother was close to Sara Mehra. God, the man was a piece of work. He knew exactly how to charm the women. He made Sarah Mehra smile widely, and then he flitted from Anna’s parents to her sisters. Anna joined them, and the four of them were happily laughing away. Fucking asshole.

“Breathe, brother.” Vedant’s voice made him unclench his jaw. Mihir hadn’t even realized when Armaan and Vedant had come to stand next to him.

Looking at Aditya, Armaan growled, “I don’t like him.”

“Same,” Vedant said. “Fucking condescending asshole.”

Now Mihir understood their earlier reaction to Aditya.

“I hate the way he thinks it’s okay for him to flirt with Navya,” Armaan said, switching to Russian.

“I hate that Reina had a crush on him once,” Vedant said.

“Navya too,” Armaan added.

“What?Boththe girls had a crush on him.Him?”Mihir queried. “What’s so special about him?”

“Exactly,” Armaan groused. “Apparently, he’s been a part of their group since Sheena married Rajiv. You’re lucky Ananya only thinks of him as a friend. At least you don’t have to deal with someone your woman crushed on.”

Well, there was that at least. A sense of relief washed over Mihir. From up ahead, Rajiv signaled to Armaan and Vedant. They left him to go to the bar, where Rajiv was pouring drinks for everyone.

Rajiv approached Mihir, handing him a glass of vodka.

“Have you spoken to Ananya?” Rajiv asked.

Mihir took a sip from his glass, his eyes on Ananya. “I haven’t got the chance to.”

“Why the fuck have you been sitting on your hands then? It’s been three days since you promised me you’d do everything in your power to win her back.”

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