Page 45 of The Ex Factor

“I’m very happy to hear that,” Ms. Dina said, patting Aarti’s hand like a grandmother. “He’s a very special boy, and that woman hurt him. Please take very good care of him.”

“She’s just a friend, Ms. Dina,” I quickly interjected to avoid Aarti the embarrassment.

Ms. Dina smiled and looked between us before beckoning me down to her low frame. As I bent to give her a hug, she squeezed my arm and whispered in my ear, “I like her, take good care of her.”

As if pleased by Ms. Dina’s blessing, the sun was peeking out when we stepped outside. Walking away from the breakfast and brunch crowd on that unusually pleasant winter morning, we walked around the corner and waited for my driver to bring the car around.

“What did she say to you?” Aarti asked.

Tempted as I was to brush it off with a joke, the earnest look on her face dissuaded me. “She said she likes you,” I said, and I saw the car pull up. I opened the door for Aarti before going around to the other side and slipping in beside her.

“She doesn’t know you helped with her problems, does she?” Aarti asked as we started toward the Baccarat, where she wanted to pick up a few things.

“No, I told Walt it wasn’t necessary to share that piece of information with her.”

Aarti turned her face to scrutinize mine. “And she still loves you the way she does?”

“Well, the love is mutual. She’s always caring and kind.”

“But it’s selfless. No one has loved me selflessly except my mother.”

“There’s a lot of seemingly selfless love in the world around us. But no love is really selfless because when you give love, you also get it. When you give love, you feel good about it, which makes you happy. If you look at it that way, selfless love is also very selfish. It yearns for happiness, contentment, self-love.”

“And that’s wrong?”

“On the contrary, it is precious. It makes the world a better place.”

“That’s too much philosophy to handle this early in the morning without mimosas,” she said with a straight face, and I laughed.

For the rest of the way to the hotel, she filled the silence between us with a relaxed, happy look on her face.

SUJIT

Adil was the first to arrive that evening. He was surprised to see Aarti when we had a strict no-outsiders rule. Chris and Manoj came soon after. The fifth member of our nerd team was Jaspinder, Jas, but she’d just delivered her second child.

“Aarti will play with us today,” I declared with the authority my host status granted me. “And we’re playing Cards Against Humanity.”

The cards were already out on the gaming table, along with the snacking chips and nuts Aarti and I had picked up on the way. Usually, we ordered pizza, but at Aarti’s suggestion, we got some gourmet sandwiches.

I knew my buddies would give me much misery, but that was a headache for another day. I’d also be sneered for shifting from Catan to Cards Against Humanity, and in that context, Jas’ absence was a silver lining. She was the most ruthless of them all. I also knew these three renegades would call her the moment they stepped out of my house, and I’d soon have Jas mocking me for giving my dick too much say and such. She would ridicule my head and heart like she had done after Tara crushed my soul. Then again, that was grief best left for another day.

Good thing, too, because that evening I got to see a side of Aarti I hadn’t expected. Sitting beside me, she hung up her wine-sipping, urbane self and turned into a beer-swilling, name-calling brat. I was acquainted with her never-defeated, competitive side, but the game night took her competitiveness to another level.

“Now, that’s hardly fair,” Manoj said when she left him with zero cards won after four rounds.

“What’s the matter, Manoj? Are you scared of a little competition from a woman?” she shot back with a smirk.

Unable to resist her charm, Manoj smiled back and shook his head.

“That’s right, you men always underestimatethe pretty ladies, don’t ya?”

“Humility isn’t one of your virtues, I take?” Manoj teased as he tossed a fresh card to everyone.

“And losing with grace isn’t one of yours,” Aarti teased him back, and my heart dipped.

Was I jealous of their innocent banter? If it was jealousy, I’d better tamp it down with haste. She wasn’t my girlfriend, nor anything else that I should feel so possessively about her.

“Damn, woman!” Adil cried when she continued to wipe us clean, round after round. “I’m glad we’re not playing Catan. I don’t think my ego could take being beaten so badly in a game I love so much.”

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