Page 13 of Since You Stole My Heart

When they turned into her society, the silence began to gnaw at her. She didn’t want to leave things on a sour note, so she searched for something to say.

‘Thank you for picking me up today.’

Luv shook his head with a soft smile. ‘I’m happy to do this, you know. I really don’t mind, even when I don’t fully get what’s going on.’

Kashvi opened her mouth to respond, but he cut in before she could.

‘I know you told me your car is in the garage when I dropped you off earlier. It’s the rest I don’t understand. Like why you’ve been MIA these past few weeks, or why no one knows where you’ve been, or why you’d rather text me at the last minute than call your sister or your roommate to drive you.’

Kashvi found the questions unsettling and began to fidget with the chain around her neck. ‘Because with Di… there’s love, but it also comes with a lot of questions, and I don’t always have the right answers.’

‘Siya means well,’ Luv said gently.

‘She always has, no doubt, but she doesn’t know how to give people space. Usually, she’d argue with me over the smallest things, but if I so much as cough, she’ll have a doctor on speed dial. I needed someone who’d give me space without commentary.’

His lips quirked upwards. ‘And you thought I’d be the one person who wouldn’t comment?’

‘You’re usually too busy making dumb jokes,’ she teased.

He didn’t speak again until they pulled up near the entrance. He cut off the engine and turned to face her. ‘I understand the need for space. Just don’t become a stranger.’

She reached for her purse and unclipped her seatbelt. ‘Yeah. Thanks for today.’

‘Sure,’ he mumbled, tapping out a text on his phone.

‘And Luv, don’t tell anyone you saw me today. No one at all,’ she said, turning towards the door.

She turned back when he called her name. Luv rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. ‘I… I just want you to know that I’m sorry.’

Kashvi waited for him to go on, but when he didn’t, she asked, ‘For what?’

He hesitated, then shook his head. ‘Doesn’t matter. I know you can handle it.’

Something about the way he said it caught her off guard. She tilted her head, confused. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

He gave a short, amused laugh. ‘Nothing. Don’t overthink it.’

Kashvi narrowed her eyes. ‘You’re weird.’

‘Always have been. You’re just noticing?’ Luv huffed.

She chuckled, then stepped out of the car. She waved him goodbye and made her way towards the staircase.

Weariness dragged her down as she climbed up the first flight of stairs. No amount of rest would ease the weight lodged in her bones, but she was desperate for a bed and a pillow.

With a soft exhale, she reached the top of the stairs. Suppressing her yawn, she clutched her keys and slid one into the lock.

The key turned too easily, a detail that barely registered until Kashvi pushed open the door and sensed the shift in the air.

Even though she saw him, her mind refused to process the shape of the man leaning against her bookshelf.

Swayam.

Chapter 3

‘Kashvi, what a surprise running into you here,’ Swayam greeted, a cold smile playing at his lips.

For a heartbeat, she wondered whether she was hallucinating him, but one look into his burning brown eyes erased that possibility.