28. It'll be okay

“You are lying”, I accused and shook my head, my breath leaving my body.

I couldn’t believe this, he was lying. Definitely lying. Dev couldn’t do this to me. He wouldn’t do this to me. I knew it in my heart.

“Yes, because in your head I’m a sick sadistic bastard, aren’t I? But unfortunately for you babe, I’m not. I’m not lying. The non-profit organization that me and your father have been working on for years will launch in a couple of months and it directly impacts the sales of “The Health Alliance group of organizations” that held patented rights on insulin for many years globally.

Even today, the improved version of the insulin is patented and the other variations, when they inevitably arrive, will still be expensive. We, however, thanks to my late dad and his team of researchers have found a way to make insulin in a much cheaper and sustainable way.

We have the license and the patent ready, and we are going to launch this in a few months time. This will make insulin accessible to a lot more people easily and affordably.”

“That’s some great work but how does any of this relate to Dev?”, I asked.

“Because Dev’s dad owns majority share of The Health Alliance Group Of Organizations. And didn’t you meet Dev, roughly two and a half years ago? My dad and yours had been working on this drug for years in secret and the whispers of this research only started two and a half years ago.”

“It could just be coincidence”, I tried.

“Maybe. But the timing is very suspicious. And do you by any chance know why he resides in Hubli? He runs an online business that he can run from pretty much anywhere in the world. Hubli is not a preferrable or even desired location by many, then why there? Coincidently, he also meets you the very first week he moves into town. We suspect he’s using you and so the moment we confirmed the identity of the person who was snooping around in our business, the decision to marry you was made.

Why me? Because I was the only safe bet. We don’t know what his plan is yet, but we suspect it’s going to involve you and so safety precautions were also arranged immediately”, he explained.

It made sense. Everything did.

Why Dev seemed to know me even before we met, why Dev never answered why he was in Hubli, why he kept asking questions about my dad’s firm and what it does. I always assumed he was just very interested in me, but guess, I was wrong.

Even though everything about Dev felt right. He always felt right.

Even now, I couldn’t believe Aarav, I didn’t want to, but why would he lie?

Suddenly all strength left my body and I sagged against the wall.

“Please tell me you are lying”, I pleaded.

“Not Dev, anybody but Dev, please”, I begged, and my eyes started watering.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer, holding me safe as I sobbed in his chest.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could tell I was lying”, he whispered softly and gently caressed my tresses.

Aarav was being so gentle, it hurt a lot more. He was behaving like Dev, my gentle Dev. The way he was holding me – gentle, tight and protective, the way he whispered soothing nothings in my ears and the way he was caressing me. Everything reminded me of Dev.

I wrapped my arms around his torso as I let him completely cage me in his arms. My head on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat, a steady and strong beat ringing in my ear. I could smell his delectable scent of soap and spice.

I was on the verge of hyperventilating, so I pulled all my focus on him.

I focused on his breathing to steady mine. I focused on his smell so I could forget Devs. I focused on his heartbeat so I could forget the pieces scattered in my chest. He was anchor that I was desperately holding onto.

Minutes passed and we stayed like that. Holding onto each other. He didn’t say anything, except for an occasional, “you’ll be alright”.

As my sobs came to rest, I moved away from him. I was crushed. This was worse than when I found out I was going to get married. This was worse than when I thought I was sold. This was worse than the time I imagined I was getting assaulted.

I didn’t know what to do.

I felt hopeless, like all the light in this world had suddenly vanished.

The one I love so dearly, the one I had given my heart to, the one I thought was my soulmate was merely using me for business games. It was all a lie. I felt foolish, incredibly foolish.

How could I have missed the signs?

And when his face flashed across my eyes, his eyes staring adoringly into my eyes – staring at me like I was his whole world - I still couldn’t believe it was all a lie.

I looked up and met Aarav’s eyes, eyes filled with pity. Pity – the one expression I hated the most. But perhaps, after the fool I’ve made of myself, that was what anyone would feel.

“It’s okay”, he said, for the umpteenth time, but I didn’t believe him.

How would he to know if it would be okay or not? He didn’t.

“You don’t know that”, I sniffed.

“I don’t, but I can hope so”

“Why are you being so kind to me?”

“Because I know what it feels like”, he replied and lifted me and walked out of the office saying, “let’s get you some rest”