The next morning Riya was already gone by the time Dhruv woke up. He was eager to spend the night with her hoping she wouldn't sleep soon.
Tanya decided to go back to her house in a couple of days, once her father cooled off. But she wanted to cook a thank you dinner for Dhruv and Riya who let her stay with them and made her realize her mistake.
Riya entered the house in the evening with a big yawn feeling exhausted for the day. She heard Tanya's silky voice from the kitchen. She was singing a love song.
"At least someone is enjoying", Riya muttered to herself and went to change. Dhruv was talking over his phone while she entered. He was in the same casual shirt which she almost ripped off yesterday. Was he trying to haunt her? If so, then he was doing a good job.
She silently changed into her nightwear in the changing room and climbed down, completely ignoring him.
Riya was watching news.
"Dinner is served!", Tanya announced.
She rose her eyebrows uninterested while Dhruv stood behind Tanya with a smile.
"Ah! Can't wait to taste the thank you dinner!", he made fake yummy noises making Riya puke.
She genuinely wanted to kill either of them. She turned to the TV acting aloof and distant.
"You are not coming?", Tanya asked innocently.
"I'm not hungry."
"Hey, don't be like that!", Riya noticed Tanya coming towards her.
She jumped up from the couch before Tanya could touch. "Okay. Okay… I'm coming", she followed her to the kitchen and felt relieved for the near miss incident.
Riya sat facing Dhruv while Tanya distributed the food to them before she dropped some for herself and took the seat near Dhruv.
"Oh! You've made my favorite!", Dhruv smiled happily like a kid.
Riya exhaled slowly with eyes shooting bullets at him.
She hated pasta. It was soft and mushy, like how Dhruv was acting right now.
"So, how was your day?", she asked Riya.
"I don't talk while eating", replied Riya arrogantly and shoved a spoonful of the gooey stuff.
Dhruv cleared his throat, "My day was quite fruitful. You know Warphed is making profits now? The new Winter line which we released recently became a big hit. And we also collaborated with an e-commerce website for an exclusive contract with us. You must be so proud. Your dad is a big help", he smiled proudly.
Riya noted his points. Sometimes enemy's ideas came in handy. Currently, Riya's Choice only had its own app for online purchases. Maybe she should consider signing a contract with other e-commerce platforms.
"Oh! That sounds great, Dhruv… Though frankly, I don't understand what you are saying."
Riya snorted with derision. 'An elementary kid can understand what he just said'.
"It's fine… You don't have to know it… Just know that everything is well… So, how was your day?"
"I watched TV and gave some thought on your advice yesterday. Spoke with my mom. She informed that dad was still mad at me. So, I might have to bother you for a couple of days?", she touched his arm and saw them both guilt ridden.
Riya smoldered intently at Tanya's hand. Couldn't she talk without touching him?
Dhruv didn't consider it a big deal as she had stayed over in his parent's villa many times before, "You can stay here as long as you want… You don't have to feel sorry", Dhruv kindly replied with a polite smile.
Riya wanted to throw the plate at them. She bit her lip ferociously with the intention of drawing some blood.
While refilling his plate, Dhruv dropped some sauce on his shirt.
"Oops!"
"Let me get that….", Tanya immediately pulled out some tissues and started wiping it off his chest.
Riya glared with rage. They were like a couple and she was the third wheel. Why was she even sitting there?
"I'm done!", she announced through gritted teeth breaking them from their lovey-dovey moment.
She opened the freezer to carry some ice cream to her room. At the moment, only ice cream would put out the raging fire inside her.
She recalled buying strawberry but could only find chocolate and butterscotch inside. Did she keep it somewhere else? She opened the door below and found her strawberry family pack.
To her surprise, it was already opened. Jogging her memory hard, she remembered that she saved her strawberry for special depressing occasions like now.
She felt fury building up in her chest and it was only increasing hearing Dhruv and Tanya's stupid laughter.
"Did you eat my ice cream?", she growled in a low rumbling voice.
'If you say yes, you are dead today', she told herself.
"No", he saw Tanya.
"Sorry… That would be me… I saw some strawberry ice cream and couldn't resist", she flashed the same coy smile at Riya.
Riya with her nostrils flaring and hands fisted hissed, "Are you an illiterate?"
"Sorry?"
"No, I thought you had basic education to read and write. Was I wrong?"
"Excuse me?"
She grabbed the box and tilted to show the label. "It says Riya here, doesn't it? R…I…Y….A… That's how it's spelled. It's a language called English", she said sarcastically.
Tanya was confused. She was aware that Riya didn't like her, because of the incident at the dinner party, but it was just an ice cream. Why was she so angry?
"I'm sorry… I'll…..um, replace it…."
"Riya, Enough!", Dhruv spoke. What was wrong with her? It was just a stupid ice cream.
"This is between her.... and me. You stay quiet!", she ordered him.
"How....dare.....you touch....what's...mine? Huh?", she uttered every word heavily while menacingly taking a step towards Tanya.
Tanya kneaded her hands in fear. A chill dark aura engulfed Riya making her scarier than usual.
"Don't you have decency? Don't you know basic manners?", "Answer me! How dare you touch what's mine!!", she shouted sharply at Tanya and threatened to throw the ice cream box at her when Tanya crouched down in the chair protecting her face with her arms.
Dhruv shot up immediately from his chair and put his body in between them.
"Riya! That's enough…. I'll replace it tomorrow.", he felt wary of her demeanor.
Riya tilted her neck to look at Tanya who was safely hiding behind Dhruv.
"The next time you touch what's mine, I'll make you regret it for the rest of your pitiful life", she threw the box across, which hit the wall and fell on the ground in a huge thud. Tanya crouched even more at the loud noise.
Riya swiftly climbed the stairs and changed into her casual wear. It was better for her to stay over at Sam's until Tanya was gone. She couldn't let her touch him and it drove her crazy.
"Riya…. What the hell was that? Where are you going?", Dhruv blocked the pathway to the door.
"Move or you'll get hurt!", she hissed at him, but he still stood there.
"Wait… What happened to you? Tell me at least where you're going…"
She tried to shove him aside, but he didn't budge. She stomach punched him knocking the wind out of his guts, making him cough.
"Oww…. You brute!", he cursed but she was already out of the door.
Dhruv had to sit somewhere for alleviating the pain. What was wrong with her? It took more than 10 minutes for his stomach to stop burning.
He was contemplating whether to chase her down the street, but there was a chance of suffering more injuries for that. He decided calling her was a better idea.
'Pick! Pick! Pick' he chanted but she didn't. He called again.
"I'm going to call you until you get irritated", he decided and called her again and again.
She finally picked.
"Missing your missus already, Dhruv?", a male voice answered shocking his core, "Who are you?", he asked but was replied with a laugh.