Second Chance

Chapter 14 'It was a Mistake'

 'There is a glass of water and an Asprin for your headache. Take it. What you are feeling is called a hangover,' says Dev keeping a straight face. Mahi turns her head to see what Dev just told her. However, she sees another glass. 

'The other glass is lemon juice for your dehydration. From what I heard, you had 3 bottles of wine. All, by yourself. You need that lemon juice. Believe me,' says Dev seeing Mahi's confused looks. 

Mahi couldn't take the pain anymore. So, she does what she is being told. After she gulps down half a glass of sweet and salty lime juice, she looks at Dev with a lot of questions in her head.

'Where are we?' asks Mahi in a low voice.

'You don't remember?' asks Dev in counter. 

Mahi tries to remember but, nothing comes to her except a few flashes of the bathroom. She shakes her head after trying to remember. She asks slowly,' What happened?'

'I was hoping you could tell me that,' replies Dev looking intently at her. He sees Mahi becoming more perplexed at his comment. She struggles to remember. But, nothing comes to her. 

'We are at my hotel. This is my room,' says Dev. 

'How did I end up here?' Mahi asks with hesitation in her voice.

'Shruti and Ekta dropped you here while you were too drunk to remember anything,' replies Dev keeping his expressions blank. 

Mahi remembers coming to his hotel and calling up Shruti. She suddenly remembers the reason she came down here. She looks at Dev and immediately looks away. She doesn't ask anymore, afraid she might not want to listen to it. 

Dev sees Mahi struggling and stealing eyes from him. He says,' Anyways, here is some change of clothes for you from home. Why don't you get fresh? We'll leave in half an hour,' says Dev picking up his phone from his side and looking at his wristwatch. He continues while getting up from the couch,' There is everything in the bathroom you might need.'

Mahi gets down from the bed and sits back when she feels the soreness on her toe. The scene of hitting her toe last night flashes in front of her. She quietly stands up and starts walking towards the bathroom. Dev sees her every movement with the side of his eyes as he pretends to be busy on the phone. He didn't expect Mahi to remember anything. Yet, he hoped she could remember the part right before she passed out. 

Twenty minutes later, Mahi comes out after taking a quick shower. Dev looks at her coming out wearing a pair of denim with a white v necked T-shirt. Her hair half open and half clipped from the side. She wore a slip-on instead of heels. Dev recalls when he called up Salma in the morning to send Mahi's clothes. He specifically asked for a slip-on instead of her favourite converse. He knew her toe must be sore from last night so, shoes won't be comfortable for her. 

He looks at her for a couple seconds more and then says,' Chalein? (Shall we?)'

Mahi picks up her stuff in a bag and nods softly to Dev's question. 

Dev walks to the door as Mahi quietly follows him. Dev turns around right before he was about to open the door. Mahi halts a foot apart seeing Dev looking at her. 

'Are you feeling hungry?' asks Dev without letting out any expressions. 

Mahi is unable to read him, shakes her head, saying,' No.' However, the sound from her stomach betrays her the very next moment. She places her hand on the stomach and hangs her head in embarrassment. Dev also looks down amusingly at the sound and lets out a smirk. 

'Let me ask again. Are you hungry?' says Dev with a controlled smile on his face. 

Mahi frowns as she nods. Dev couldn't help but smile at her surrender. He opens the door and leads the way.