The Wrong Woman

72. Dhruv

She refused to look at me. Or even acknowledge my existence.

We had set up the net, and before I could even get the chance to say anything, Mouna and Veer had become a pair. Great, I thought. Another chance to speak to her, gone.

"Are you going to try and speak to her or not?" Rani hissed under her breath as she pretended to inspect her racket.

"I haven't found the right time, yet, " I responded. Besides, she was acting like I was on the top ten list of someone she had to avoid.

Me being number one.

"Then find the time. You're both acting like Sandra and Anish for no reason."

"I can't force anything onto her, Rani. It doesn't work like that."

"Are we playing?" Veer called, waving his racket in the air in question.

I lifted my arm in the air. "Won't be long!" I dropped my voice and shot Rani a look. "Don't worry about me. I'll find a way to talk to her. Just let it go for now." I shuffled over to the opposite side Mouna was on.

I hit the shuttle gently at first, but she was playing better than me and Rani combined. They high-fived and celebrated with silly grins on their faces when we missed the shuttle for what seemed like the tenth time in a row. Seeing them like that made me crack my neck, my muscles bunching and my grip on the rubber handle of the racket tightening.

No way was I going to let them win.

The second time around, I surged forward to serve back her shot, completely missing and landing on my shoulder. Never mind that ambition, I thought to myself. We were being crushed.

Rani rushed over to me, bending down. "You okay?" she whispered as I let her help me up.

Dusting myself with a grin, I jogged backward to continue the game. "Course I am. I'm a big boy." I caught a glimpse of Mouna frowning before she went back to completely being indifferent again. I was used to that game. I had grown accustomed to seeing that expression on Rani's face all the time.

That wasn't going to deter me.

I hit the shuttle as hard as I could and it went flying at an angle. Mouna ran after it and tried to strike it back, but neither of us expected what was about to happen next.

She had gone way past the line of the net, too close to the edge of the lake and her foot slipped. She capsized backward with a high-pitched scream cut short as the water sprayed high and overtook her body. The three of us rushed to the edge, and there was only bubbling where she was.

Wait. Did she know how to swim? She had done it in Rani's body, but maybe that was muscle memory since Rani knew.

"Why isn't she coming up?" Rani asked, worry dripping from her tone. Veer was frozen. I took my shirt off over my head and chucked it on the floor before jumping in. The lake here was pretty deep and she had drifted ahead than I'd hoped.

Diving further down a little bit, I grasped for her wrist and pulled her up with me. Her wet clothes weighted her down so I had to use all the strength that I could muster with my sore shoulder. When we got to the surface, I had her pressed up against me with one arm around her waist.

Her eyes were shut, but only for a moment. I tapped her cheeks with my free hand. She blinked a couple of times, damp lashes curling up. Once she got her surroundings cleared, she gasped, and tightly coiled her arms around my neck. She coughed a couple of times, but she buried her head into the crook of my neck, her whole body shivering against mine.

"You're okay," I whispered to her, wanting her breathing to be as even as possible. I tried to focus on comforting her, rather than her hot breath against my skin which made me want to pull her to me even closer. Every curve of her body, I could feel against me right then. If I thought about that anymore, I didn't know what I would do.

I cleared my throat and she pulled her head back to look at me, eyes red and puffy. Our gazes locked, and every rational part of me left the building. Her curls were wet, clinging to her cheeks and neck, her lips trembling. I wanted to kiss her. So bad. I reached up and pushed away the strands that stuck to her face, and would have done what my heart was telling me to do, too, if Rani hadn't coughed right then.

Mouna's eyes widened as if she was being startled back into reality, and she shoved at my chest. The deep frown was back on her face and she diverted her eyes to look everywhere but at me. I held on so she wouldn't fall back in again.

"I'll let you go soon," I offered, softly. She stopped struggling as I swam over to the edge, helping her get up, with Rani and Veer grabbing her arms before I got up myself.

Veer offered her his jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders and we let her rest there for a couple of minutes. We all stayed like that until the sky began to cloud over, dark grey replacing the blue.

Rani put a hand on my arm, and I nodded. She said something to Veer and they packed up everything before leaving. A couple of minutes after that, Mouna tried to stand up. "Be careful," I whispered as I waited for her to stop swaying a little.

"I was so scared," she finally said, speaking to me willingly for the first time. My ears perked up, but my chest squeezed at her words. She turned to me with a curt smile. "Thank you. You're very kind."

She spoke to me like I was a stranger. I couldn't find it within me to smile back. Instead, I let something slip.

"Do you think Rani was wrong in encouraging me?"