Husband For Hire

13. The Water's Very Blue and The Day's Very Sunny

13. The Water's Very Blue and The Day's Very Sunny
I lost my father the day you lost your son.
* * *

"Someone's calling you. What should I do?"

"Well, you could answer it, you could let me answer it, do nothing about it, or better yet, hang up," I suggested to the maid holding my iPhone. Proceeding with my dinner, I was disappointed to find the maid standing there in bewilderment. Across my seat, Granny sighed and gestured me to answer it.

Groaning, I snatched the phone and without checking the caller ID, I responded.

"Hello?"

"Ano?"

Ashar. "What do you want?" I asked tiredly.

"When are you coming home?"

"I am home," I replied. "Armaan's much better than--"

"Who the hell is Armaan?" Ashar cut me off.

Why so cranky?

"Hey, watch your tone. Be more respectful to my house," I reprimanded. "For your information, I intend on staying here from now on, no matter what Mom says."

Yup, that was it.

Screw Ashar's family.

I was staying at the house I was brought up in.

There was a small pause before he spoke again, "I don't even care at this point." He dismissed my last sentence, as if it made no difference to him. "As long as it doesn't bring Sunny here again, fine by me."

Out of all the people in the entire human population . . .

"Sunny came to Ashiyana?" I asked.

"No, his ghost did," Ashar replied sarcastically.

"You guys didn't get into another fight, did you?" I slowly inquired. That could only explain Ashar's grumpy mood.

"He came to apologize."

"No way."

"Yes way," he responded back. "He apologized for getting into a fight with me and then, waited an hour for you to come back, but when you didn't, he left. That's why I called: to check whether or not you were still alive there somewhere."

That was very strange. Prior to yesterday's party, I had only seen Sunny once in the entire year. And that was at Papa's funeral. Because of busy schedules, I either saw the model on magazine covers or at important social events. What's really surprising was that fact that he came to see me. If it wasn't for Jhaanvi, that guy didn't even pay attention to me.

"Whatever, I don't--Hold on, you only called me because of Sunny?"

"Why else would I bother?" he asked. Sunny seriously must've pissed him off bad because never had I heard Ashar speak so sharply and crudely.

"You don't care if I don't come back to Ashiyana and stay here with my grandmother?" I asked, almost frowning.

"It's peaceful here without your presence," he said. "Plus, it'll keep Sunny away."