Page 28 of No Other Love

‘Yes.’ I bent down and kissed his ear before biting the lobe. ‘Please, fuck me.’

Then, I will tell you I need you more than I need to do my damn MD this year.

His fingers contracted against my butt for a long, pleasurable moment. Then he firmly took my waist and set me down next to him.

‘We have to talk,’ Vikrant began brusquely.

‘Sure.’ I was so ready for us to talk. ‘After.’ I tried to reach for him eagerly.

He flinched. Vikrant never flinched from my touch. Not even when we were first getting to know each other.

I stilled. A boom echoed in my thudding heart.

‘Vikrant,’ I began hesitantly. ‘You—'

Fifteen

Anika

‘I haven’t seen you in a week, do you know that?’ he began quietly, avoiding my gaze.

My heart sank. I could hear the accusation even if he’d not said anything damaging yet. ‘I know…’

‘You’ve become a machine, Anika,’ Vikrant cut me off, in the same brusque tone. ‘All you want to do is study for your precious exam and the hospital. Then, you want to fuck me when you surface.’

I recoiled at the bitterness in him. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said stiltedly. Not knowing what else to say.

He shot me a despairing look. His heart was broken. Written all over his face. I had a sudden realization. This was not the first time he was feeling like this. This lonely. Thisalone.

My own heart started gasping as if I was experiencing a myocardial infarction. A. heart attack. Stuttering and slipping.

‘You’re not. You just want to fuck me right now,’ he said bluntly. ‘You go to sleep. Wake up and go to the hospital and do this all over again. You don’t want to deal with anything.’

‘What’s there to deal with?’ I asked, bewildered.

‘Do you even know what’s going on with me? My family? My father’s pension from the school has been withdrawn by the government, because of fund shortage and they don’t know what to do now. They have no money.’

Vikrant’s father was the sole earner in their family of three. His mother had always been a homemaker.

I bit my lip. ‘I’m…sorry,’ I offered inadequately. ‘That’s terrible news. I’m so sorry, Vikrant.’ I touched his rigid arm and it went even harder at my touch. As if he was rejecting it.

Rejecting me.

This had never happened before too! Vikrant would never reject me.

‘You’re not,’ he said harshly. ‘You don’t fucking care,’ he repeated as if he wasn’t my husband at all. The planes of his shoulders tightened in the tee shirt I’d washed for him just a few days ago. His height made it seem like he was so far away from me.

‘You don’t care about me or us or anything that isn’t part of your precious goals.’

Something snapped in me then. Something fragile and hopeful. I remembered what my father had told me, years ago when I’d first told him I was in love with Vikrant, when I was a second-year medical student.

This boy will never understand your goals. Your need to fulfil them. He’s too ordinary for you, Anika.

‘And all you care about is your fucking family and yourself, don’t you?’ I snapped back. The echo of my father’s words swirled in my head. ‘Just because you don’t want to get your MD tag you punish me for wanting mine.’

He straightened, gave me a cool look. ‘What. Did. You. Just. Say?’ He spaced each word out.

I blinked back useless, weak tears, they stung my nose. My throat worked rapidly to not weep in front of this cold, unfeeling,judgmentalman. The son of his small town, conservative parents.