Page 117 of Game on, Love
He shook his head, “I don’t want Rihaan or Vedant to know about this. At least, not yet.”
I stood up, my voice laced with exasperation as I said. “Dev, do you know how relieved I felt after knowing that you knew? Or how, once everything was out, I was finally able to breathe without his baggage over my head? And now, you want me to keep it from the two people I’m currently sharing a house with.”
“Look, I’m not asking you to lie; I’m just saying you need to keep it to yourself. Neither of them will come up to you and ask about any of this. I’m just saying, don’t go up to them and offer it! I just want them to focus on what actually matters,” He replied evenly. “It’s not like you’re on talking terms with either of them anyway, so it shouldn’t be hard.”
He blinked at his own words like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he never even tried to take them back.
“Yeah, it’s not like the entire reason my brothers hate me is because while they had been away for their work and school, our mother chose to only take me with her behind their backs and abandon the rest of her kids, right? And maybe, if they knew the truth, they would finally stop blaming me for something that was never my fault to begin with,” I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded when it felt like my heart was racing at a million miles per hour.
“Rai, they don’t hate you. But they both have worked hard for their dreams. They are both at an important point in their careers. Vedant needs his full focus on his championship, and you already know how hard it hits Rihaan when it comes to this. I want them to actually get their chance to get what they want and not worry about this.” He said in a tone that my questioning his decision baffled him. “How do you think either of them will take to the fact that their Dad had been cheating on Ma practically their whole life and the fact his secret child was the reason she left him and them?”
“W-What?”
“Fuck,” Dev closed his eyes like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “Okay. Look, this is why I—”
I interrupted him. “Youjustsaid that she left him because she was sick and wanted to be with her parents.”
He took a step forward in my direction but stopped when I took one back. He stared at me for another second before he spoke. “She had been sick long before you two moved. Do you remember the summers you went back home?”
I nodded, my heart hanging on to his every word. “She didn’t use to travel before you were born. Dad doesn’t know this, but in her journals, she wrote that she got sick a couple of years after you were born, and her trips were for her yearly checkups. She took you with her because that way, you two could spend some time alone, considering that most of your life it was alwayssomething with one of us, and this way, those three months were just about you. But when she found out about Ishaan, that’s when she couldn’t imagine being with him. His cheating on her she could look over, but him having a whole new family wasn’t something she could take.”
His words struck me like a punch to the chest, and my body reacted before my brain could process all of it. My legs gave out beneath me, but before I could touch the ground, two strong arms wrapped me from behind, holding me up.
“Easy. Easy,” Oliver whispered in my ear as he steadied me. “Give her some space.”
His voice hardened as he spoke to Dev, who was near us. His arms were hung in the air, like he wanted to be the one who caught me but Oliver had been quicker.
Dev took a step back, uncertainty flashing through his face.
But Oliver must’ve seen something more because he turned me in his arms, my front now connected with his front, and he ran his hand down my back in a soothing gesture.
“You know, Dev, in the years that I’ve known you… I always thought about how much you looked like your Dad,” Oliver’s voice was laced with bitterness. “But I never realised how similar you both were.”
The air in my room dropped a temperature at his words.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you’re asking her to do this, you’re just as controlling and manipulative as he is. I’ve seen him pull this same shit with Rihaan over the years, but at least he had you and Vedant to be on his side. But I would’ve never imagined you would be the one who pulled this shit with your own sister.” Oliver’s grip tightened on me as he spoke, and I turned to look at my brother.
“You have no clue what you’re talking about,” Dev said harshly.
“So, I didn’t just hear you tell your sister that her relationship with her brothers wasn’t as important as their careers?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“No? Whatdidyou mean then?”
“She knows how important it is for them. I just meant if we wait a little while, they would be able to digest it in a better head space.”
“What about her head space? You do realise that Vedant will have years to fight for championships, and Rihaan is already set to get selected to make his test debut, but you only have one sister. Asking her to hide something as this important, without even knowing—because I sure as hell didn’t hear you ask her—how she was taking it in? If it doesn’t sound like something your dad would do, well, I don’t know what to tell you.”
“I was just trying to protect them. All of them.” Dev replied evenly, but it was almost like he was trying to convenience himself. “You may not want to believe me, but even Raina. I know Rihaan won’t take it well, and I’m just trying to protect her.”
“But it’s not your job to protect us,” I frowned as I got out of Oliver’s hold. “And neither is your job to cover up forhismistakes. Do you remember the championship night? When Vedant said that, we were all bruised by the same damn thing. It included you, too. You are not our father. You are twenty-six, you have your life you have to figure out but if you get caught up trying to sort out things for the rest of us, it will never happen. And if we want a single chance of mending whatever is left from the pieces they broke, wehaveto be better than them. Your heart may be in the right place, but if you ask me to hide this, you will be making the same mistake. Worse, if you consider the fact that he never actually asked me to hide it.”
Dev’s mouth turned in a line as he narrowed his eyes on the floor, going over my words.
“What’s going on?” We turned to find Rihaan standing in the doorway with a frown.