Chapter 7 Intriguing

• Justin POV
• “I was never really interested in Simran as a girlfriend. I only dated her because of the parties that her father threw, the ones where he invited his business associates. I wanted to get some of them as clients so that I could show my dad that I was a good lawyer. But she never invited me to any of them. Although there were other perks to dating her. I was young and stupid.” He felt himself blush as he confessed to Trisha. He liked holding her hands. There were small and dainty, and made him feel really protective over her. He had felt the electric shock all the way to his toes. He had never experienced that with anyone else and he knew then that no matter what he had to make Trisha his. He had never ever believed in stealing another man's girlfriend before, but he was willing to make an exception for Trisha. She was the one that he had been waiting for all his life, he knew that now. He was itching to give her a hug, but he did not want to cause issues for her with her family. Indian families did not take take it lightly when a male that was not a family member hugged a female. As it was, holding her hands was also not good, but he could not bring himself to let her hands go. He wanted to hold onto it forever and never let go.
• “So, are you and Steve serious?” Justin sent up a silent prayer that she would say no, but before she could answer, Steve came to stand next to her and put his arm around her waist. Justin felt like ripping her from his arms and punching him in the face. He never ever felt jealousy before and this feeling was totally alien to him and he wanted Trisha so badly. But he had to calm himself down as Trisha had a boyfriend and she hated violence and she would not take too kindly to him messing up her boyfriend's face. He needed to find out just how serious they were. As he stood there with his hands clenched, someone grabbed his hand and linked their fingers through his. He turned his head and silently groaned. The one woman that he was trying avoid was now holding onto him for dear life. He forcefully pried his fingers from hers.
• “There you are darling. I have been looking all over for you. Hello, little cousin. I see the dieting has paid off,” Simran tightened her hold on Justin as if she was afraid that he would run off.
• “Simran, can you ever be nice,” Justin chided her.
• “Oh don’t worry about it Justin, my little cousin knows I am joking. And aren’t you going to introduce me to your boyfriend. Hi, I am Simran, Trish’s beautiful cousin,” Simran held out her hand.
• “Steve Hayden, the man that is hopeless and irrevocably in love with Trisha.”
• Those words grated on Justin’s nerves. He wanted to punch Steve’s face, but he knew that was an irrational feeling. Steve was Trisha’s boyfriend, and he had every right to lay claim to her and express his love for her.
• “Maybe we can go on a double date, Trish and her boyfriend and Justin and me,” Simran offered. Justin wanted to tell her to shut up and stop behaving as if they were a couple. For the past six months, Justin had successfully avoided her and the few times that they did meet, he skillfully dodged her and left. This whole week she was trying to get him to be her date for this function even after he said that he was not interested. It seems that she did not know what no meant. Justin forcefully pried her hands off his arm.
• “Simran, please do not give people the wrong idea that we are a couple,” as he said this, he happened to look at Trisha and was sure that he saw relief pass over her face. He could not be sure as it was so fleeting, but he wanted to believe that that was what he saw. That gave him hope that maybe Trisha still had feelings for him. He sincerely prayed that that was true.
• Now that he thinks back, he always had a soft spot for Trisha and he always put it down to the fact that she was the younger sister of his best friend and hence he was always protective over her. He wished he had the guts to have asked Rakesh for her number so that he could have kept in touch with her, or even visited her when Rakesh went to see her. Rakesh always invited him, but he felt guilty about how things were between them the last time they saw each other and he just couldn’t face her.
• “There you are. We have been looking all over for you. Trisha, Welcome back.” Kavita came over to give Trisha a hug. Justin knew that as much as Trisha wanted to push her away, she wouldn’t because Kavita was now dating Rakesh. As much as Trisha disliked Kavita, she wanted her brother to be happy and if Kavita made Rakesh happy, then Trisha would pretend she and Kavita are best friends. That was how Trisha was. She always put her family first. Rakesh was right behind Kavita.
• “Trish, mum and dad are looking for you.” Trisha excused herself and left, but Rakesh asked Steve to stay back. Justin was disappointed, he wanted to spend more time in her company. Kavita and Simran saw someone they knew and left the group.
• “Hey, guys, you know it’s Trish’s twenty first birthday next week. We want to give her a surprise party”, Rakesh announced. Justin perked up at the announcement, that means that she will still be here next week. He still had time to win her heart and he was going to do everything in his power to make her fall in love with him.
• “Steve, you are going to have to keep her busy on that day, so that she doesn’t get to know anything.” Steve nodded, but before he could say anything his phone rang and he excused himself to take the call. Justin was not happy with that, but there was nothing that he could do about it. He wished that Rakesh had volunteered him for that.
• “Hey Rakesh, how serious is this relationship between Trisha and Steve.” Justin couldn’t stop himself from asking. Rakesh gave him a funny look.
• “I am not sure. You know Trisha, she keeps things to herself, but according to Dadi, they spend most of their time together.” Rakesh knew the exact relationship between Trisha and Steve but he was not about to tell Justin. He saw the way Justin had looked at his sister and he was not sure if he approved of that. Everyone knew that Justin was a player and never stayed with one woman long enough to call it a relationship. He did not want his baby sister to get her heart broken. Justin was not too pleased to hear that Trisha and Steve spent most of their time together.