by Varsha Dixit
“Don't worry, Danika. You have fun! We will be fine, won't we?” Chloe tickled the tots who shrieked in delight.
Just then the doorbell rang. Danika felt new butterflies awaken in her stomach. She was nervous even though she knew this was not really a date. It had been a long time since she had been alone with a man even across a table. Danika walked toward the front door and bumped into someone at the end of the stairs. Simi’s younger sister, Anya.
“Is it for you or me?” Anya asked, looking stunning in a gray sheath dress, and glittering heels. Her long highlighted hair was styled in soft curls around her petite face and her make up was perfect- drawing attention to her eyes and wide mouth.
Self consciously, Danika tugged down her simple jacket. “It could be for either. Do you want to get the door?”
“No Dani!” Anya grin was impish. “I can't get the door. What if it is for me? One has to make an impression. My first impression should not be that I open the door. I should actually make the entrance at the end. You can open the door.”
“I was going to!” Danika nodded. “You look stunning!”
“Always!” Anya raised a brow for effect. Danika smiled and gave her a ‘thumbs up’.
“Someone is super eager. It definitely must be for Anya!” Danika trotted to the door as she heard another peal of the bell.
Chapter 15
“I’m not ringing the bell thrice. I'll just go home!” Noah turned around and then paused. He heard the approaching steps from behind the door. A feminine silhouette appeared behind the stained glass door.
Noah schooled his expression into a friendly one. He gave his hair a final brush and waited a polite smile on his face.
**--**
Danika spotted a male shadow through the stained glass door. She straightened her hair and smoothed the front of her blouse and then reached to unlatch the hook. Faking a friendly smile, she swung the door open. “H-“
Danika froze! All breath seemed to exit her lungs when she saw who was standing at her brother's doorstep.
**--**
Noah's smile cooled quicker than the temperature in a freezer when he saw the woman at the door.
“What the hell?” Danika hissed. It was the man she hated the most in the universe. The one who had caused the horrible accident that had cost her the precious car, sent her to the hospital and nearly to jail. Her eyes narrowed and red blotches appeared on her face. “How dare you? You are stalking me?”
Noah's expression travelled from shock, to astonishment to anger in seconds. His finger gripped the wine bottle like it was a stress ball. “I'm stalking you? Still missing the brakes?” His tone was dismissive.
“Don’t you dare patronize me!” Danika waved a finger in his face. “How did you find me? How did you get this address?” She pushed her hands in her jacket pockets. The man's presence brought back all the unsettling memories of that day. Her being fired, Piyush's text, the accident, the racist pedestrians, the cops, the guns, the handcuff and most of all the feeling of being stripped of all dignity. “I'm calling the cops on you right now!”
Noah could not control his irritation. “You are a delusional fool! Straitjacket is what you need!” He had gone easy on Danika with the insurance company as well as the cops and had taken blame for the accident yet she had the gall to scream at him instead of expressing gratitude. Danika opened her mouth but Noah did not give her chance to talk. “Don't bother saying another word. I'm leaving. I couldn't sit across from you if someone paid me a million bucks.” A frown marred Noah's usually smooth forehead.
“Sit across from me? Hold on!” Danika ran muddled eyes over Noah's, jeans, T-shirt and leather jacket. He is the accountant? Param's cousin! Her eyes fell on the wine bottle in his hand, the label obscured by his fingers. He probably picked that from the dollar store! He's my date. Danika felt a hysterical laugh tickle the back of her throat.
“Are you bloody going to faint again? Because seriously, I'm done catching you!” Noah turned around and walked down the paved front steps, his gait quick and fierce.
“Yeah, keep walking. Straight to hell!” Danika slammed the door and stepped back in the house. He caught me when I fainted? Her insides churned. Her chest was heaving. Danika usually never experienced rage but right now she felt hot enough to launch herself in space.
“Wow, you look mad. Who was that?” Anya asked, going back to studying her reflection in the mirror above the foyer table.
“My date!” Danika snapped.
“So why are you still here?” Anya fluffed her hair.
Danika tried to think of some excuse.
“Have you seen my date, the doctor from next door? Is he hot?”
“Sorry! I haven't met him.” Danika sounded as unsettled as she felt. Param is going to be mad at me. Shit! Just hope he doesn't have his dad fire me. Danika chewed the side of her lower lip. How come Param’s cousin look Italian?
“You both are still here. I thought at least one would have left!” Hans joked, coming down the stairs followed by Simi. They both were dressed nice and ready to go out.
“It was Dani's date! Don’t know why she’s still here?” Anya remarked, checking something on her phone.
“He forgot something! He'll be back in a few.” Danika fibbed. Hopefully they will leave soon and I can simply go home after that.
The doorbell rang again. “That must be the doctor from next door!” Danika rushed back to the door. Anxiety hadn't left her completely. The bizarre encounter of five minutes back had thrown her mojo off.
Danika heard her sister-in-law remind Anya. “Remember Dr. Collins doesn’t think of this as a date or anything like that. He thinks he is going for dinner with his colleague and his family. So don't act heavy and hot on him. Keep it casual!”
Danika tossed her brother a look over her shoulder. Hans rolled his eyes. They both knew it would be the doctor who would be acting hot and heavy before the night ended. Men were drawn to Anya like woman were drawn to sale.
Opening the door, Danika felt all the tension leave her body. She smiled at the tall, lanky man who stood under the dim light of the porch swatting some moths who buzzed around him. “Hi!” Danika greeted the man with thinning hair, round eyes behind square silver glasses, long nose and a wide mouth. He wore a thick jacket, a striped formal shirt underneath it and ironed slacks. Yup, the doctor!
“Hello!” The man's smile was tense and then he did something that caused Danika's eyes to widen. He briefly touched what one never touches in public – his crotch. “Please come in.” Danika hurriedly moved aside shepherding the man in. Never knew the neighbor too is from India? “Dr. Collins is here.” Danika announced, shutting the door before the moths swarmed in.
Simi pivoted and scowled. “He is not Dr. Collins.”
“Thank god!” Anya muttered.
“No I'm not!” The man spoke in a raspy voice, his eyes bulging as he stared at Anya.
“He's not?” Danika swung puzzled glances at her brother who looked amused, her sister-in-law who was glaring at the man and then at the stranger himself who was now conducting his microscopic study of Anya. “Who are you?”
“I'm Kiran, Param's cousin.” This time he definitely touched himself.
“He's your date Dani.” Anya cooed mischievously.
Shit! Shit! Shit! What is happening? Rubbing her forehead, Danika studied the floor as if piecing a puzzle. This guy is Param's cousin. Not the doctor? So that man who came earlier. He is the doctor? Dr. Collins? Danika groaned softly. Oh my God! The man I sent away is Bro's boss and Anya's date. The one Simi B has been singing such praises about. Shoot!
Danika registered Simi B and her brother's conversation.
"I see the lights on in Dr. Collin's house. Maybe we can just go over there?” Simi suggested
“Lets do!” Anya agreed.
"NO! Wait!” Danika's loud shout stopped them. “I will get him! Right away! Because. . .”
“Because?” Her brother prodded.
&nbs
p; Danika wet her lips and cast glances at everyone including Kiran, “Because…ummm… like Anya said, impressions matter. Ask her! Be right back.” She fled out of the house before anyone else could say anything, leaving Anya to explain whatever Anya wanted to. Which knowing Anya would be nothing. For Anya did not understand a lot.
Danika ran in the direction of Mrs. Schneider’s house. “Unbelievable. Un-freakin-believable! Of all the places in the world, this man has to be our neighbor. And bro's boss. So whether I like it or not, I will have to suck it up to him. Someone shoot me! Danika paused, anger adding color to her cheeks. “I will never be nice to him.” She shivered in the cold.
Danika increased her pace to force some heat in her body and to get the act over with; the act that would symbolically be like throwing her pride down the garbage chute.
Chapter 16
Noah slammed the door with force. “Bullshit!” He tossed his jacket in the direction of the kitchen counter uncaring where it landed. Keeping the wine bottle on the counter, he poured himself a glass of water from the faucet. “That crazy girl lives next door to me?” He tried to remember what Dr. Hans had mentioned about who all were coming for today’s dinner.
“Hans, his wife and his sister or wife’s sister?” Noah took large sips from the glass. I shouldn’t have left like that. I should have talked to Hans or his wife. Wonder what that crazy woman will tell them. Don't want other people's family drama at work. Better call Hans and explain. Noah went looking for his cell, which was in the jacket that lay on the floor.
His doorbell made a short strained bleating noise. Sounds like a wet fart. Noah walked to the door and opened it. He stopped short staring at the woman on his porch. Uneven creases on his forehead and his clamped mouth signaled Noah's disapproval. “Get off my property!” Noah began to close the door on her face.
“No stop! Please stop!” Danika put her hand on the door. Noah paused, his expression like the temperature outside, frigid.
“There's been a misunderstanding.” Danika huffed tilting her chin imperiously. “That’s why I am here, to explain.”
“No kidding!” Noah sneered leaning against the doorjamb. “Is it similar to the one you had the other day when you hit your accelerator instead of your brakes?” If sarcasm were liquid it would have poured from his voice.
Danika's eyes narrowed down to slits but she quickly averted her face and pulled in a few deep breaths.
Noah watched her profile, smooth skin, thin and pert nose. “Goodnight!” He was out of patience.
Danika, reflexively raised her hand thinking Noah was about to close the door. He wasn't. Her palm connected with his jaw.
“What are you doing?”
Danika yanked her hand back. “Sorry. I thought you were closing...” The warmth of his skin and feel of his slight bristle stayed on her palm. Childishly, she wiped it at the back of her leg. “I didn’t know that you are my brother's colleague or that you had been invited.” Her tone was grudging.
“You are Dr. Han's sister?”
Danika nod was brisk. She gritted her teeth. I hate talking to him. I hate looking at him. Mrs. Schneider, if a part of you is still here then please haunt the heck out of this jerk.
“Hans is so normal and sane! Unlike…” Noah baited with a bland face.
Danika’s eyes began to narrow again but then she shook her head. Her hair slapped the side of her neck. “He's my stepbrother. That should explain the difference.”
Noah straightened when he saw the hurt flash in her expression. He tried to say something but nothing came to his mind except, “you should leave”.
Douchebag! Danika pressed her lips and continued firmly like she was talking to a five year old. “You are going for dinner with my brother, sister in law and her sister Anya. They are waiting for you.” She gestured with her head in the direction of her brother's house, her voice robotic. “An Italian restaurant. It’s one of the best here.”
Noah went back to leaning against the doorjamb. “You are not going to be there.”
“No!” Danika muttered at Noah keeping her eyes away from where his shirt had tightened over his chest. Showoff!
Noah's mouth twisted in a mocking smile. “It must be my lucky day!”
Danika surprised him with a smile that was like a snarl. “And mine too? Well not mine. I bumped into you.”
Noah straightened and took a step toward her. “You have funny choice of words. Bumped did you say?” He felt some satisfaction when, surprised, she took a step back. “You have a name, Danny something right?” He remembered he had taken her insurance information.
None of your damn business! “Danika!” She spoke quickly.
Noah noticed Danika rub her arms. She's cold! Turning around, he closed the door on her face. In less than a second, Danika was banging with her fists on the door.
Noah opened the door in minutes. “Stop the racket! I'm just getting my jacket.”
“You could have left the door open!” Danika growled.
“Where's the fun in that?” Noah mocked, sliding his arms in his jacket.
Danika swung her head. Seeing him wear a jacket was making her feel colder. She tightly crossed her arms in front of her and went down the stairs. A thought stopped her. She swallowed. Shoot! I have to ask him for a favor. She spoke casually. “So my family doesn’t know that it was you who-“ She changed her words at Noah’s sudden hardening face. “That I. . . that we were involved in the accident and I would like to keep it that way.”
“Why not tell them? Clear the air!” Noah said, going down the stairs leaving the porch light on.
Danika spun around. “What? You are not a man enough to fight your own battles?” The words just spilled out.
Noah stopped at the last step and peered down at Danika. She titled her face to meet his eyes not backing off. “I'm man enough to do several things.” Noah voiced softly.
In the muted light of the streetlight he saw some color shoot in her cheeks at the suggestiveness of his words. Their eyes met and stayed locked.
Danika was the first to blink and break the stare. “You forgot your cheap wine!” Walking away briskly, Danika left Noah standing in the cold.
Noah watched Danika till she became a part of the darkness beyond the streetlight. The aroma of lavender mixed with something citrusy tingled his nostrils in a pleasant way. He assumed it was something the ex-owner had planted near that spot. “The wine’s not cheap!” It’s a small world is necessarily not a good thing always. Noah thought biting off a cuss as he headed back again in the house.
Chapter 17
“A small world my foot! Feels more like a damn claustrophobic elevator.” Danika muttered, joining her family that was waiting outside.
“Where is Dr. Collins?” Simi asked.
“He's coming!”' Danika stopped near Kiran who still ogling at Anya.
“So now you have seen him. Is he hot?” Anya whispered, curiosity adding a shine to her hazel eyes.
“Sure!” Danika replied, through tightly clamped lips. Who can even remotely find wide and dark eyes, long arrogant nose, thin cheeks, and a regular mouth handsome, not to forget the horns on his head?
“Shall we leave?” Danika asked Kiran eager to get away from a situation that held no promise of improving.
“Sure!” Kiran agreed, casting one last look of longing in Anya’s direction.
Danika waved a quick bye to her brother and Simi as she turned to walk away. The restaurant she and Kiran were going to was a few blocks away.
“Damn!” Danika growled quietly as she turned and saw who was almost upon them. Kiran too stopped behind her as Hans, Simi and Anya stepped forward to meet Noah.
Feeling trapped between them, Danika quickly switched positions and moved behind Kiran putting more distance between her and Noah.
Danika kept her eyes fixed on her shoes even as blood was pounding in her ears. Hope he doesn’t say anything stupid and make trouble for me.
“And that is my sister Danik
a.” Hans made the introduction. Danika raised her head and hand for a fraction of a second and shot a terse 'Hi'. Danika resumed the intense study of her shoes wondering how fast and how far she could get away from the present company.
“Have we met before Danika?”
Danika whipped her head up at Noah's question. His face was innocent of all expression except a mild curiosity but Danika saw the glint in his eyes and the smug turn of his lips.
Douchebag! “We just did when I shut the door on you.” Danika matched his innocent expression. She added an apology for the sake of their audience. “Sorry!” Sorry that I did not get your awful face with the door.
Noah smirked, seemingly giving her that round and his gaze shifted to Anya who stepped forward, her face wreathed in a becoming smile. Danika saw Noah's eyes widen briefly just like every straight man's did around Anya.
Danika blanked out their conversation, wistfully glancing in the direction of the restaurant, she and Kiran were going to. Why won't Kiran move? Danika turned back just in time to notice Noah raise Anya's hand and drop a kiss on it, murmuring soft flattering words Danika was too far to hear.
Unconsciously, Danika stuffed her hands in her pockets. She saw Noah notice her tiny movement and his eyes tipped down to her hands in her jacket pocket and then very slowly he raised his eyes and stared at Danika. His gaze mocked her.
Danika flashed her teeth just enough to be a smile and a grimace simultaneously.
“What are you two doing?” Anya purred her.
“Nothing!” Danika retorted quickly, tucking some loose hair behind her ear. “Well you all enjoy yourselves. We should be leaving.” In get-away mode, Danika firmly tucked her hand in Kiran’s arm. Her squeezing grip seemed to remind her date of her presence.
'Yes, yes, we should go.' Kiran mumbled giving in to his nervous tic. Danika bit her lower lip at the brief surprise and then the amusement that shone in Noah's gaze. Of course he would be amused! She tugged Kiran. “Lets go!”