Arranged by the Stars by Kamy Chetty

go.
    Sushi watched them both
before that brief nod Ash had come to know so well.
    “ Well thank
you Mr Kanna for your efforts. You can leave now. We can take it
from here and make sure Ash is taken care of.” She turned to the
seat Kieran had vacated and pulled it forward. She took her time to
sit and then crossed her leg at the knee before casting her
narrowed gaze at the pair of them.
    Kieran’s hold tightened.
“We?”
    Even before she said her
next words Ash knew the world as she knew it was about to come
apart all around her. Her fingers squeezed Kieran’s weakly in an
unspoken apology.
    This was a
business deal and in no way real for him. His gaze found hers and
she saw the confusion and the question. She wasn’t sure if he saw
her mouth— I’m sorry.
    “ Alok is
parking the car. He shouldn’t be too long.” Sushi smiled. The
dismissive gaze was cunning and clearly screamed,
you-may-leave-now. “Alok is Ash’s future husband. Their marriage
has been arranged for some time now.”

Chapter Eight
     
    Those words
kept replaying in his mind. Their marriage
has been arranged for some time now. Kieran couldn’t leave that room fast enough. Not even the
soft sound of Ash’s plea to stay could stop him moving towards the
door and the exit sign.
    The lack of a tie didn’t
stop him from pulling at his collar and dragging long painful
breaths. How could she be marrying someone else? His clenched fist
rubbed against the sore spot on his chest. Could she have been that
good an actress?
    He pushed
open the glass door with such force he was shocked it didn’t break
as it swung back into place. His gaze roamed around the large car
park. Who is he? Which of the men walking
up to the hospital was Alok?
    His fingers combed
through his hair as he walked towards his car. Arranged marriage?
It didn’t make sense when it came to a free spirit like Ash. But it
made even less sense for him to have feelings for someone he barely
knew.
    His shoulders dropped and
he relaxed his arms and uncurled his fists. This was an
arrangement. Ash was nothing more than a pretend bride-to-be.
Nothing more. Inside his chest, he felt something snapped. His chin
dropped.
    Then why was his world
suddenly smaller?
    It took him a full minute
before he realised he was frozen still. He looked down at his
watch. With all the time he’d been spending with Ash, his
responsibilities at the clinic had lapsed. He glanced back at the
hospital. For Ash, he’d let his billion-dollar company lapse. Or he
would have. Until now.
    Three hours later he was
showered, shaved and already seeing his second patient out the
clinic door. Jess handed him the next patient file and his coffee.
He wrapped his hand around the lukewarm mug. Ash hadn’t passed on
her secret to a good cup of coffee to the rest of the
staff.
    “ You have
some time between patients, Kieran, take your coffee into the
staffroom and relax.” Jessie said taking her seat behind the
reception desk.
    Why could no one
understand that he didn’t want to be here playing doctor when this
place reminded him of a green-eyed wench? Every part of this place
was ingrained with some part of her essence and how she changed his
life.
    “ How’s Ash?”
Latha came and stood next to him, she spotted his coffee and
smiled. “Great idea, I need a break too. Let’s have a quick ten
minutes and you can tell me about Ash and how her recovery is
going.”
    Giving him no choice,
like she would when they were younger, she pulled his arm and
tugged him towards the staffroom. “So I hear she’s awake and doing
well.”
    His shoulders dropped
back. There was no way he was going to be able to avoid this. “Yes,
she’s awake. Her aunt and fiancé are with her.”
    Latha opened the fridge
and poured milk into her coffee. “Maybe I should go and rescue her
after my shift. She will be in hell.”
    He shrugged trying to
feel the same empathy for the person he thought he knew. “I am sure
Alok will keep her