Kareena’s pulse jumped when he turned to her direction. She knew the moment he spotted her. Prem’s eyes widened like saucers, and his mouth fell open.
Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are. This wouldn’t have happened if you told me that you were actually a talk-show host.
She looked down at the Pedialyte in her hand and immediately tucked it between her ankles. This man could not know that she spent the rest of her night drinking because of him. She had her pride.
Despite the humiliation he put her through, the embarrassment that would plague her forever, Kareena was not going to look like a coward. He was the one who screwed up and left her in an awkward position! What gentleman did something like that?
The studio’s fake applause quieted to a whisper. Then, Dr. Dil opened his mouth, and his voice sparked a trail of goose bumps up her spine to the back of her neck. She could still feel the imprint of his palm where he’d held her for a kiss.
Then he turned away from her in a smooth move that felt so dismissive her mouth fell open in shock.
“Thank you, everyone, for tuning in for another episode of The Dr. Dil Show. I’m your host, Dr. Prem Verma, a cardiologist here in Jersey City. And as many of our Hindi-speaking South Asian viewers know, prem means love, dil means heart, and this show is about the holistic health of the heart.”
Holy cow, when Prem had told her that he fixed broken hearts, Kareena thought that was a line! The bastard meant it in the literal sense! Who did that? Who made funny, adorable puns about their jobs just to seduce women?
“Last week we spent quite a bit of time discussing coronary artery disease and the Stanford study pointing to a higher mortality rate in the South Asian community.”
He looked straight at Kareena again.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.
“Today, however, we’re switching gears to a heart health topic that, oddly enough, doesn’t get a lot of attention from cardiologists. Romance. Part of heart health, especially for younger generations, is romance. That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome Bindu Mann, popular lifestyle influencer and YouTube channel host of Mann Your Business, to our show.”
He held out a hand and motioned for Bindu to join him onstage. “Bindu?”
Kareena watched her sister stand, tilt her chin up, and stride across the floor in her fitted skirt and blouse, before ascending the stage at the entry point one of the producers pointed to. Bindu turned to the camera and flashed her brilliant white smile, before she held out a hand and shook Dr. Dil’s. “Thank you for having me,” she said.
They took seats across from each other on the stage and when they were finally settled, Dr. Dil spoke first. “Now, Bindu, when you and I spoke on the phone, you mentioned that you were recently engaged. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” she said, and flashed her princess cut diamond ring. “We’re excited.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, was it an arranged marriage or a love marriage?”
“Do you believe in love and romance, Rina?” Prem traced a figure eight on the inside of her wrist. The delicate caress had her shivering.
“Of course,” she said breathlessly. “Hearts, stars, flowers. I want all of it in my life. What about you?”
His gaze had dropped to her mouth. “I believe there are some things stronger than love.”
Where was this man going with this? Were these questions preplanned, or was he referencing their conversation? To be honest, asking about love marriages and arranged marriages was smart. Kareena knew that very few cultures differentiated their marriages the same way—people either had a match arranged for them where they agreed based on compatibility, or they dated and fell in love like Western culture. Bindu, of course was—
“Love marriage,” she said. “In addition to creating lifestyle content for my YouTube channel, I’m a math professor. My fiancé, Loken, is a Gujarati-Italian I met when he started working as a visiting professor at my college.”
“That’s great for you, Bindu.”
Kareena’s back straightened. There was something about his tone that she did not like.
Prem glanced at Kareena again, then asked her sister, “Now, Bindu, what if I said that your chances of a successful marriage are more about you two working in the same vicinity than it is about your feelings for each other?”
Bindu nodded, then flipped her long curls over her shoulder. “I’d say that it definitely doesn’t hurt that we work at the same institution. That was one of the biggest problems I had when I was single. I could never find the time to meet with someone who was far away. My free time was limited as an entrepreneur and a professor with a full course load.”
“Exactly.” Dr. Dil leaned back in his chair as if Bindu just said something to validate a point he had yet to make. “Your proximity means convenience. It means your adjustment from single to a couple doesn’t create an imbalance in your life. Now, if your decisions were purely based on love, you may chance long distance, which would create heartache, stress, depression, and anxiety. You may push off other responsibilities to make time for travel.
“That is why today, we’re going to talk about how love is actually dangerous for heart health. Because love, ladies and gentlemen, is an illusion that does not sustain long-term partnerships.”
I believe there is something stronger than love.
Kareena let out an audible gasp. She knew that she was loud enough for the entire studio to turn and face her, including her wide-eyed sister and the host. She couldn’t care less. This man was a fraud! Or he was very good at seduction. Either way, he lied by omission just to get in her pants. She almost broke her dating moratorium for a man with a talk show.
A talk show titled Dr. Heart with a host whose name translated to love.
He was Dr. Heart, the cardiologist who didn’t believe in his namesake.
“Bindu,” Dr. Dil said, glancing at Kareena again, “let’s use your love story as a case study.”
Nope, this is not okay, Kareena thought. Her hand shot up in the air. If anyone was answering his questions, it was going to be her, the woman he tried to seduce then left in a compromising position.
The studio was collectively looking in her direction now, but she was on a mission to defraud this man. He continued to glance at her. His forehead looked dewy under the lights.
Yeah, you should be sweating.
Bindu cleared her throat. “I’d be happy to talk about my love story, Dr. Dil.”
Prem adjusted his tie, and the collar of his shirt. “Uh, great. When you met your fiancé, did you spend time together before falling in love? Or did you feel like it was instantaneous?”
“I’d like to think it was instantaneous, but we were friends for a semester.”
“Let’s look at your health before Loken and after. Did you feel like you were eating better, sleeping more, more productive, before or after you fell in love?”
Bindu let out a musical laugh, and Kareena knew that her sister was purposely trying to draw everyone’s attention in the room to herself. Kareena sat at the edge of her seat with her hand still in the air.
“I was definitely sleeping more and way more productive before Loken and I confessed our feelings for each other,” Bindu replied.
“And that’s because our health takes a back burner when we get distracted by love. However, a relationship based on compatibility as the foundation will lead to a healthier lifestyle. Love, on the other hand, specifically the long-term effects of love, is linked to an increase in heart disease.”
Kareena made a strangled sound. She’d been fleeced! The way Prem spoke to her the night before made her think that he was on the same page when it came to love. Her reality was looking worse and worse. She almost had sex with this man in the back office of an Indian restaurant.
“What we need in our lives is less emotion in establishing relationships,” Dr. Dil continued. “Love doesn’t have be a factor at all.”