Older, yes.
His hair is longer now, streaked white near the temples. Lines around his eyes I don’t remember. But still him.
Still Papa.
And my stupid heart recognizes him instantly. It makes me angry. I hate that some part of me still reaches for him automatically. He stands the moment I enter the room.
His eyes land on me and everything in his face softens so quickly it almost feels unbearable to look at.
“Ishu.” My throat closes at the familiar nickname.
Aryan’s hand brushes lightly against my lower back. Grounding. Papa notices it too.
His gaze flickers to Aryan briefly. Something unreadable passes through his expression before he looks back at me.
“I can leave you two alone,” Aryan says quietly.
“No.” The answer comes too fast. Both of them look at me. I swallow hard. “I want him here.”
Papa’s eyes lower slightly at that. Not hurt exactly. More like…accepting. He deserves it. Aryan doesn’t say anything. He just moves beside me instead, close enough that our shoulders almost touch.
And somehow that tiny distance feels important. For a few seconds nobody speaks. Then finally, my father exhales slowly and sits back down.
“I don’t know where to begin.” I laugh softly. The sound cracks in the middle.
“Maybe start with why my dead father is sitting in front of me.”
The words hit harder than I intended. I see it in his face instantly. But something ugly has been living inside me for years now and I don’t know how to soften it. He nods once slowly.
“I was never a salesman, Ishu.” The room goes still. “I worked for people…dangerous people.” His voice remains calm but there’s exhaustion underneath it. “Not willingly at first. But once you enter that world, leaving isn’t simple.”
I cross my arms tightly against myself.
“Mafia,” I say flatly.
He looks at me for a long second before nodding. “Yes.”
The word settles heavily in the room. Beside me, Aryan’s jaw tightens slightly but he stays silent. Papa rubs a tired hand over his face before continuing. “A few years before…before I disappeared, I got access to something important. Documents. Information powerful enough to destroy a lot of people.”
“That’s what Krishna was talking about,” I whisper. His eyes lift to mine immediately.
“Yes.” I shake my head slowly, trying to process everything and failing.
“So you just…left?” His face twists slightly then, in pain.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
Something inside me snaps at that. “You thought disappearing without a word was protecting me?” My voice shakes now. “Doyou know what that did to me?” I ask, tears burning my eyes already. “Do you know what it feels like waiting for someone who never comes back?”
“Ishu—”
“No.” I step back before he can reach for me.
“No, you don’t get to interrupt this.”
Years.
Years of loneliness suddenly rise inside me all at once.
