Meghna squashed down the angry words that had been rising within her. She’d been about to threaten all manner of pain on herbrother if he ever hurt Ankita the way he had so obviously hurt her before, but the expression on her brother’s face made her stop. For once, he wasn’t joking. His face was solemn. As serious as she’d ever seen it.
“Okay,” she said.
But he didn’t seem to think she was buying it. “I mean it,” he continued. “Really, Iswearit. If I move back, it’ll be because I’m one hundred percent in. Because I’m ready to convince her that I can be worthy of her. Because I’m ready to do anything,anything,to win her back.”
He was quiet for a beat, as if he too was surprised by the depth of emotion he’d just displayed. He cleared his throat, then asked, “How are you planning to tell Mom and Dad?”
She accepted the abrupt change in topic for what it was. “About Karthik? I have no idea. But I don’t have a ton of time to figure it out.”
“You don’t think it’s worth—” Samir stopped talking and looked at Meghna somewhat warily.
“What?”
Samir raised his hands defensively. “I don’t want you to jump down my throat when I say this, but don’t you think it’s worth maybe…telling Karthik how you feel?”
No.No, it certainly wasn’t worth it. It sounded like the worst idea Meghna had ever heard.
“He ended things, Samir. Why would I tell him anything? He didn’t even want afakerelationship with me, let alone a real one.”
“You don’t know that. There’s a chance he could feel the same way.”
Meghna was about to disagree, but Samir continued. “And even if he doesn’t, you’ll feel better knowing for sure. You’ll know one way or the other and then you can move forward. Without regrets.”
A flush of heat went up the back of Meghna’s neck as she thought about having this conversation with Karthik. It would be embarrassing. He’d pity her. He’d say he was sorry that she misunderstood things. She wouldn’t be able to handle that.
“Look, I know I’m the last person who should be giving advice about things like this, and that you and I…that we aren’t as close as we used to be, and a lot of that is my fault. Probably all of it is my fault. And everything I did only made things worse. But I’m just saying…That’s what I wish I would have done. I wish I’d been honest earlier about how I felt. That’s all.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“For what it’s worth, I really liked him when I met him. He seemed like a great guy.”
Meghna nodded and quickly wrapped up the call, though Samir’s words continued to ring in her head.
Samir’s assessment might have been based on only a few minutes spent with Karthik, and his judgment was obviously flawed, but even so, Meghna agreed with him. Karthik was a good guy. A great one, even. But no matter how much she wanted it to be different, he just wasn’t hers.
Meghna scrubbed her hands over her face and finally exited the car. She unlocked the back door to her parents’ house and entered through the kitchen, where the scent of cardamom and ginger perfumed the air. She followed her nose to the large pot still simmering on the stove, inhaling greedily before grabbing a mug and pouring herself a generous amount of chai. Her parents’ voices carried from the living room, and she headed toward them.
“Mom? Dad?” she called out. She took a sip of her tea as she rounded the corner, then almost spat it right out.
Karthik…was…here? Sitting on the couch. In her parents’ house. Was she hallucinating? She blinked, but her vision didn’t change. He remained firmly in place.
His jaw was hard. His mouth grim. But his eyes were bright and luminous, filled with something she’d never seen before. He looked at her like…like they’d never stopped pretending.
Her face flushed under the intensity of his stare.What is he doinghere?Meghna tore her gaze away and almost jumped when she noticed Karthik’s mother was here too. Sitting right beside him.
“Beta!” Meghna’s mother got up and gave her a hug. “You’re here. Look who’s surprised us!”
Meghna forced herself out of her stupor. “Wow,” she croaked. “What a…nice surprise.” She smiled weakly, her movements stiff and mechanical as she hugged Karthik and his mother, then took the open seat on the couch beside him.
Karthik’s gaze was a tangible presence on her side profile. His hand lifted off his thigh, hovering uncertainly, then landed back on the tiny sliver of space between them. Was he trying to hold her hand? Were they supposed to be pretending right now?
She turned in his direction, fully prepared to get some answers, to ask if they could speak privately so she could find out what the hell was going on, but before she could get the words out, her mother started talking.
“You didn’t know they were coming, right, beta? That’s what they told us when they got here a few minutes ago.”
“No, Mom,” Meghna said. “I had no idea.”
“Well, you didn’t miss much. We’ve just been catching up. Though we haven’t talked about everything yet.” Meghna’s mother smiled. “I bet you’re excited about the news,” she told Karthik. “Though I guess we really have you to thank for it.”
