Her mother gave her an assessing look. “It’s not nothing.” She took the bowls from Meghna’s hands and started filling them up with rice. “That’s the same face you made when you changed your major and didn’t tell us.”
Meghna went still. She hadn’t needed that reminder. Hadn’t needed to remember how difficult it had been to explain that she had applied and been accepted to her dream university as an education major and not as an engineering major like they had discussed. Like Samir had been, making her parents proud beyond belief. But her mother continued, blithely unaware that her words had poked at something raw and sensitive.
“Is there anything you need to let us know?” her mother asked.
Meghna’s heart pounded. There was, but she couldn’t tell them like this. Couldn’t tell them that the engagement they were so excited about was a fraud. That she had tricked them. Lied to them. Just like she had before. Just like Ankita and Samir had done to her. She swallowed.
They would be so disappointed. She had finally done something that seemed to make them happy. If they knew the truth, they’d know that she had failed to live up to their expectations yet again.
“Jaan,” her father said gently. “I’m sure it’s nothing like that. Meghna, you’re probably just nervous about the play next week, right?”
She nodded, thankful for the out her father had so conveniently provided. “Yes, that’s it. I can’t believe it’s so soon.”
Her father poured a generous amount of hot dal over each bowl of rice, and they carried their food to the kitchen table. After they sat down and began eating, Meghna distracted her parents with story after story from this week’s rehearsals. They laughed with her about the various antics her students had gotten up to and didn’t ask any further questions about her earlier discomfort. Meghna was thankful for the reprieve, but her guilt lingered, bubbling beneath the surface.
Still, it wasn’t like her fake engagement would hurt them. Or anyone. It wasn’t anything like what Ankita and Samir had done. In fact, telling her parents the truth would likely hurt them more. And that pain was unnecessary. The engagement would come to an end after the wedding, and everything would go back to the way it had been before.
She ate a forkful of the warm, comforting meal in front of her, slightly reassured. There was no need to tell her parents about any of it. She just had to keep putting off their wedding planning efforts until she and Karthik were ready to call things off. That wouldn’t be too difficult. She ate another forkful and smiled. She was feeling better and better with each passing minute.
—
Karthik had never felt this confident in his entire life. He’d studied the numbers backward and forward. He could recite facts about any project the HVAC team had worked on in the last five years. And it didn’t hurt that Marianne had privately shared the recommendation she had written for him, and it had been full of glowing praise.
Today’s interview couldn’t have come at a better time. He’d been out of sorts ever since that trip to Miami. He couldn’t get Meghna outof his head. The way she’d felt that morning, her body splayed on top of his. The taste of her lips. That wide smile that always sent an electric shock coursing through his body.
Preparing for the interview had been a welcome distraction. He just needed to focus. Get the job, go to the wedding, and then it would all be over. No more obligation to his mother. No more strange pull toward Meghna. Everything in his life would return to normal.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?” Paul asked, his head peeking around the corner.
“Sure, come in.” Paul had just been in his office to drop off lunch, and Karthik was confused that the intern would be back again so soon. He did a quick sweep of the room. “Did you forget something in here?”
“No,” Paul said, sitting in his usual chair across from Karthik’s desk. “I actually had to ask you something.”
“Okay. Sure. What’s going on?”
Paul looked at him for a few seconds and then heaved a big sigh. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Dr. Murthy, would you?” He asked the question so quickly that the words blended together. “I know there’s probably a ton of Dr. Murthys out there,” he continued. “But he’s a professor at NYCU medical school? And you know that’s where I’m an undergrad and…”
Of course. Paul was probably applying to medical school, and he wanted to be introduced to Karthik’s esteemed and highly regarded father. Karthik was about to tell Paul that he and his father weren’t close and that his dad was unlikely to do him any favors, but Paul kept going.
“I wouldn’t just assume you were related to him because you have the same name, you know? But my girlfriend’s premed and she was telling me about him and showed me his faculty page and it’s just…You look a lot like him, so I thought I’d ask.”
So, it was thegirlfriendwho wanted the introduction. Karthik shook his head. If anything, that would only make his dad less inclined to help.
“Yes, we’re related,” he said. “He’s my father.”
Paul paled. “Shit. Oh, okay. So, umm…Are you doing okay? With everything?”
Karthik’s eyebrows knit together. “With what?”
Paul’s eyes went wide. “There was an article about your dad in our campus newspaper and I just thought…You haven’t seen it?”
Karthik shook his head. His father’s research often resulted in articles and press releases. Karthik never looked at any of them.
“Well, uh, my girlfriend has this mentor and they’re really close. She’s a student at the med school. And she had been telling us about this professor.” Paul shifted in his chair. “Maybe it’s easier if you read the article.”
Karthik pulled up a search engine on his computer, but waved at Paul to continue.
“Just tell me.”
