Page 179 of Dream On, Liar

My throat tightened, but I kept going.

“So I started doing things to get his attention.”

A moment passed before he asked, quietly, “Like what?”

I almost smiled because I knew exactly how it sounded.

“Breaking things.” His mouth twitched as though he was trying to decide whether he was allowed to laugh. “Skipping classes, just random stuff like that. I know the first time I did something that caught his attention.”

“What?”

“I once took apart his watch.”

That made him look at me properly.

“You took apart his watch?”

“I wanted to see how it worked.”

He stared at me.

“Did you put it back together?”

“No.”

A quiet, disbelieving laugh escaped him.

“That’s evil.”

“I was eight.”

“Still. I bet it must’ve been expensive.”

I nodded, a smile on my lips despite myself.

For a brief moment, the heaviness lifted.

Then I looked down again.

“Anyway, whenever I got into trouble, he’d come and have his talks with me.”

The smile faded before I even realised it was gone.

“That was the only time I was sure I’d see him. So, the more I did them, the more I saw him.”

The words sat between us, heavy and unpolished. They were far too honest for the way I usually spoke about my father.

When I finally looked up, Rihaan was not smiling anymore.

He was simply still.

Something in his expression had changed into something quieter and deeper, as though he was holding the weight of what I had said without trying to take it from me or fix it.

“So eventually,” I continued, because stopping somehow felt worse, “trouble just became the word attached to me. He now just means it out of love, I know. But I’ve grown out of it too.”

Silence followed.

Then, gently, he said, “We’ll just have to come up with something else, then.”