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Dev followed him, folding the sleeves of his dark shirt. His jacket lay discarded on the back of an armchair.
“Can I help?” he asked.
“Sure,” she replied with a smile, one which he didn’t return. She sighed. “Neil, show Dev where the water jug and the glasses are kept in the kitchen.”
When they were all seated around the dinner table, Neil lifted the lid of the steaming hot dish. “Yummy, Mom! I love your chicken casseroles.”
She gave him a smile and offered the salad to Dev.
“Dad, do you know Mom’s the best cook in the world?” Neil gushed, scooping the casserole onto his plate.
Dev didn’t reply. His eyes were cold when they rested on her. She hated it. She shouldn’t care that he’d suddenly become so frigid with her, but the sad fact was that she did care. She missed his teasing; she missed the warmth in his gaze when it rested on her. She missed the camaraderie that had come to be between them.
Avantika ate her food in silence, while Neil engaged Dev with every topic under the sun. Through it all, Dev didn’t look her way even once.
She pushed the fork around her plate, lost in her own thoughts. She got that Dev was mad at her for not telling him about Neil, especially after all that had transpired in London. However, it wasn’t like she had planned or anticipated how things would change between them during their time together—time that she’d thought of as a punishment until she’d known it was not. It was not like she had a lot of time to think things through even later. The second she’d learned of Myra being unwell, everything else had taken a back seat.
She forked her food and brought it to her mouth, eating without tasting it. Despite everything, the truth was that she still wasn’t sure she would have told him about Neil before she’d heard him out.
Once dinner was done, Dev and Neil cleared the table while she put all the dishes in the dishwasher.
“Shoot, we forgot the water jug on the dining table,” Neil complained. He lifted his finger in the air. “Acciowater jug.”
She chuckled. “Alright, Mr. Potter, you don’t have your wand. Go and get it.”
“Yes, Mom,” he grumbled, exiting the kitchen.
“What doesac…acciomean?” Dev asked her.
“It’s from Harry Potter. He’s a huge fan.”
“Harry Potter is some book series, right?”
A loud gasp sounded from beyond them. Neil looked horrified. “Dad, have you never read or watched Harry Potter?”
“Actually, no.”
“How can you not…” Neil gaped at him. “We need to watch it right now.”
He faced Avantika. “Mom, can I watch it with Dad, please?”
“Bedtime is in an hour, baba,” Avantika said.
“But Mom, it’s vacation,” he complained. “Can I not get some extra time, please?”
“Alright, two hours max,” she said. “Then it’s lights off. No arguments then.”
Neil whooped in joy. He linked his arm with Dev’s and began to pull him toward his room.
Dev turned to face her. “Aren’t you coming?”
She laughed. “No way. I’ve seen it way too many times already.”
“Come on, Dad,” Neil hopped from one foot to the other. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
Avantika exhaled once they were both out of her sight and went to her own room. Her eyes fell on her camera lying on the study table. She hadn’t touched it ever since she’d left it here that first night she’d returned from London after visiting Myra at the hospital, where Dev had learned about Neil. Post that, there had been no time for anything. Dev’s reaction and her promise to make him meet Neil had taken over her thoughts.
Lifting the camera, she scrolled through the images, pausing on the one she’d clicked of Dev that day in Hyde Park when they’d both been watching the kids feed ducks. It seemed like an eternity had passed between then and now.
