She looks up from her newspaper in surprise and reaches for my phone. I’m pretty sure she tunes me and Samir out half the time, unless we’re talking directly to her, and I don’t blame her.

Ever since Dada passed away, she has these days where she’s incredibly low-spirited. I know she misses him horribly, even if she never talks about it.

There are so many burdens she carries that I wish I could help her with, but there’s only so much I can do.

I busy myself with taking my plate to the kitchen and washing it. When I come back, Samir is on the couch with my grandma, leaning over my phone.

“Have you been eating enough?” my mom asks. When I take the seat next to Samir, I can see the worry etched into her expression. Again, I withhold a sigh. It’d be nice to receive some of that concern. I know my parents love and care about me, but they never show it the way they do for my brother.

“Yeah, Ma,” Samir says, holding up his arms to flex. “Look at my muscles. They’re growing!”

I pretend to gag, unimpressed, but he doesn’t notice, too busy kissing his nonexistent muscles.

My mom starts cooing like she always does around Samir, and I roll my eyes, reaching for the remote to switch the channel now that he’s not playing video games anymore.

“Hey,” he complains, trying to knock the remote out of my hand.

“Hey what?” I say, smacking his arm. “You’re not even using the TV now. You’ve been hogging it all day.”

“I was in the middle of something!” he says, stretching his body across mine. I wriggle out from underneath him and clutch the remote behind my back. “Myra Apu, give it back!”

“No,” I say, pushing him away. “You use the TV every day, I just want it for an hour to—”

“Myra, give Samir the remote.”

I fall silent and stare at my phone, still held in my grandma’s hand. My mom doesn’t say anything else, but saying it once is enough. Almost robotically, I give my brother the remote and sit down beside my grandma.

Between my parents, my mom has always been more strict. I think it’s because Dadu raised my dad. Yet he still follows my mom’s lead, so it’s not like it really helps.