‘What?’ I asked her, feeling uneasy for the first time that night. Since the moment Raghu had kissed me, I had been floating on a bed made of balloons.

‘No . . . nothing, it’s great,’ she said, her tone suggesting that it was anything but great.

‘Nisha, tell me,’ I said.

‘You didn’t ask him why he ignored you when he went back to Mumbai? Or why he didn’t even tell you he was going?’ she asked.

It hadn’t occurred to me at all. But did it matter now that we were together?

‘Of course it matters,’ she insisted. ‘He has to communicate with you. He can’t just suddenly up and leave whenever he wants to without even explaining what happened.’

‘But he’s not going anywhere now,’ I said softly.

‘How do you know that?’ she asked.

I didn’t. I suppose she was right. Trust had to be earned. I’d just been grateful that Raghu didn’t have a girlfriend and hadn’t really wanted to talk to him when he wanted to kiss me.

33

I woke up to a nightmare. I stepped out of my room, wondering where Raghu was. Nisha thought I needed to lay some ground rules and I wasn’t sure how to go about it. Wouldn’t it be presumptuous of me? Hadn’t he said we should take it one day at a time? What was I to do?

When I walked into the living room, the atmosphere was tense.

Nani was sitting on the sofa, surrounded by three large suitcases, and glaring angrily at Aunty V. Aunty V looked solemn and Ma looked pale and was holding Papa’s hand tightly. Papa’s face was flushed and I could see he was restraining himself with great difficulty from saying something.

When had Nani come? What was going on?

Nani’s eyes fell on me and she smiled. ‘Come, come,’ she said, patting the seat beside her.

Reluctantly, I sat next to her. The tableau remained stiff and frozen—there was just one more person in it!

Finally, Nani started talking in a hushed, important sounding voice, as if she was on the verge of breaking down. ‘I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to see if she would call me, but my only daughter doesn’t even want me to be there during the birth of my grandchild.’

Ma winced slightly. ‘You were there during Ananya’s birth. That was more than enough,’ she snapped.

I sensed Nani stiffening beside me. She started speaking but her words were lost to me as I spotted Raghu walking in. He looked around mystified, but swiftly understood that it was tense.

‘Ananya, breakfast?’ he nodded towards the kitchen.

I nodded and got up gratefully.

Nani glared at Raghu too and her mouth tightened.

As Raghu and I reached the corridor that led to the kitchen, he held my hand. The gesture warmed my heart.