I wanted to back away slowly and go upstairs, but Raghu looked up and smiled when he saw me. He seemed to be in a better mood already and he beckoned me to join them.

I walked up to them reluctantly.

‘Esha’s birthday party is this Sunday and she’s just invited us,’ he said.

I looked at Esha in surprise and she smiled back at me.

‘Thank you,’ I said, feeling thrilled that I was being invited to her birthday party. I’d never thought she would even notice me.

‘Yes, please come,’ she said. ‘My parents will be sending out the invitations soon.’

Today was Thursday. I didn’t have much time to pick up a nice gift for her. I’d have to ask Papa to take me out shopping, I thought.

I didn’t know what to say to her so I merely nodded. She seemed so radiant and composed and I felt like a bungling fool in front of her. She was wearing dungarees with a white t-shirt inside and her hair was tied in a high ponytail. Raghu also seemed to be quite taken by her.

‘Ma’s calling you,’ I blurted out suddenly to Raghu, who looked a bit stricken. I realized he didn’t want me to talk about the mess he’d made in the kitchen in front of Esha. I nodded the slightest bit.

‘Yeah, I’ll come up soon. You carry on,’ he said, almost dismissing me.

I turned around and walked back upstairs to our apartment, wondering why I was having all these odd feelings I couldn’t understand.

5

Five years ago

Somehow, Sunday was upon us before I even knew it and I still hadn’t managed to go out shopping with Papa for Esha’s birthday gift.

Every day when I came back from school, Raghu would hardly let me finish my homework because he wanted to bake. After cleaning up the mess on that day, he promised Ma that he wouldn’t do anything unsupervised, which meant I was his supervisor. But I didn’t mind. Raghu was fun and we laughed so much as we made brownies and cake pops and cookies.

Raghu didn’t talk about his parents to me again and I too didn’t bring it up. But I had overheard my parents talking one night. Apparently, Aunty V and her husband were going to talk to a counsellor and then figure out what they wanted. My happiness for Raghu—his parents were at least trying—was also mixed with sadness over the fact that he would leave soon.

In fact, Raghu and Aunty V had decided to leave on Monday morning. It was good for me because I didn’t want to go to Esha’s party on my own.