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Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Andaleeb Wajid
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. Epilogue
  42. THE BEGINNING

I joined Papa and Raghu. Raghu, who was checking his phone, looked at me in surprise.

‘I thought you were going to sleep!’ I announced as I sat down.

Raghu blinked a couple of times. ‘I was. Then Mom called me and asked me to come out for a bit.’ He looked down again at his phone.

I looked at the curve of his neck, at his hair still damp from a shower and felt the strangest longing to run my hand through his hair.

Great idea, having these thoughts with Papa sitting at the same table!

‘And you came and sat here instead of meeting your mother’s friends?’ I asked him, willing him to look up.

He grunted. ‘I’ll meet them in a bit,’ he muttered.

I heard a snore. Papa had fallen asleep, and his head was on the table.

Raghu looked up and his eyes met mine. I thought he was going to grin but he kept looking at me with a serious expression. My stomach contracted and my mouth went dry. He looked away, and I could breathe once more.

‘Papa’s had too much to drink,’ I remarked, trying to keep the conversation neutral with him.

He didn’t say anything, but he put his phone away.

‘Should we try and take him inside?’ I asked.

He looked at me again, but this time it was an expression I was used to. ‘You serious? We could dislocate something carrying him inside,’ he said, grinning.

‘I know. And it would embarrass Ma too,’ I said, shaking my head.

He sighed. ‘I think I’ll go and say hi to these people and then head back inside to sleep,’ he said, still not making a move to get up.

‘It’s kind of weird seeing Ma and Aunty V behave like young girls,’ I said.

‘I know. Look at my mom. She’s the life of the party,’ he remarked.

‘Really! And my mom, I haven’t seen her look this pretty ever before,’ I said as I looked at her and smiled. She was now talking to some other people but there was a shine in her eyes and it was heart-warming to see her like this.

‘Yeah. Very pretty,’ Raghu said.

I looked at him. He was looking at me, not at Ma.

22

Raghu didn’t go to sleep. Instead, we hung around. We tried to wake Papa up when Aunty V served dinner, but he kept snoring.

I was feeling anxious because Raghu and I kept having these moments, where Raghu would look at me with a strange expression, which made me think . . .