He looked around. “It’s probably the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in.” It was white. Everything in the room was white. The furniture, the sheets. The walls. The floor. The only color was the floor-to-ceiling painting of her parents. Even that was muted. Painted in sepia tones.

“Everything is white.” Did he look alarmed? How did he see her? An oddity. A freak. Which she was. She knew that. “You’re wearing white. You were wearing white the last time I met you.”

“You think I’m a freak.”

“What? You’re the least freakish person I’ve met in my life.”

“You can’t make me cry again.” Because that liquid sensation in her chest was wobbling again. Different this time. Different. Different.

“Why did you faint? Are you . . . is there . . . are you ill, Esha?”

She felt light-headed again and sat down on her bed. “I’m just a little dizzy.”

He sat down next to her, reached into one of the many pockets in his pants, pulled out a candy bar, and held it up.

“I can’t eat that.” She waited for the usual kick of nausea at the sight of something that might have a strong taste.

“Do you have diabetes? I’m sorry.” He started to put it back and she snatched it from him.

Before he could ask her anything else, she pointed at his pants. “I’ve never seen pants like that. Why do you have so many pockets?”

“They’re cargo pants.” He pointed at the candy bar she was holding up. “They hold a lot of stuff. Mostly food. Band-Aids. Flares. Heat blankets. I tend to go places where I need those things. And now, I guess it’s a security blanket to have them.”

“A security blanket?”

“Yes. Like something you get used to that makes you feel safe.”

Voices came in from outside her door, and she jumped up. “My grandmother’s back. You have to leave.”

He was up and out the door and on her balcony in a moment. “Will you be all right?” he said, touching her face the way she had touched his so many times. Mirroring. Reflecting everything inside her.

She nodded. “Will you come back?”

“How can I not? You didn’t answer your half of the question. You still have to tell me something about yourself no one else knows.” He jumped over the railing just as Aji called her name.

“How did you get on the estate today?” she called after him.

“Getting into places I’m not supposed to be in is my special talent. Wait for me.”

He hadn’t even landed on the ground yet, but she already was. She was already waiting for him to come back.

“I’ll wait for you.” It was a whisper.

Three floors below, he turned to her one last time before disappearing, and she knew he’d heard her.

Chapter Fourteen