“Because you’ve always been afraid of your children being hurt, but Vansh most of all.” HRH looked at Vansh again in a way that Vansh didn’t remember ever seeing. Possibly because Vansh had long stopped searching for things in his father’s eyes. “Because there were things you couldn’t fix for him.” He reached out and took Vansh’s hand. “You know, there are very few things I regret in my life, but how I reacted to”—he cleared his throat—“his learning disability is something I regret every single day, and I’m grateful every day for how you schooled me. Because I was wrong. Vansh is the one who turned out to need the least care.”

He wiped his eyes and fixed Vansh with the fiercest of looks. “Vansh turned out to be the most whole of our babies. All he’s done is make the world a better place. The thing we hoped our children would do. We’ve known Naina her whole life. We thought she was such a great fit for Yash because of how driven she was, how focused on good outside of herself. We thought that was a lot like Yash, but, don’t you see, Vansh is the one like her. They’re united by passion and nature. There’s something that’s the same about them.”

Vansh had teared up, but Nisha was the one sobbing the hardest. She pressed her hand into her face. “I’ve been such a bitch.”

“You totally have,” Vansh said, all the pain of the past three days gathering and sharpening inside him, but he rubbed her back. “I’m so glad you’re all rethinking your stance on this, but I’m not sure if it’s going to matter.”

“Shit,” Nisha said, her horror intensifying. “That’s why you’re looking like this.” She waved a hand around his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You have stubble, Vansh,” Esha said, as though making one of her clairvoyant declarations. “You do know how seriously you take grooming is a bit abnormal, right?”

Nisha smiled through her tears. “Also, I think that’s a normal-sized T-shirt you’re wearing.”

“Also, your hair isn’t defying gravity and the laws of physics,” Aji said.

“So how are we going to get her back?” Ma asked, and HRH did the tiniest eye roll at Vansh that said, See?

He smiled at his father. They’re all nuts. How do we live with them?

HRH smiled back, relief darkening his eyes. “Unfortunately, I have to get to surgery,” he said. “But I want to talk to Naina. May I call her?”

“Let me talk to Vansh first,” Ma said.