“Esha reads newspapers and magazines. So, it wasn’t that,” Nisha reassured her.

“Should I go in and check up on her?” India asked.

Nisha looked unsure. “Let’s wait a little. She probably just needed a moment. Sometimes she needs that. She likes us to help only when she asks for help.”

For the next few minutes they sat there in silence, staring at the door to Esha’s room. The hands on the grandfather clock ticked in silent jerks. Ram had fallen asleep on Vansh’s lap and was sucking on his fist. He’d finally figured out how to get it into his mouth, and small exhausted snores escaped him.

Finally Esha came back out, face as calm as ever. The magazine was no longer in her hand.

Ram gave another snore and Esha smiled, which made them all breathe again.

“You never told me who you fought with,” she said to Vansh as though she hadn’t left two minutes ago like someone who’d seen a ghost.

“Naina,” Vansh said, because he had no idea how to lie to Esha.

Nisha opened her mouth, then shut it when she remembered that India was in the room.

Mad as Vansh was at Naina, he didn’t like what he saw on Nisha’s face. He’d never understood why his sisters were always so awkward around her. Admittedly Yash and Naina’s relationship hadn’t been conventional. They’d spent more time together when they’d been friends than they had after they had started “dating.” Which made sense because it had turned out that it had been fake dating all along.

Vansh was sketchy on the details, mostly because, in true Raje fashion, only the part of the information necessary to move on from the problem had been shared. Yash behaved as though getting into a fake relationship with his best friend to avoid dating was a mere misstep. And Naina behaved as though using it as a workaround for her daddy issues was none of anyone else’s business. Pretty much like everything else about her life. Her resting face was a giant fuck-you to the world.

Why it suddenly bothered Vansh so much when it was directed at him, he had no idea. But when Naina took an interest in him, there was no dishonesty to it, no pretense. Just like when she disapproved, she held nothing back. Which made her opinion hard to dismiss.

Obviously his sisters didn’t feel the same way. Ever since the fake-dating secret had come out, they’d acted like she was the Wicked Witch of the West Coast.

For a long moment Esha studied him, her eyes flickering with understanding as though she could hear his thoughts.

“Naina,” Esha said finally, picking up a cucumber sandwich and examining it as though it were an irreconcilable piece in a complex puzzle. “I don’t think you should back down.”

Chapter Six