Mishka came back with the two-foot-long purple and gold sticks and handed a pair each to Vansh and Naina.

“Why don’t I watch the two of you,” Naina said. “We need to be in pairs, not threes.”

Vansh took her hand and held her in place as she tried to make her escape. “This young man would love to dance with Mishka. Wouldn’t you, sir?” he said to a young boy who was standing outside the circle by himself, dressed in the most adorable red and gold kurta.

The boy blushed. Mishka looked unsure.

“Here, you can be Mishka’s partner,” Naina said to Vansh. “And—what’s your name, beta?”

“K . . . K . . . Kiran,” the poor boy said, staring nervously at Mishka, who loomed a good head taller than him.

“. . . And Kiran can be my partner. We’ll get all mixed up when we start moving anyway.”

They took their positions, Naina and Vansh next to each other facing Mishka and a blushing Kiran.

The music started to thump. “Are you ready?” the DJ boomed into the mic.

“Yeah!” everyone shouted in response, but none as excitedly as Vansh and Mishka.

As if his beaming smile wasn’t enough, Vansh added hoots and whistles, and the strangest sense of lightness bubbled in the pit of Naina’s stomach.

And just like that, they were dancing. Stick against stick, then twirl, then again. At first she had to count the five-step movement, one and two and three and turn and five.

“Let go, Knightlina,” he shouted in her ear. Not being his partner meant she stayed next to him as the circles moved. “It’s just a dance.”

He looked so ridiculously comfortable spinning on his toes and making eye contact with every person he passed that Naina felt the numbers leave her head and the music take hold.

For a couple of songs she forgot where she was, who she was. Then the music slowed and the circles dissipated for a break, and she was oddly disappointed.

“Impressive, Ms. Kohli,” Vansh said. “I can’t wait for the day I get you to let a bhangra loose on me.”

“Never going to happen.” But she was smiling when Mishka, Nisha, and Ashna walked up to them. Nisha and Ashna had also joined the dancing circles, and they were all glistening from their exertions. After grabbing bottles of water, they headed back to where the mothers were still standing.

“So this project?” Nisha said, tenacious as a dog with a blood-soaked rag. “Did you say it had to do with that grant you got from Jiggy before Yash’s election?”

The rush of warmth that had been wrapped around Naina turned icy. Before she could answer, Jiggy Mehta jogged up to the DJ’s platform and took the mic (gold, of course, a very, very bright gold). He was wearing a glittery magenta suit with sequins on the wide lapels and a golden bow tie.