“I’m a bit behind today.” Ajay stepped back for Hem to enter. “Is everything okay?”

“I should be asking you that,” Hem said. “Cha?”

“Yeah, if you’re making it.”

Hem toed off his shoes and shrugged out of his suit jacket, draping it over the back of one of the barstools. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked as he rolled up the cuffs of his oxford shirt. His kara, identical to the one Ajay wore, glinted in the light.

“Bhai, I’m fine.”

“I’m only asking because you slept past four thirty, you’re naked, and you grew a beard. I don’t think you’ve shaved since before Dad had his second heart attack.”

Ajay sat on one of the barstools and ran his fingers through his facial hair. The memory came flooding back. His father wheezing. The car ride to the hospital following the screaming sirens of the ambulance. The hospital waiting room.

Hem had always been an astute bastard.

“Makes me look older. Besides, I’ve been busy.”

“Don’t I know it. You’re doing great, Ajay. But take care of yourself, too.” Hem started to pull the ingredients out of Ajay’s cabinet for the chai. Masala mix. Pot. Tea leaves. It was jarring at first to realize that Hem knew where everything was.

It made sense though. Hem rarely stayed at his place, but his bungalow was identical to his own. Zail’s was the same too, but he rarely used it since he was mostly on the West Coast overseeing Bharat’s operations. Ajay was the only regular visitor. To learn from his father, he had to be near him.

“Where is Mina?” he asked as he picked up his phone to scroll through some of his emails from the night before.

“At the office.” Hem poured loose-leaf tea into a pot of water. “I have to drag her away some nights. It’s as if she was starving for something new, something challenging. There is so much work to catch up on at my firm, she’s gorging herself on it all.”

“That’s good, right? You guys are working well together. Did you come out here to check on me or to talk about your new relationship?”

Hem hummed. “I’m here because I wanted to ask Mom for Nani’s ring.”

Ajay froze. “You’re going to marry her.”

Hem looked at Ajay over his shoulder. “Eventually. When she says she’s ready. I know I am, though, so I’m going to be prepared while I wait.”

“I’m happy for you,” Ajay said. He meant it, too. His brother looked relaxed. At ease. Almost two years ago he’d left the family compound, left the company, because he refused to fall in line with their father’s expectations. Now Hem was where he belonged.