Page 116 of The Rules of Playing with Fire

I retracted my hand. He grabbed it again.

“I’m glad you’re here Mihir. I’m glad you finally let me in.”

With a sigh, he rolled to his back and gazed at the ceiling. “I’m glad I did. I would’ve never found the building, let alone Kamte or his daughter.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “So what now?” he asked.

“Now, we pause and rest.”

“I want to call my parents, but I fear I’ll hurt them again.”

I squeezed his hand. “Do they know you’re here?”

“Yes, but I haven’t spoken to them since I arrived.”

“You should.”

The hot sun had turned a mellow orange when I woke up against his chest. My leg was flung over his hip, his palm cupping my bottom. He appeared to be in a deep sleep, his chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. I took the opportunity to take in his scent. I drew into him, feeling his warmth through his T-shirt. I wanted to kiss his chest I had missed so much, but instead, I looked up and stared into his face. The gorgeous face that was no longer mine to stare into.

“What are you looking at?” he said and startled me.

I smiled. “I’m wondering what your hand is doing on my butt.”

“Hmmm, I’ve no idea how it got there,” he said with his eyes still closed, his hand steady where it was.

I withdrew myself from his warmth and went to the bathroom.

“I should leave now,” I said after I had freshened up. “My parents must wonder where I am, and just what it is that I’m doing with you.”

He smiled with closed eyes.

“Come home for dinner,” I offered.

“No, I don’t feel like socializing tonight.”

For once, I didn’t press him. He looked at peace for the first time since he’d shown up at my parents’ house. When he called the front desk and arranged for a car to take me home, I didn’t protest either.

I knew it wasn’t prudent to put all hope into my meeting with Malati the next day, but that was the only twig I had to hold on to in the midst of this deluge that was determined to drown us both.

SONA

Tempted as I was to call Sneha aunty immediately, I waited until it was a decent time in the U.S. When I called her from my locked room that night, she recognized my voice instantly.

“Sona!” She broke into soft sobs, which made me tear up too.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, Aunty,” I said, trying to control my shaky voice. “I didn’t know. Mihir just ended things…”

“I suspected as much.”

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine…” I found it difficult to verbalize my exact emotion. “I don’t want to intrude. I just wanted to see if you are doing okay. Mihir misses you both.”

“He does?” she asked with sincere hope.

“Yes, he wants to call…he’s just wary.”

She sobbed with what I suspected were tears of relief. “Did he tell you everything?”

She told me her side of the story, the parts that filled in the gaps in Mihir’s version. She spoke of her sorrow, her grief and loss. She told me of his reaction to it all.

“I understand he feels cheated and lied to, but saying we didn’t love him had us completely unraveled. How can he say that, Sona?”

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