Page 53 of Unfolding Ethan

I blinked and shook my head, hiding my amused smile. "Yes, I get it. Closer to Hell and Satan.”

She just chuckled at me, but her grin vanished when she looked down at the math notes and growled. No, she fuckinggrowled.

I said, "Youhaveto complete your homework."

"After lunch?"

"There's two hours for lunch, Kia. Homework.Now."

Kiara scowled. "I don't want to do math, Ethan. It'll make my inner serial killer lash out.”

Fuck it.

"If you complete your homework, I will make out with you. Shirtless.” I bargained with my best friend.

She looked me dead in the eyes. "Say no more." And opened her books.

I sat there surprised and proud of myself that I’d not only get us to complete our homework, I’d also get to kiss her. Two birds. One Stone.Fucking genius, Ethan.

"Wow, Kiara Sharma is doing math! The horror."

I looked up from my notes to see Karan enter his sister's room without knocking and throwing a paper ball at her.

We must have been engrossed in our work that we didn't notice the time. It showed half past noon in her digital alarm clock on her nightstand.

He nodded at me with a smile and I nodded back.

"Su kam che tane?" she asked in her native Gujarati language, throwing her pen at him, which he dodged so professionally that someone would think he was born to dodge that. But in reality, Sharma siblings loved to throw things at each other.

After staying at her home for half of my life, I knew bits of Gujarati and Hindi. Personally, I loved it when her voice turned a bit high-pitched and sounded very cute when she spoke in her native language.

"Ma said lunch will be ready in a few minutes. I am going out with Rachel, so it's just you two, Mom and Dad, kay? Bye, handsome!" he said, walking out of the room.

No, he wasn't calling me handsome, he was saying that to his sister.

"Bye, beautiful!" she called out and faced me. Her dark eyes fell on my lips and then back up to my face. She smiled. “Our kiss remains.”

I smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

It felt like I had gained five pounds as soon as I inhaled the delicious scent of Indian food, entering the kitchen. The lunch was heavenly but a bit spicy. I didn't know how they could eat such spicy food. It was Chola puri with some Punjabi Indian pickles and onions.

Her father, Mr. Vijay Sharma, asked us about our studies and made dad jokes. His hair was brown peppered with gray and he had warm eyes like his wife and the dimpled smile like his daughter. He didn’t have a beard, but he did keep a mustache. Kiara once told me how she cried when her father got rid of it. She was a baby back then and didn't even look at her father until the mustache grew back.

"No, I swear, I am full. I ate way too much, thank you. My stomach will explode if I eat another bite," I told Mrs. Damini when she insisted to serve more Chola and puri. They always made me eat more than my normal consumption of food.

Kiara snorted at me and shook her head, taking another bite. She was sitting across from me with her mother and she was still eating.

Where does all that food go? And she still has a perfect body.Damn.

"Daddy, can you pass me the salt?" Kiara asked.

Unconsciously, my hand lifted to the small salt shaker to give it to Kiara and so did her father's.

Fucking. Shit.

Her father and mother paused, looking at me with a poker face while Kiara's jaw dropped open. I breathed heavily because air became thick with tension. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

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