Page 46 of A King's Oath

“I know.” She nudged his arm. “Now you won’t fail your Geography, and I won’t have to suffer through you sulking about it.”

He rolled onto his side, propping his head up on his hand, his mind already settled after he had understood those messed upsymbols perfectly. “Maybe I just like an excuse to have you teach me things.”

Ava arched a brow. “Samarth Singh Solanki, are you flirting with me over topo maps?”

He smiled, pushing his hand through the hair stuck to her cheek. Samarth tucked it behind her ear and cupped her cheek — ‘What would I do without you?”

“Flunk Geography.”

“No, I didn’t mean this,” he caressed her cheek. Her pimples were beginning to settle after the new creams her mother had sent over. He carefully ghosted over the ones that were bursting and causing her pain.

“What did you mean then?” Her big brown eyes cleared of all mocking.

“I meant in my life. It’s stupid to talk about it like that when we are so young… but…” his eyebrow rocked up.

“When has that ever stopped you?”

“I know, right?” He aped her, eyes wide. Her lips widened with those rare dimples popping in the corners.

“When I left Nawanagar to come here, I cried a lot in the plane’s bathroom. Papa didn’t want to send me but he and I both knew this was necessary. I understood as Kunwar of Nawanagar, but I also hated being alone here, on my own, away from Papa and Dada Sarkar. Then after a while, I didn’t mind being alone. Never really even thought about it. I had friends… but none of them werereallyfriends. If you hadn’t been sent by Ms. Veda to usurp my window seat, I don’t think I would have been like this.”

“Like what?”

“So happy. I thought I was happy. Now, this, with you is really happy. I come to you with my problems, I tell you of my victories, my game plans, my worries. I have you cheering me on my game days and then not shut up about my missed penalty shots. I get to share my Krishna songs with you, tell you stories of Nawanagar and Dada Sarkar and Papa. You listen to them like they are the best things in the world. I have you teach me things I don’t know. I get to kiss you, lie beside you. Ava, you don’t know how scared I am sometimes thinking what I will do when we go back to our kingdoms after 10th. Even this two-month winter break coming up seems impossible to do without you…”

“Hey,” she grabbed his wrist and squeezed. “We are not breaking up or anything.’

“Never!” He reiterated. “But staying away is going to be difficult. Being alone again…” he thought about his father then. How had he managed to live alone? After experiencing this with Ava, he couldn’t think of not having her close to talk to. How had his father lived all these years without talking to somebody like this?

“What happened?” Her palm came to his cheek.

“Huh?” He startled.

“What happened? You were talking and suddenly went silent.”

Samarth shrugged — “I was just thinking…”

“About what?”

“You know how I can talk to you about anything, right?”

“Hmm…”

“Who did my Papa have to talk to all his life? My mother left us when I was four. And from what I hear, they did not have the best marriage before that either. Papa never says it to me, but it’s an open secret. If what we have wasn’t there for him back then,and it is not there for him now… isn’t my Papa living a lonely, sad life?”

Ava turned and almost climbed over his body, her eyes softened again into that expression. The Samarth Expression, as he had termed it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It takes some different kind of bravery to think about your father like that.”

“I don’t mean likethat, Ava, please…”

“Neither do I. I mean, to think about your father as a man and not a father. My Naniji always does this, you know… when we got to Khargone for summer vacations, us and Mummy, and then Papa comes for a weekend, she sends them off to either a day-long trip or out to dinners — alone. Even when we were kids she did that. And if we cried and pushed to go, she would tell us thatthatwas not Mummy-Papa time, that was Vishwa-Ajay time. They have to be friends and play too, like we play with our friends. Kresha and I grew up seeing them as our parents, but we also knew that they had a life beyond us.”

Ava patted his cheek.

“Most people our age don’t understand that about their parents. That they existed before you were born. They lived, had a life, did things. I am so proud of you right now for thinking this for your father after all that you have gone through.”

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