Page 198 of The Circle of Exile
Iram shook her head, turning her eyes away from the happy scene in the hall. Samar and Atharva with their prodigy who was in turn with his own tiny prodigy trying to eat his nose.
“How is your book coming about?”
“Releasing this week.”
“What? How do I not know this?”
“Because we are not doing a big release event or anything.”
“Why?” Amaal stopped in her tracks. “Iram, if it’s because of Atharva’s externment then let me tell you that you are not affected by that. And your book will get a pan-India, a pan-world release…”
Iram smiled — “It’s not just that. There are multiple reasons.”
“You can’t do this to your career.”
“Do what?”
“Scale down like this.”
“On the contrary, this book is going into a 10,000-copy first edition print. Ten times Rescuing Heaven.”
“That’s… you deserve the fame, Iram.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Why?”
“I never wanted it, Amaal. Never vied for it. It was good. The book tours, the events, the talks. But after what has happened, to me and to Atharva, I want to stay on the low. I don’t want any attention on us.”
“You are sacrificing your career for Atharva.”
“No. I am strengthening my career into a more solid base for Atharva, and me and the family. Every release will bring five minutes of fame, and considering what we have seen, the bad kind is greater than the good kind. At this point, it will certainly be. That’s what Sherry anticipates too. So why chase it? The focus must be on the book, not on who wrote it.”
Amaal stared at her, silent.
“And,” Iram continued, smiling. “If I channel those marketing efforts into writing instead, I can have my third book out sooner and it will mean a a faster backlist, better revenue and a stronger base for us.”
Amaal’s mouth pursed.
“Don’t worry, you’ll still get a signed copy which you will not read.”
“Because I will keep it in a vacuum box and auction it for crores after ten years.”
Iram chuckled, turning and resuming their walk.
“Iram?”
“Hmm?”
“Is everything ok financially? I don’t have that much to help with but, are you all fine?”
“We are fine. Thank you for asking. Atharva shamelessly says that his wife is strong enough to run the house single-handedly,” she grinned, glancing back at him separating Yathaarth and Daniyal from one of their patent wrestling matches. “Which is crazy, because he manages it all so effortlessly. But Arth is growing, our goals are shifting as a family as we move from his baby phase into his schooling phase. Expenses just keep multiplying as kids grow.”
“Either have kids, or buy couture. Can’t do both,” Amaal shrugged.
“That’s enough about me. What is happening with you and Samar?”
“Nothing is happening.”
