Page 55 of I Wish We Weren't Related

Sita shot her a death stare. “I didn’t get that either. And you’rehaving an Indian wedding; there is no father-giving-away-the-bride bit. The uncles do it.”

“Yeah, but at least Dad was alive for yours! He had a photo of you and Nitin in his folder. He won’t even know Rakesh.” Jaya burst into loud tears.

Reeva tried not to snap at her. At least her sister was still going to marry Rakesh—the very dream Reeva had lost. Then she remembered she was trying to forgive Jaya. She closed her eyes and breathed through her frustration like her therapist had taught her. When she opened them, she was looking right at her dad. Seeing him there made everything feel so real and final. It felt like such a waste. What was the point in being alive if you couldn’t even speak to your children? No matter what had happened, Reeva knew she’d never feel it was worth keeping someone’s entire existence hidden from their family.

“Are you okay?” Sita came up beside Reeva. Jaya was still standing on the other side of the coffin sobbing loudly.

“I’ll be fine,” said Reeva. She brushed a stray tear from her eyes. She didn’t want to cry. Not now. Especially when Jaya was crying enough for all of them. “It just... feels like a waste, you know? That we never got to know him.”

Sita nodded. “I know. It’s shit. They probably thought they had years left, but then he died in his sixties.”

“It’s such ashame.If Mum had just let him get in touch with us, I know we would have accepted him. Loved him.”

Sita looked at her in surprise. “Loved him?”

Reeva shrugged defensively. “He’s our dad. He liked cats. He was kind. And funny. What more do you want?”

“He may have also been a violent, lying cheat,” said Sita. “But, you know, nobody’s perfect. I should know—I couldn’t be further from Mum of the Year.”

“What?” Reeva’s disbelief was real. “You seem like a great mum. You’re so socially aware.”

“It’s complicated. At least the girls know both their parents are alive though.”

Reeva smiled wryly. “Yeah. I wonder if I’ll ever contribute toward creating the next generation.”

“ ’Course you will. There’s loads of time.”

Reeva looked down at her dad. “We don’t always have as much time as we think.”

Sita hit her sister’s arm.

“Ow!” cried Reeva.

“Stop being so morbid,” said Sita. “It’s depressing me. As is this sad little room. Let’s go home and get drunk in the loo.”

“Shouldn’t we be at the prayers?” asked Reeva. “It’s the last night of bhajans before the funeral. I feel like people will expect us to be there.”

“Who cares?” replied Sita. “Life is short, remember? Hey, Jaya, stop sobbing. No one’s filming you. You up for hanging out in the bathroom again?”

Jaya sniffed. “Okay. Can we get some better food though? I’m over the children’s crudités.”

“I saw a pizza place on the way,” said Reeva. “Let’s stop off en route. I could murder a stuffed crust.”

—

“I can’t believewe have to cremate Dad tomorrow,” said Reeva. Two glasses of wine in, she was lying on her duvet, which was squashed into the empty bathtub—because if you’re going to hang out in the bathroom, you may as well do it properly—munching on pizza. Jaya was sitting opposite her on the toilet seat, with a cushion behind her back, while Sita was perched ontop of the closed laundry basket, eating a slice of pizza straight out of the box. Reeva took a satisfied bite of the cheesy crust. Satya Auntie had suggested going gluten- and dairy-free to help her alopecia, but as much as Reeva wanted her hair to grow back, she couldn’t face such drastic action during the hardest two weeks of her life.

“Poor man,” said Sita. “He doesn’t seem to have had the best life.”

Jaya raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Uh, there’s like thirty people downstairs crying their eyes out over him.”

“While his only children—well, as far as we know—are hiding out in the bathroom,” said Reeva. “Not really funeral goals.”

“And we’re eating pizza. Which we’re not meant to do until after the funeral,” added Jaya. “Remember? We’re only meant to eat bland food before he’s cremated. We’re totally getting reincarnated as flies.”

“I thought you don’t believe in reincarnation,” said Reeva. Jaya made a face at her in response.

“Hey, we dressed his corpse,” pointed out Sita. “That’s the epitome of daughterly duties.”

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