‘Yeah,’ I said weakly.
‘Why?’ He exhaled.
I held his gaze.
‘You have developed feelings for this Andrew?’ His tone was stone cold.
‘No!’ I wasn’t in love with Ravi. This wasn’t about Andrew; I was clear about that.
He shrugged. ‘The way he looked at you when we met. I am not sure if you noticed, but I did.’
‘How did he look at me?’ I heard myself exhale.
‘He was surprised when I said you were my girlfriend.’
‘He had no idea we were dating.’
Ravi shook his head. ‘He didn’t like that we were dating.’
I couldn’t refute that.
‘Sympathy, is it?’ Ravi asked.
What was he talking about? If I was feeling bad for Ravi, which I was, it’s not a crutch I would walk out on. Then I realized he was talking about Andrew and not himself.
‘Why would I be sympathetic towards him?’
‘My grandfather told me about Noelene. His grandmother and my grandfather had a relationship. There was a child from that, his mother.’
Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! There was a head-on collision in my upper storey. I felt it just as I did the coffee that had spilled on my white denims. The cup was sitting on my lap.
When I returned some 5, 10 or 15 minutes later, there was a dark stain on my trousers, but I was smiling.
‘That shocked you,’ Ravi said. ‘You’re always so correct, so careful, Myra. Everything in its place. Just like me. I’ve never seen you like this. You’re shocked.’ He was laughing now.
I’m effortlessly clumsy.
‘Sorry,’ I said slowly, settling into a clean chair.
‘I have to apologize. I shocked you.’
‘How do you know?’ I asked.
‘My grandfather told me. I thought you knew. That Andrew might’ve told you.’
I ignored the second part of the sentence. ‘Why did he tell you that?’ What kind of a question was that? Hari Rao’s reasons for telling Ravi about his biological grandson were obvious. I was blabbering even after I had the time to pull myself together.
Ravi smiled. ‘I guess he wanted me to know. Didn’t want me to be surprised by any revelations in case Andrew confronted me.’
I shrugged. Was Ravi testing waters with hisAndrew might’ve told youline? How much of his family’s history had Andrew trusted me with?
‘We don’t know. We have to be prepared for everything,’ Ravi said.
However carefully the man may have worded his explanation, there was no escaping there was a child from that relationship.A child. Hari Rao had cheated on the grandmother Ravi worshipped, and he was powdering his nose.
When had Hari Rao dropped the bomb? I swallowed the question in the nick of time. My stomach felt bloated with all the questions I’d been swallowing.
‘This has nothing to do with Andrew, Ravi. This is about you and me. And again, it’s nothing to do with you; it’s me.’
