Everyone else who’s heard the story since—Tejal, my parents, Aman’s family—they all think it’s bizarre.
Everyone except Raghav.
We spend the next few hours, refreshing and doomscrolling. Today’s the day we can really lean into what happened. The compensation disbursement has given news outlets a story to report on. They will forget about it tomorrow. That’s just the nature of news, of people. I know I should shower. But today feels like the wrong day for any sort of movement. But Raghavhas now showered. He has a lead on me. Which is rare in the grief Olympics of this house.
I’m about to get up when there’s a knock. Three quick raps.
Neither of us moves.
Then, a voice:
‘Open the door,gadhon.’
It’s Tejal.
‘Khol bhai!’
It’s Sumrit too.
Raghav sighs. Doesn’t budge.
I go.
The door creaks as I open it. It always does. Raghav says he’s fixed it, but everything he fixes still creaks like this. This house is... unfixable. Us, the door, the burning smell of the stove, the vacuum. Tejal’s standing there, worry creasing her forehead. Next to her is Sumrit, her boyfriend. She’s wearing Sumrit’s XL T-shirt with leggings. Tejal’s tall, 5’6” and even then the T-shirt looks like a large shopping bag on her. It used to be a medium, then a large. Now XL. Apparently, Sumrit’s bulking up and I want to tell him he should stop. There are two momo trays peeking out of her bag. Her eyes scan me, then the hallway.
She raises an eyebrow. ‘We expected worse.’
‘Why? Is today special?’
Sumrit rolls his eyes. ‘Where’s Raghav? We’re going out.’
‘I’m going nowhere,’ Raghav calls out from inside.
Tejal barges in. ‘Both of you can’t just sit here.’
Raghav flops down on the sofa, grabs the remote. ‘Of course I can. I pay the rent here.’
‘Again with the rent?’ Tejal groans.
Sumrit’s on the sofa too, peeking at the highlights Raghav’s put on the television and tells him, ‘Bhai, let’s go. It will be a nice change. We can’t leave you alone.’
‘Please, guys. Get up,’ Tejal insists. ‘This is not good. Both of you alone, like this.’
‘Like what?’ I ask.
Tejal rolls her eyes. ‘You look like you were just about to cry. So shut up.’
Neither of us replies.
Sumrit takes the remote from Raghav and switches it off. ‘Bhai, Tejal’s scaring me that you... you guys are on the seventh floor. It’s risky. So, who knows what you might do? So... come bhai.’
‘You think we’ll kill ourselves?’ I ask.
‘Don’t say that,’ Tejal protests. ‘Don’t put that energy out into the universe.’
Raghav half-smiles. Or whatever his version of a smile is these days. ‘Not a bad idea. Instant death. We could look into it.’
‘Point,’ I say. ‘Of all the instant death methods, this one ranks the highest.’
