Tani groaned. “But Kabir’s going to think I snitched on him!”
“You did,” Karam said without remorse.
“To you! That’s different. You can’t bring his father into it.”
“I can and I am.” Karam looked at her steadily. “If it was you, I’d expect any of them to do the same.”
Her gaze fell from his, shame streaming through her. He wasn’t wrong but that didn’t make her feel better.
“What’s up with you Tani girl?” he said softly. “You’ve not been right since you came home.”
“I’m fine,” she said shortly. “We’re talking about Kabir now.”
“There was a time we didn’t talk about Kabir without talking about you.”
The soft words had pain pinching her heart, making her breathing tight. “Times change,” she murmured, blinking back tears.
“Nothing changes that much,” he replied. “Or it shouldn’t.”
A moment of silence and then he asked, “Is it Jay? Does he have a problem with Kabir and you being friends?”
“Friends?” She gave a watery chuckle. “He’s ten years older than me, Dad. We were hardly hanging out, or chasing each other on the playground.”
“There are all kinds of friends, Tan Tan,” he said quietly. “And Kabir and you were the best kind.” He leaned forward, holding out a hand for hers. “You didn’t answer my question. Is it Jay?”
Tani slipped her hand into his, let his rough fingers give hers a protective squeeze. The tears she’d been fighting slipped free.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “It’s Jay but it’s also me, Dad.”
“This is what you want?” he asked, his fingers tightening on hers.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “It is.”
At least she thought it was.
“But Tan,” he said quietly. “No man, not even me, should be telling you how to live your life, or whom to have in it. Make sure it is what you truly want before you do anything drastic.”
A knock on the door saved Tani from answering. They turned to see Ved walk in, Aakash at his back.
“Who invited you?” Karam scowled, rising to his feet.
“I don’t need an invite.” Aakash grinned. “I’m one of those people who is always welcome. Unlike you,” he added pointedly.
Ved rolled his eyes as Karam snapped, “Don’t you have a universe to run?”
“At this point, my friend,” Aakash sat down and made himself comfortable, “it pretty much runs itself.”
“Yash is on his way,” Ved said. “Hi Tani.”
She sighed. “Hi.”
Shit. Kabir was going to kill her. And for the first time, she wasn’t completely sure she didn’t deserve it.
CHAPTER 19
KABIR
He satin the darkened confines of his car, staring out of the window at the entrance to the chawl. The structure rose from the cramped plot of land, a rickety tower that somehow held itself together through hope and grit. In the open courtyard, by the steps, he saw a group of little girls playing hopscotch. Women lined up with buckets to collect water from the tanker that had just arrived. He watched a man step out, big, burly, and sweaty. He stopped to one side, hawked a red paan soaked stream of spit onto the road and then walked off.
