The boy barked out a laugh, sending his chins wobbling. ‘You haven’t met my dad.’
‘No, but I’ve met mine and, trust me, I’m sure yours is a welcome gift in comparison.’ Jacob leant against the wooden counter.
‘I don’t know. Your parents must be cool to let you go travelling by yourself.’
‘They didn’t have a choice. I was an adult – what could they do?’
‘Lock the doors and tell you that you weren’t going? I reckon that’s what my mum would do. She won’t even let me go down the road without worrying I’ll burst into flames and die. It’s soannoying.’
The whine in Kushal’s voice sent Jacob straight back to his teenage days of raging hormones and sprouting body hair. Of stuffy bedrooms that smelt like guinea pig hutches, and uncontrollable urges to break things. To kiss girls. To run away from home and never come back …
‘Come on, that’s only because she loves you.’
‘Too much, if you ask me.’
‘That’s just mums for you, I think.’
Guilt prickled the back of Jacob’s throat. He’d forgotten how quickly even the most innocent talk of families could take him back to places he didn’t want to go.
Thankfully, Kushal seemed just as reluctant to continue the topic, reaching for one of three chocolate bars sitting in front of him.
‘You want one?’
‘Nah, you’re OK, buddy. I reckon you deserve that sugar hit after the day you’ve had.’
‘Tell me about it.’ He ungracefully shoved half of the first bar into his mouth. ‘Anyway, how was your day?’
‘It was good. I stayed local, just wandered around a bit.’
‘A bit? You’ve been gone all day.’
‘I know, but there’s just so much to see and I am only one man.’
‘True. How long are you staying here for, again?’
‘Not sure yet.’ The dice felt heavy in his pocket. ‘Going to play it by ear. See where the wind takes me and all that.’
‘Don’t you …’ the young boy began to ask, before stopping himself and taking another sizeable bite from his chocolate.
‘Go on. Don’t I …?’
‘Well, I suppose I was thinking.’ He shuffled awkwardly in his already too-small seat. ‘You’ve been travelling a while now, right?’
‘Five years, give or take.’
‘So, do you ever get lonely? Without your friends and stuff.’
From the vaults of his memory, a flood of old faces surfaced. Ghosts from a past life reaching him all the way from sleepy Surrey. Ties that he had severed, purposefully … intentionally. He had been too young to fully know the pain of a lonely life, but it was one that he had chosen gladly over the alternative.
‘Sorry, that’s probably a bit personal,’ Kushal backtracked.
‘No, it’s fine!’ Jacob forced himself back to the present, blinking away the visions of his childhood. ‘I just don’t think anyone could feel lonely in a place like this. There’s never a dull moment!’ His laugh was empty and flat. ‘And you can always make friends as you go.’
‘That’s true. Have you met anyone cool so far in Delhi?’
The china-blue eyes appeared in a flash.
‘I have, actually.’ The honesty felt refreshing after his collection of lies. ‘In fact, you don’t know any good internet cafes around here, do you?’
