“Hi.” Emmeline went over to hug her hello, then tucked her hair behind her ears to show Rhea the earrings. Rhea beamed.
“Oh, they suit you so well!” she said, touching the end of the chandbali earrings. They made a little jingling sound.
“I adore them,” Emmeline told her. “Thank you again.”
Rhea looked at Luke. “See, I told you she’d like them.”
He rolled his eyes fondly. “Yes, yes, as always, you are right.”
“I finally finished their sweaters,” Rhea told them. “Will you help me get the babies into them?”
She showed them the sweaters she had knitted; one was a buttery yellow while the other was a sky blue. “Adorable!” Emmeline affirmed. She picked up Butternut while Luke picked up Squash, and they both wrestled the bleating baby chimeras into the sweaters, which were perfect fits.
Rhea smiled, overjoyed, and Butternut leapt from Emmeline’s arms to snuggle in Rhea’s lap. Squash soon followed.
Then, Luke led Emmeline to his room, which was in aseparate section of the house. It was kind of like a studio apartment with a kitchenette, and after he closed the door behind her, it felt like they were completely separate, in their own private space.
Emmeline looked around, taking in every detail. She hadn’t been in his room before, and he let her explore, making them chai on the little stove. His place was clean and simple, everything white and black.
There was a board with pinned photographs, and she looked over them. While they showed various ages and times, the characters were constant: Sharptooth, Farhan, his parents, and the Din siblings.
“This is so sweet,” she said, pointing to a photo. It was Luke with the Din girls. He must have been about eight in the photo, and the girls were hanging off him, a toddler on his back and the other two on either side of him.
He came over, handing her a mug of chai. He took a sip from his own mug as he looked at the photo she was pointing at, smiling.
“Since I’m the oldest, I was always in charge,” he said. “Basim and Farhan were probably off getting into trouble somewhere.”
“Really?” she asked, surprised. “Basim seems so serious.”
“He is a lot more serious now, but when we were kids, he was as bad as Farhan,” Luke told her. “So it was always me looking after the girls. You don’t want to know how many times I was forced into their games. They’d either be sticking butterfly clips in my hair or trying to paint my nails or who knows what else.”
Emmeline laughed at the thought. “That is adorable,”she said, sipping her chai, which was perfectly made. “You’re good at taking care of people.”
It was a quality she greatly admired. She was so used to taking care of things herself, but around Luke, it felt like she could trust him. He was competent.
“So are you,” Luke told her. “I’ve seen the way you are with your friends and family—you do so much for everyone.”
She shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” he said.
She ambled over to his bookshelf, looking through his collection.
“So many of these books look untouched,” she said, running her hand along some of the spines.
“I haven’t got the chance to read all of them, yet,” he told her.
“How can you buy books you haven’t read?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“Because I want to read them.”
“What if you don’t like it? Then it’s just taking up space on your shelf.”
He gave her a funny look. “Do you only buy books you’ve read and liked?”
“Yes! I only buy books that I would reread.”
“Interesting.” He made a thoughtful sound. “But then that takes half the fun out of perusing at bookshops.”
