She considered that. She had felt at peace at all those places. But it wasn’t really about just peace. “The escape I found.”
He released a breath, and she looked at him and saw him scanning the water, the sky and beach. His gaze landed on her. “I could see that, for sure.”
* * *
This woman was incredible. Talk about following your heart and making your dreams come true. Maybe she was just using travel as escapism, but she still made it happen.
He took in the water, the sky and beach through her eyes. Adventure. Excitement. Peace.
They had just been reading about magic, and he swore magic swirled in the air between them. There was no other explanation for what he saw in her eyes, felt in her hands and heard in her voice.
In the two years he had known Nimita Chaudhary, he had never known her to be vulnerable as she was now. He had no idea what shone in his face and eyes, and in that moment, he didn’t care. Nimi was magic, and he was under her spell.
“What did you want to escape from?” he asked.
She looked away, and the spell was broken.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. He was an idiot. Vishal would have hit him upside his head for ruining that moment.
“Escape from everyone who was judging me. From everyone who didn’t understand,” she said, an edge of anger in her voice. “From everyone who wanted to have a say in how I lived my life. From everyone who keeps wanting to know what I’m going to do next.”
“Who is asking you that?”
“My sister—” She seemed as though she was going to add to that but stopped.
Roshan kept walking, kept holding her hand.
Nimi sighed. “Although…my sister got married, like my mom wanted. And when I took off, she and her husband started taking care of our father.”
He nodded. “We did the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean everything we did was for my sister. My parents were always in a constant state of worry. I gave her blood, marrow, everything I could.” His time most of all.
“Did your parents ignore you?”
“No.” He sounded defensive, and Nimi raised an eyebrow. “I mean they loved me, but she was sick. She needed them more.” He shrugged.
Nimi watched him as they approached their chairs in the dark. “Didn’t you need them?” she asked softly.
He shook his head. “Not as much as my sister did. I was healthy and capable of taking care of my own things.” He shrugged. “With me on autopilot, all they had to do was make sure my little sister got healthy.” His voice cracked. They had reached their chairs, but neither of them sat.
“Maybe, Dave,” Nimi said, her voice soft and sweet over the low splashes of the ocean. “But everyone needs parents. No one chooses to raise themselves.”
“I didn’t—”
“Didn’t you?” She reached out and turned his face to her. She was close enough that he could feel her breath. “What did they say when you graduated second in the class?”
He shook his head. He had told them both the night before graduation.
* * *
Butterflies had filled his stomach. It really was no small feat, graduating second in a class of over eight hundred students. He’d been excited.
His parents had been sitting on the sofa, watching their shows. Malini was healthy at the moment, so they were relaxed.
“So class rank came out,” he said, trying to remove the shake from his voice.
