“She still has another year before she’s past the threshold where she’s most likely to relapse. But she’s celebrating now like it’s a foregone conclusion that she’ll stay in remission.”
“She should celebrate now. She’ll be okay.”
“She was nearly at four years the last time she relapsed.”
Nimita held his hand. “She’s healthy and happy, Roshan. She wants to stay positive.”
Roshan’s brow was furrowed. “Not to mention, she moved out without telling me.”
Nimita snorted. “Well, that’s between you two to work out. I’m not getting in the middle of it, but maybe ask yourself why she thought it necessary to sneak around.” She took his hand and leaned into him. She caught Reena’s glare from across the tent. Nimita put a couple inches of space between them.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Reena giving me the stink eye for PDA at a mandhir event.”
He rolled his eyes. “We’re grown adults.”
She shook her head. “It’s just Reena.” Fact was, Nimita was fighting the urge to be contrary and full-on make-out with Roshan in public to irritate her sister. But she was still trying to win Reena over, so every little bit mattered.
Nimita couldn’t take her eyes off Malini and the lifeguard. They were adorable. Roshan followed her gaze.
He sighed deeply. “She needs to be careful. With people.”
“She can flirt if she wants,” Nimita said.
“That guy? The lifeguard? Has had a crush on her for a while,” Roshan stated.
“Yeah, so?” Nimita was confused.
“She could break hearts.”
“She’s twenty-six years old. She’s supposed to break hearts.”
“You don’t get it. She has to be aware of how her health affects others.”
“You think she doesn’t know that?”
“I think she needs to focus on her work, her health. Not ways to escape.”
“Or she can be a normal young woman and enjoy flirting with a handsome man,” Nimita said. Her heart seized at his use of the wordescape. The music was loud, and colored powder was flying. She walked out of the tent to find a quieter place, getting soaked by colored water on the way. Her white T-shirt was no longer white and it was sticking to her. As were her shorts.
Roshan followed, getting soaked as well. His white shirt was soaking wet and clinging to him in the most pleasant way. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t foist your expectations on her. Be happy for her in her new apartment,” Nimita said.
“I’m not foisting anything. I’m just saying she should wait until the five-year mark when she’s actually healthy—”
“That is an expectation. You expect her to wait. Why should she have to wait? For anything? Let her live her life.” She paused. “Didn’t we have enough people carry expectations for us? Asking us to live up to them?”
He shook his head. “It’s just practical.”
“You sound like my mom.”
“What does that mean?”
God, he really did sound like her mother. “My mom always wanted me to wait to live my life. It was always get married, then you can have fun. And also graduate with a degree, then you can have fun. Get a good job. Then have fun. It was all about waiting for that perfect time to do anything outside of her expectations of me.” Nimita’s heart sank. “What she didn’t realize was that in hitting all those milestones, I was missing out on life. It was suffocating,” she pleaded, her gaze locked on those intense eyes she was starting to get used to. “Don’t let Mali miss out on life.”
“Waiting to be cancer free isn’t the same as waiting to get a job or get married. It’s not suffocating,” Roshan countered. “It just isn’t. If Malini relapses, she goes into treatment. What do you think that will do to a relationship?”
