Chapter 5 #4
Kaavi took a long nap and was now in the shower again.
She lathered body wash all over and pretended she was okay.
Neel had said he had to deal with something and left about two hours ago.
She wrapped herself in a towel and went back to the bedroom.
Her grey Kurti dress lay on the bed next to her underwear.
She sat in front of the mirror and looked at her reflection.
She looked like her mother. She thought about her mother.
How could she possibly console her when she believed her mother was finally free?
Neel walked through the bedroom door. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her sitting at the vanity table.
‘I’m sorry. I’ll turn around or come back later,’ he said, turning away from her. She chuckled. ‘It’s fine. You’ve seen much more under this towel. Besides, the world has seen these bare shoulders on billboards.’
He turned back to her.
‘Your uncle and I went to the funeral home,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m family?’
She nodded. This whole setup was like being in the twilight zone. Were they together now or what?
‘My dad also joined us,’ he said casually.
‘Your dad?! What do you mean your dad?’
‘My parents know your father passed away and are on the way here. Did you see my charger anywhere?’
‘Neel Naran! You’re asking me about a charger after you just announced that your family is coming here.’
‘I do need to charge my phone,’ he replied.
She was fuming. How dare he? Now he wanted to know about a charger! She dropped the towel, and started to dress. He stopped and stared at her. She suddenly realised what she’d done.
‘Fuck.’ He said it, but she thought it.
‘I didn’t realise,’ she said, standing in her panties with her bra in one hand.
‘Okay, let me just think this through,’ he said.
He started to pace.
‘My family is on their way. So there’s that. And then of course, your father just died. Fuck. It would be so wrong.’
He stopped pacing and looked at her.
‘I’m going to kiss you.’
She didn’t respond.
‘I mean like right now. I’m going to kiss you right now.’
She sucked in her breath.
He took a step towards her and the phone in his hand vibrated.
He growled and then answered it.
She quickly put on her clothes and sat in front of the mirror again. She ran a brush through her hair and then applied moisturiser on her face and added makeup for a soft, natural look. She heard Neel say goodbye to whoever he was talking to.
She was just about to apply lipstick when Neel stood behind her.
‘Don’t,’ he said.
She glanced at him questioningly but didn’t have time to speak because he pulled her to her feet and turned her to face him.
And then his lips were on hers. She threw her hands around his neck and pulled him closer.
They’d kissed hundreds of times, but every kiss ignited something in her.
This kiss wasn’t demanding. It was filled with something unspoken.
Kaavi just didn’t know what. Neel slowed the kiss and when he ended it, he brushed a couple of strands of hair off her face.
‘My parents just pulled into the driveway,’ he said quietly.
She squinted at him. He quickly moved away.
Kaavi watched him leave the bedroom. She expertly applied her lipstick, rolled her shoulders, stood up tall and took a slow, deep breath.
It was time to face the music. She stepped out of the bedroom and followed the murmur of voices and the smell of fresh coffee.
As she walked into the kitchen, that same familiar warmth hit her.
She and Neel were terrible cooks, but this room had always been their spot, where they’d sit for hours, eat too much takeaway and talk about everything and nothing.
Back then, it had been her favourite room in the house.
The talking stopped as soon as Kaavi walked in and she gave a hesitant smile.
It honestly felt like stepping in front of a firing squad.
The first face that came into view had to be Neel’s sister, there was no mistaking it.
And now she understood why Sam never believed they were related back when Natara tagged along to cricket matches.
They were twins, sure, but they couldn’t have looked more different.
Neel had textured hair; Natara’s was pin-straight, styled into a sharp shoulder-length bob.
She wore black-rimmed glasses and was so short that, if standing side by side, she would barely reach Kaavi’s shoulder.
Neel was always the tallest person in the room.
But Natara? Natara was small – and serious.
When Kaavi’s gaze shifted to Neel’s parents, it all made sense. Natara had her mother’s height while Neel was a younger, taller version of his father.
Neel stood leaning against the counter, arms folded, offering her an encouraging smile.
His mother shot up from her seat, rushed over and pulled Kaavi into a tight hug.
Kaavi had braced herself for coldness, bitterness, anger, all the things you’d expect from a mother-in-law whose daughter-in-law had walked away from her son. But not this woman. This woman held her close.
Her hug was warm, grounding.
‘I’m sorry about your father, Kaavi,’ she whispered in her ear.
She let go of Kaavi and gently ushered her into the kitchen.
Kaavi followed, still speechless. She didn’t know what to say. What could she possibly say?
She wanted to say thank you, but the words wouldn’t come. She was numb. Her father had just died and she hadn’t even begun to untangle how she felt about that. And now here she was, meeting the in-laws she should’ve met nearly three years ago.
Neel’s father stepped forward and held out his hand.
‘My deepest condolences, Kaavi,’ he said as they shook hands.
She nodded silently.
Natara didn’t move from her spot. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, flatly but not unkindly.
Neel didn’t get a chance to introduce anyone because his mother beat him to it. She was already pulling out a chair.
‘Sit, sit,’ she said, waving Kaavi over. ‘I brought you something to eat.’
She opened a container. Roti rolls.
‘It’s potato curry. I hope you like potato curry,’ she said warmly.
When Kaavi first stepped into the kitchen, food was the last thing on her mind. But the moment she caught a whiff of the potato curry and saw the rolls, her stomach twisted with sudden hunger.
‘Thank you, these look really good,’ she said to Neel’s mother.
His mother smiled and took the seat opposite her at the kitchen table.
‘Kaavi, is there anything we, as your in-laws, should do, traditionally, for your dad’s funeral?’
Kaavi set the roti roll down and leaned back. The question caught her off guard. She couldn’t believe this woman’s kindness. They were offering to step in as family when she hadn’t even given them the time of day when she married Neel.
‘I don’t know,’ she said quietly. ‘I don’t even know when the funeral is.’
Neel straightened from where he stood.
‘It’s tomorrow,’ he said.
Kaavi nodded. She picked up the roti roll and took a bite, forcing it down past the lump in her throat.
Her father’s funeral was tomorrow. And still, she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Natara placed a cup of coffee in front of Kaavi. ‘Two sugars, right? That’s what Neel said.’
Kaavi nodded, smiling softly. It warmed her more than the drink to know that he remembered something so small.
She looked around the room at these four people who were embracing her with such kindness, it almost undid her. She hadn’t felt this held in a long time.
Her mind drifted to her childhood kitchen. It wasn’t the space itself that made it feel like home. It was her mother. Her mother had always been the one to bring warmth, the one who stood by her through everything she went through with her father. But as she grew older, that warmth had faded.
Now, sitting across from Neel’s mother, watching the way she looked at her and Neel, with open admiration, it hit a tender spot.
It hurt. And Kaavi didn’t know how to explain any of it.
She never had. Not to her mother. Not to Neel.
Not even to herself. That was the thing.
She was never good at naming what she felt and that’s why she’d never really told Neel about the storm she lived with every day.
‘We’re headed to Kaavi’s parents’ home. Are you joining us?’ Neel said after a while.
His father shook his head.
‘We’ll be at home if you need us,’ he said.
Neel’s mother reached out to his cheek and lightly tapped it.
‘We are only a call away, okay?’ she said.
Kaavi was jealous. Why hadn’t her mother been there for her when she needed her the most?
They said their goodbyes and made their way to Neel’s car in the garage. Kaavi tapped the screen on her smartwatch. It was almost 4 pm. So much had happened in 24 hours.
She got into the car and gave Neel directions.
She was quiet on the drive to her parents’ house, but part of her waited for Neel to say something about how they were so close to his place yet he had no idea her parents were even alive.
She’d overheard him tell his father he’d assumed they were dead.
He had no clue they both lived in Johannesburg.
Kaavi had taken every out-of-town assignment she could find just to avoid running into them.
When they entered her old neighbourhood, her heart started racing.
‘That’s the high school I went to,’ she said, pointing to the left.
He nodded.
She told him to turn right at the next intersection and then park near a two-storey house on the left.
Neel came around to open her door. She stepped out reluctantly and looked up to the house.
It was storybook perfect. Nothing had changed.
The garden was expertly landscaped. The perfect house for the perfect family.
Very few knew what life had been like behind those walls.