Chapter 25
Kalpana put some toast in the toaster. It was a month since Sampath had returned to her life. He had stayed over – as he often did – so they were sitting on either side of her tiny table, eating breakfast together.
This past month had been … completely different to anything she’d experienced before.
She had woken up that first morning, snuggled into his side, and her first thought had been yes, this is right.
That feeling of something finally clicking into place had stayed with her.
She had expected things to fizzle out a little bit with time, but this relationship, it seemed, was different.
They did normal things like going to the supermarket to get food and watching TV and talking.
So much talking. She wanted to know everything about him and the more she learned, the more she loved him.
The toast popped up. She put another round in and took the toast to the table where Sampath was sitting, sipping his coffee. ‘How’re you feeling?’
He had a job interview today. Right now, he was wearing a crisp white shirt and a pair of jade green trousers. The jacket for it lay over the back of the sofa.
‘A bit nervous actually,’ he said. ‘This is a big company. They’ve done some interesting projects. And the job I’ve applied for is a little bit out of my league, I think.’ He put his coffee down, took a deep breath and let it out again. ‘But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?’
Kalpana knew that his job hunt hadn’t been going as well as he’d hoped. After using up his annual leave, Sampath had only been unemployed for a week or so, but it was already bothering him, she could tell.
She placed a light kiss on the top of his head. Even a month on, the novelty of being able to touch him had not worn off. ‘It’s a second interview though. You’ll wow them.’
‘Hope so. How about you? What’s the plan for today? Writing?’
She grimaced and nodded. Unlike him, she was still in her pyjamas.
They weren’t even sexy pyjamas – just tracksuit bottoms and an oversized T-shirt, which was what she wore to bed when there was no one to impress.
Weirdly, she didn’t feel the need to hide the messy side of herself from Sampath like she had done with Marcus.
It was almost as though he already knew and loved her anyway.
‘I’m going to go help my brother-in-law put together some flatpack furniture this afternoon, but I could meet you for a quick catch-up after my interview, if you’re up for that.’ He drained the last of his coffee.
‘I’d like that,’ she said. ‘Ugh. I should make some progress with this book. The deadline is coming up faster than I’d like it. I wasted so much time with writer’s block.’
‘Are you going to finish it in time?’
She shrugged. ‘I hope so. I could always ask for an extension, but I’ve never done that before and I really don’t want to start now.’
‘How does that work, then?’
She explained it to him while he had his toast. He listened and asked her questions, and she realised she liked that too. So far, she liked nearly everything about him … even his irritating need to be doing something all the time. He was everything she wanted him to be.
He dealt with the plates and mugs before he put on his jacket and picked up the backpack containing his stuff. He kissed her quickly. ‘Write loads of words,’ he said.
She followed him to the door and leaned on the door frame. ‘I’ll try. You go get that job. Good luck.’
He grinned. ‘I’ll see you later.’
‘The Coffee Pot Café,’ she said. ‘I’ll be there until after lunch.’
He gave her another gentle kiss and turned to leave. ‘Oh. Um. Hi.’ Someone was standing in the corridor. Kalpana couldn’t see who it was because Sampath was in the way. When he stepped to the side, she found herself staring at her brother, Navin.
From his expression, Navin had seen Sampath kiss Kalpana goodbye.
Oh boy. There was some explaining to do.
Kalpana felt the familiar tightening in her shoulders.
Although she was talking to her family again, she hadn’t told them about Sampath yet.
She hadn’t told anyone, apart from Nyssa, who had said, ‘If I could find a guy to look at me the way he looks at you, I would die happy.’
‘Kalpana?’ Navin said. ‘Who is this … person?’
Sampath, of course, was unfazed. ‘I’m Sampath,’ he said, smiling. ‘You are?’
Kalpana closed her eyes and counted to five. Navin was too busy glaring at Sampath to notice. ‘This is my brother,’ she told him. ‘Don’t mind him. Go. You don’t want to be late for your interview.’ To Navin, she said, ‘I guess you’d better come in.’
Her brother sent another glare after Sampath and stepped in. ‘I can’t stay,’ he said, still looking over his shoulder. ‘I’m on my way somewhere.’
‘Why are you here?’
‘Who is that guy? What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be trying to get Marcus back?’
Kalpana rolled her eyes. Her mother had somehow convinced herself that Kalpana had done something silly and if she would only apologise, Marcus would have her back and the wedding would be on track again. ‘I am not getting back with Marcus. I broke up with him, not the other way around.’
Navin’s attention finally focused on her. ‘You did? I thought—’
‘Yes, Mum can’t get her head around why I would dump Mr Perfect Celebrity.’ She crossed her arms.
‘Okay. Why? I thought you were all goo goo -eyed over him.’
‘He cheated on me. In Sri Lanka. With a woman he used to know from college.’ Even though she didn’t care about Marcus anymore, it still stung.
‘Oh, ouch,’ said Navin. ‘Well, I’m not surprised you dumped him, then. You’ve told Mum this?’
‘I have.’ She shook her head. ‘She wasn’t listening.’
Navin nodded, frowning. ‘And that guy who just left is …?’
Kalpana looked at her feet, buying herself some time.
She hadn’t wanted to tell her family about Sampath just yet.
It was too new, too nice, too delicate to be put in front of the flamethrower that was her mum’s disapproval.
But Navin was here now. She could beg him not to tell, but she knew what he was like.
Mum would get it out of him in minutes. She looked up and raised her chin.
‘That guy who just left is my new boyfriend.’
‘Huh,’ said Navin. ‘You move fast.’
She shrugged. ‘Marcus posted a photo of his new girlfriend on his Instagram.’ Nyssa had sent her a screenshot. Another Asian girl – an Indian rapper, this time.
‘So, who is that guy? Why have you been hiding him?’
‘I haven’t been hiding him.’ That wasn’t true. She had. Maybe it was time. ‘His name is Sampath.’
Navin’s frown deepened. ‘That sounds familiar. Why does his name sound familiar? You don’t know that many Sri Lankans. He is Sri Lankan, right? He looks like he might be.’
‘His dad is, yes.’ She took a deep breath. ‘His name is familiar because he was the wedding planner.’
‘What? That’s—’ Navin looked horrified. ‘Surely there are rules against—’
‘Oh, calm down,’ Kalpana snapped. ‘When Marcus told me to bugger off home, Sampath was the one who helped me. He rearranged my flight, found a room for the night when Marcus refused to pay for a hotel for me, took me to the airport.’ This was all perfectly true, give or take a kiss.
‘Without him I’d have been completely alone.
He got back in touch a few weeks ago to …
to check on me and … things moved on from there. ’
‘Still sounds fishy to me,’ said Navin. ‘Does he know that you have no money?’
And there it was. The traditional family disdain. Kalpana counted to ten in her head and said, ‘Why are you here, Aiya? You don’t normally visit me.’
‘Oh. Mum was worried about you not answering her calls. She asked me to come and check on you.’
‘Well, as you can see, I’m fine. You can tell her I’m perfectly well.’
Her brother shifted his weight. ‘Are you though? You seem to have taken up with a guy who might be trying to scam you or something, or at the very least is a terrible wedding planner and—’
In the past, she would have let this crush her and worried that he was right, but not anymore. Besides, she could put up with them being dismissive of her, but she wasn’t going to let anyone stand in her house and insult Sampath.
‘Out,’ she said.
‘What?’ Her brother looked completely flabbergasted.
‘Get out of my house. I have work to do.’ She hustled him to the door.
‘Doing what?’
‘I have deadlines. I’m sure you have to … do lunch or play golf or something. Get out.’
‘I’ll tell Mum,’ he said, as he stepped out of the door.
‘Snitch,’ she said and slammed the door in his face.
Leaning against the door, Kalpana fanned herself.
That had felt childish and weird, but … also it felt good.
She braced herself for Navin banging on the door, but he didn’t.
She had no doubt he would tell Mum, but for once, she didn’t care.
She had almost tied herself to a man who lied and cheated because he made her family happy.
Never again. Sampath made her happy. If her family made her choose between him and them, she knew which one she’d choose. It wasn’t going to be them.
***
Later that day, Kalpana sat in a coffee shop with her laptop in front of her and tried to concentrate on the book she was writing. She would type a couple of lines and get distracted with checking her phone in case Sampath had messaged her.
Her conversation with her brother that morning bothered her more as the day wore on.
She was in no hurry to introduce Sampath to her family.
He was hers for now and only hers. She didn’t want to share.
Also, she knew that they would judge him in comparison to Marcus.
She did too, sometimes, but she always found that he was definitely a much better choice than Marcus.
Her family wouldn’t think so. Part of the reason she’d let herself be so taken in by Marcus was because she had been swayed by her family’s opinion.
She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.