“Yes, why? Considering it for you and your mother?”
A puff of air escaped him, a laugh laced with bitterness. “Leela Shetty is beyond help. You know that as well as I do.”
Kaya reached across the table for Rian’s hand, holding on with a friendly squeeze. He smiled reassuringly at her. He didn’t hope for reconciliation with his mother. He simply wanted to be able to reach a point when the thought of her wouldn’t leave this fragment of misery in him. Maybeheneeded therapy.
“I’m glad you made up with your father. You seem happier for it.”
“I’m glad, too. But. . .”
Rian caught the fleeting look of discomfort in her eyes. He tilted his chin up, encouraging her to speak without hesitation.
She sighed. “I am happier than I have ever been. But that’s because of Arjun, more than anyone else. Therapy with Dadda has only given me closure. I’m glad we don’t have that bitterness between us anymore. But I am no longer the Kaya who yearned for hisapproval,” she admitted. “He tries, but our relationship cannot be what it used to be thirteen years ago. That time is long gone and the person it would have made a difference to no longer exists.”
Her acceptance was bittersweet. The young girl who had craved her father’s love had been forced to grow up without it. When change finally came about, she was an adult with a different support system. Clearly, she had made her peace with that, and Rian couldn’t be more proud.
“Enough about me.” She tossed her curls up into a messy bun when she got too annoyed with them flying into her face. “What were you searching for?” One dainty finger tapped the case of his cell.
Rian’s eyes landed on his phone, then back at her. If anyone was good with research, it was Kaya. She was an author and had a penchant for spending hours creating elaborate backgrounds for her characters. She may well have come across this while writing. So, in the hopes that he was right, Rian asked her.
“Double teedeelag?” Kaya repeated with a frown, her face a close replica of a child who’d been asked to solve astrophysics. “I’ve never heard of that.”
Rian almost groaned. “I wouldn’t put it past her to send me on a wild goose chase. The woman is a menace.”
“Woman?” Kaya perked up immediately. “Who?”
“My house guest.”
“You have a guest I don’t know about?” She smacked his arm in mock outrage. “How could you not tell me?”
“You’ve been playing house for the last forty-three days straight. In another continent. When would I have told you this?”
Kaya sat back, crossing her arms as she considered Rian’s odd behaviour throughout lunch. “She's gotten under your skin if you're calling her a menace. Will I like her?"
“Most definitely.” Except for idiots and psychopaths, everyone liked Aditi.
“When will I get to meet her?”
“Not anytime soon if I can help it,” Rian brattily replied, picking up his phone to begin his search anew, his voice assistant rapidly firing off new words in quick succession.
“You’re being so lazy! Just read it yourself. Why do you need it read out loud?” Kaya asked, taking another bite of her meal.
He shrugged, not looking her in the eye. “It’s easier.”
“Why medical lingo? Is your houseguest a doctor?”
Rian nodded, busy listening intently, mumbling to himself. “Teela? Tila? Double t's?”
He looked up. “Is there a word that starts with two Ts? The only one I know is tteokbokki and I am pretty sure she isn’t talking about spicy Korean rice cakes.”
Kaya grinned at his guess, teasingly sticking her tongue against the inside of her cheek. “Are you still justifying your K-drama phase as research into new foods?”
Rian huffed, pasting a supercilious expression on his face. “It is. You liked the kimchi-flavoured pancakes I made before.”
“I also liked seeing you pretend like that TV show about the North and South Korean couple was something more than a love story. What was it called? Crashing Into You?”
Rian tried hard not to take the bait, but he couldn’t resist correcting her.
“Crash Landing On You. If you’re going to rag on me about my Netflix choices, the least you can do is remember the right name.”