“And,” he continued, deliberately ignoring Kaya’s trembling lips as she held back her laughter, “that TV show brought to light political tensions between North and South Korea and its impact on the general public. Where is your heart?”
“With Arjun,” she shot back immediately with a moony smile.
Rian made a gagging sound, pretending to want to throw up. With a shake of his head, he shifted his attention to the screen of his phone when Kaya gasped, drawing a look from him.
“Ri, is it maybe T-T-D-L-A-G-G? An acronym, not an actual word?”
Rian shrugged, neither the word nor the acronym familiar to him.
“Does your guest, by any chance, read romance novels?” Kaya asked, a peculiar gleam in her eyes.
“Yes! How'd you know that?”
She burst out laughing, confusing him further.
“What? Do you know what that word means?”
Between snorts, Kaya nodded. Every time he thought she was done, she would begin laughing anew, until her face was pink and her eyes teary.
“Kaya, for fuck’s sake, tell me!”
“First,” she gasped, wiping the edge of one eye, “promise me that you’ll bring her out to meet us all tomorrow. Arjun, Vihaan, me, you, and your guest.”
“But. . .”
“I’m not budging on this. And trust me,” she added, curiosity building in her about the woman who had gotten her normally unflappable friend to pay singular attention to such a silly exercise. “You want to know what this means.”
16
Laughter and Light
Aditi
“You’ve been asked tocome to dinner with my friends tomorrow,” Rian informed a surprised Aditi that evening.
Passing him the ladle to load into the dishwasher, Nanamma beamed at him. “Kaya called me today to tell me this, too. I am glad she’s back. Adi will enjoy meeting her.”
Aditi, curious about this girl she’d not heard of before, piped in. “Kaya is?”
“She’s like my granddaughter. Very sweet child. And she’s an author! You might have seen her books being promoted everywhere,” Nanamma added, evidently proud.
Aditi nodded, wiping the kitchen counter clean. All three had been at home that evening to enjoy a family dinner together and were now cleaning up as a unit. During moments like this, Aditi felt sad for the day she would have to leave them. She had not expected to settle into Rian’s home this easily and this well.
It was hard to remind herself that while Rian and Nanamma felt like family, this was all temporary. The thought settled like a boulder in her chest as she watched Nanamma hobble off to her bedroom, searching for her medicines.
“What’s the occasion?” Aditi asked Rian, trying to guess the reason behind the sudden invitation. At his direction, she stood near him, accepting the clean dishes he passed and stacking them neatly inside the cabinet.
“Nothing. Just us hanging out. If you don’t want to join us, I can tell them you’re busy.”
“Why would you do that?” The clink of porcelain plates settling atop each other and the gurgle of the dishwasher starting were the only sounds around them. “I need to eat anyway. And I like meeting new people. I’ll come.”
“I’ll let them know you’ll,” he paused, unable to hold back a choked laugh, “come.”
She cast him a suspicious glance when he smirked, swiping the bowl he passed to her.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, her brows knitting, her back to him.
“Nothing. I just knew that you’d,” he snorted again, “come.”