“So, I’m guessing Rajat and Lyani don’t know about any of this yet. ‘Cause Rajat didn’t say anything the last time I saw him.” Ruqaiya took a sip of her orange juice before returning to the salad. All Abhijat could detect on her plate was a forest of lettuce interspersed with some tomatoes and olives.
“No they don’t. And I swear to God, Qia, if you tell my father anything–”
“My lips are sealed.” she mimed zipping her lips shut and throwing away the key. “Now spill. What happened to the girl? Nikita, was it?”
“They broke up. Rito doesn’t seem to care, though.”
“I wouldn’t either if I were her. Nasty piece of work. Told your sister she wouldn’t do, last time I was in Weritlan. Not that she was ever serious about her, of course.”
Abhijat frowned. “Was I the only one who didn’t know about any of this?”
“So when are you planning to tell them? Your parents, I mean. You’ll have to, eventually. Can’t very well send your sister back to Weritlan without a university to attend.”
“Soon as I can figure out how to break it to them without making everything worse. Without adding to their worries and making Papa blame himself.”
Ruqaiya sighed, chasing an olive across the plate with her fork. “I don’t think there is a way to keep Rajat from blaming himself. You are his children, after all. He’d feel responsible no matter what you said. I think the only thing you can do is to tell the truth and give it some time. They’ll get over the initial shock eventually. Your father didn’t survive so many years in politics by being easily overwhelmed.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Abhijat nodded, gritting his teeth and staring out the window. “Damn Fasih! Every time I think it couldn’t possibly get any worse…”
“Our redoubtable Prime Minister finds a way to screw us over some more.”
Abhijat’s phone pinged. Fishing it out of his pocket, he squinted down at the screen and swore.
“What?” Ruqaiya looked up from her lettuce-filled plate.
“Rito says something amazing has happened. Followed by twenty heart-eye emojis.”
Ruqaiya laughed. “Okay, now I’m interested!”
He swiped the call icon and put the phone on speaker, setting the device on the table between them.
It had barely rung twice before his sister’s excited voice filled their booth, “Oh my God, Abhi, you’ll never believe what’s happened!”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t. Your brother has no imagination,” Ruqaiya said, popping another olive into her mouth. “But I would. So spill.”
Rito chuckled. “Qia! Just the girl I wanted! You know about Professor Sinya Haval of Qayit University, don’t you?”
Ruqaiya frowned and tilted her head to one side. “Head of Department, Comparative Literature. Straight brown hair, crooked nose, slightly horsey face. That’s the one, right? She kept appearing on all the primetime debates trashing our government. Trashed the Opposition even worse, though,” she grinned. “So that’s okay.”
“Yup, that’s the one. Thought you’d know her. Anyway, guess what! She wants me to come work for her. At the University! Said they have a few research slots open and that she needs a new TA asap! Apparently, Professor Ishika told her I’d be in the city for the foreseeable future, and she thinks I’d be a good candidate for the job. I just got back from the interview.”
Ruqaiya whistled. “Well, talk about serendipity! When do you start?”
“In a week. God, Abhi, everything’s gonna be okay. We can just tell Papa I transferred to Qayit University to be closer to you guys. He never has to know!”
Abhijat frowned. “We could, but...”
“She’s read my work, did you know? Some of the stuff I published back in Weritlan. Really read it, I mean. She quoted some of the lines to me during the interview. Said it was impressive. Fuck. I can’t believe Sinya Haval told me my work was impressive!”
Ruqaiya laughed. “And if you’re done fangirling over your future boss, how about you take us out to dinner tonight? You can tell us more about her amazingness over something suitably high-calorie.”