Chapter 40

—Saturday, February 5, 2022, 7:30PM—

Imlie and Aryan entered the Rathore house and immediately were showered with confetti and the sound of party blowers.

Aryan jumped back, almost bumping into Imlie, “Maa, Didi, what the hell?”

Arpita jumped out in front of the two of them, Narmada behind her, “This is a celebration in honor of you taking the first step in letting go. Maa and I are very proud of you.”

Imlie smiled but then glanced worriedly at Aryan. She realized this might not be the reaction Aryan wanted to deal with right now about today. Surprisingly, Aryan didn’t react the way she expected. She expected anger, yelling, perhaps even the throwing of items across the room.

Instead, Aryan smiled faintly and said, “Didi, nothing happened, there’s no reason to make a big deal out of today.”

Narmada walked closer to her son, cupping his face, “Of course it’s a big deal, but I know you might not want to see it that way. You took such a big step today, and I know it wasn’t easy. And,” Narmada stepped back and wiped a tear from her face, “I am not a mean mother, in fact I consider myself one of the best moms. So, in honor of you putting someone else, outside of the two of us, first today—I’ve made your favorite foreign dinner.”

Aryan looked at her, confused, and then at Arpita, raising an eyebrow. Arpita stifled a giggle and winked at her brother.

“Maa, I don’t…think I have a favorite foreign food? What—what are you talking about?” Aryan asked, keeping his tone level. His mother was a wonderful cook. Like all the sons across India, he also had a mother whose cooking could make him happy and feel safe on even his worst days. There was only one other person’s cooking who Aryan thought could do that, and right now she was obviously trying her best to hide her disappointment at a non-Indian dinner.

Narmada clapped her hands excitedly, “You told me a few months ago that you went to an Italian restaurant and the pasta you had there was excellent. So…I made lasagna! It’s a vegetarian version, of course. Imlie go wash up, and you too, Aru. Dinner’s ready! I hate that you guys were so late, but luckily I kept it in the oven to stay hot.”

Aryan looked at Imlie, planning to ask her to prevent her face from giving away her displeasure at the table, but it seemed like he didn’t need to say anything. She was smiling and headed straight to her room to change and wash up.

The four of them sat down at the table, and Narmada removed the lid of her lasagna. Aryan could smell the garlic and rosemary from his seat, which was saying something because the dining table was very large.

Arpita looked at Imlie and then Aryan, having to bite her lip to prevent from laughing.

“Maa,” Aryan started, “it looks…it looks great.” He glance at Imlie, and saw a sliver of disappointment but then it disappeared as soon as it came.

“Kaki Maa, it really does look good, what’s in it?” Imlie asked.

Narmada explained that she’d gotten the best pasta noodles for the dish, she talked about the tomatoes, the herbs, and the other ingredients, adding in a little story about how the first recipe she chose seemed to be too complicated because her English wasn’t the best.

Imlie, Aryan, and Arpita nodded patiently at Narmada as she told her story, and then Aryan interrupted her at minute five, “Well, Maa, I think we should all help ourselves, right?”

Narmada smiled, “Yes, yes, please. Tell me how it is, I’m keeping a fast today, so I can’t have any.”

Arpita plopped her half-portion of lasagna on her plate, “Maa, you’re…you’re not eating?”

Narmada shook her head, “Nope, I went to the Devi Maa mandir today, and the pandit suggested Saturdays were better for fasts than Mondays. I don’t remember why exactly, but I’m taking his advice.”

Imlie smiled, nervously, muttering, “If only I’d gone to the temple with you.”

Aryan heard her, and snickered. He caught her eye and stopped, pleading with her silently not to be too harsh on the food. Maa rarely experimented with foreign dishes, but when she did, it didn’t end well.

The three of them took their first bites, almost simultaneously. It wasn’t the worst lasagna Aryan had ever had, but then again, his experience with Italian food had always been at five-star restaurants. Aryan glanced over at Arpita, she was clearly doing her best to pretend to enjoy the one bite in her mouth, while moving around the rest on her plate to make it look like she’d eaten a lot from it. Then he glanced over at Imlie, and he almost choked. She was scarfing down the food as if someone had pointed a gun to her head. Then with a big gulp of water, she looked over at Maa and said, “Kaki Maa, wow. That was…amazing. Thank you. I don’t think…I’ll ever need to eat Italian food again because of how, amazing that was.”

Narmada smiled with excitement, “Really!? That’s so great. I know I said I made it for Aru, but it was also for you Imlie, I mean it really was because of you that Aru realized his mistake and decided to fix—“

Imlie stopped her, “Kaki Maa, not at all. I’m pretty amazing, but don’t give me credit for something I didn’t do. This akkad-bagga only changed his mind because you two are clearly more important to him.” Imlie looked at Aryan and smiled. “Also, he’s definitely more scared of you than he is of anything—“

“Shut up, Imlie.” Aryan shot at her, grateful to get a chance to stop eating, “I wasn’t scared, okay. Maa and Didi just made some very good points.”

Arpita nodded sagely, also swallowing what would definitely be her last bite of the lasagna, “Sure, sure, UNB. If you’re not afraid of Maa, shall I tell her what you really got on your tenth grade final exams?”

Aryan looked at her and then his mother, “Didi, you wouldn’t—that’s—that was so long ago!”

Narmada gasped, “My son…Arpi, my son, lied to me?” She bit back a smile, and looked at Aru, “Kya, Aru, lying about grades, to your mother? How…completely boring. Now if you were hiding a girlfriend, preferably one that you’re planning to marry now, that would be interested.”

Arpita snorted, Imlie looked at Aryan biting back her laughter, and Aryan choked on his water, “Maa—please.”

After dinner, as Imlie headed up to her room, Aryan caught up with her, “Thank you,” he whispered, just in case Maa was around the corner.

Imlie looked at him, confused, and whispered back in his same tone, “Kis liye thank you?” (Thank you for what?)

Aryan sighed, “For eating the lasagna without complaints, Maa likes to…experiment now and then. You know her Indian food is to die for, but…her European and American dishes…they’re rarely good.”

Imlie giggled, “So you noticed I wasn’t an actual fan, I hope Kaki Maa didn’t realize. I had to drink like five glasses of water just to get all that down, and then she was so close to offering me seconds!”

Aryan and Imlie stifled their laughter as they went up the stairs.

Imlie added, “But you don’t have to thank me for that, of course I wasn’t going to tell Kaki Maa it wasn’t good to her face…I’ll just have to hide her stash of Italian herbs so she can never make it again. But, I should be thanking you, you’re the reason Didi and Kaki Maa were so happy tonight. I know you said you were fine, but if you need to talk—”

Aryan interrupted her, “Actually, I do need to talk to you.”

They reached the top of the stairs and Imlie readied herself, Aryan rarely shared his feelings, but when he did, they were heavy, but she knew she could handle it, she had to be there for him.

Aryan put his head in one hand and sighed, “Imlie, I think I…” He paused.

Imlie felt awkward, but she did it, she stepped closer to him and patted him on the shoulder, “Let it all out, I’m listening.”

Aryan nodded. Imlie looked at him, it seemed like he was holding back tears.

Aryan started again, “Imlie…” He paused again.

Imlie readied herself, the poor guy was going to cry, today was so much for him. “Don’t worry, ABP, just say what you need to say. No judgment here.”

Aryan nodded, “Imlie…I think I deserve a reward.” He looked at her and grinned.

Imlie stepped back, “What?!”

Aryan faked a look of shock, “Wow, Imlie from Pagdandia forgot her words from this morning already?”

Imlie was even more confused, “What reward, what the hell are you talking about? I thought that you wanted to talk about your feel—”

Aryan interrupted her, “You said you’d definitely forgive me if I was polite to Mr. Tripathi. I was polite to him, I didn’t even throw one taunt at him when he was resigning. I think, I deserve a reward.” He smiled at her, matter of factly.

Imlie stood there, her mouth still open, dumbstruck. Then she spoke, “Are you a two year old child, that I have to give you a lollipop every time you do something normal? Tomorrow are you going to ask me to give you a reward if you remember to clean up after yourself, or if you perfectly parallel park your Mrs. Lambi Gaadi? What are you even saying?”

Aryan shrugged, “I just thought, since I’m going through so much trauma right now, I mean, I’m still grieving the loss of Jiju…that you would find it in your heart to thank me, with something other than words of course, for my sacrifice today. But, if you want to be that cold-hearted…I guess—“ He sighed dramatically and started to turn towards his room.

Imlie rolled her eyes and pulled him back, “Wait, fine. I know exactly what you’re doing by the way, and it’s childish and immature. Also, I don’t think Arvind Bhai would be happy with you using his name to get a favor out of me. What do you want? More pitches? Let me guess, you’re going to ask me to join the weekend team and write for the Sunday editorials too. You just can’t wait to give me more work—” Imlie looked at him, and Aryan was silently laughing, “Don’t laugh, Akkad Bagga, okay, I’m already getting angry, I have an upset stomach because of that lasagna, and you don’t want to see me angry and hungry.”

Aryan nodded, “It’s not more work, I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll figure it out…It’s probably not more work. But you owe Aryan Singh Rathore a favor, remember that.” Aryan winked and walked to his room.

Imlie stood there, fuming but feeling slightly happy at the fact that Aryan seemed to be handling today better than she expected.

Aryan climbed into bed a half hour later, and smiled up at the ceiling. Today had been mentally exhausting, but that feeling from earlier, when breathing felt easier, that came back to him. He felt like he wasn’t lying on his bed, but floating on it, and he was sure the favor he could collect from Imlie now was a part of it.