WHEN FATE BRINGS YOU HOME

CHAPTER 1

PROLOGUE

"Look close, Tara. I have the same eyes as him."

"No way."

I broke his tenacious stare with a small laugh and looked out the window to check if someone is passing by. The hallway is silent. When I returned my gaze to him, his eyes were serious but there was something more than that to it. Hope.

"You want me to give you proof, Tara?"

He picked up his game with a devious smile, looking pretty confident with his frame limiting myself between him and the wall behind me.

"Don't give me anything, Shaurya. I don't believe you-"

"You had braces on."

How does he know that? Don't you panic, Tara. He's just playing with you. He must have heard it from my friends. Yeah, that should be it.

"Did Ryan tell you this?"

He ignored my question and went on with his testimony.

"You were wearing a white shirt with black bottoms, pony tied hair, and a lab coat in your hands. Wait for it, anime themed shoes."

Everything he's saying is true but I just can't bring myself into agreeing to that. Not when he's this close to me, making me unable to think properly. We are sharing the same air and his scent is filling my lungs with need as each second passes. The heat radiating from him is so warm that if I keep standing close to him, I might burst into flames any time soon. What I should do is to back out from his territory, give a sarcastic comment and get away with his joke. But a part of me wants to lean in forward and eliminate the remaining few inches between us, to cover myself in him, to taste his lips that I've been watching for too long now.

There's no way my friends knowing about what I clothes I wore that day or my anime shoes and even if they did, there's no reason for them to tell him. There's no way one can provide this much information with all the minute details. Unless it's really him.

"You're telling me that you are the mystery lab guy from six years ago?"

All he did was nod, the most sincere and wholehearted form of response he ever gives.

The mystery lab guy I accidentally met on the last day of my two week college workshop. Six whole years ago. The mystery lab guy who I secretly obsessed over for months after the incident. The mystery lab guy who I thought I would never get to meet again. The mystery lab guy who I had to convince myself to forget the memory about. And it's him. It's been him all along. The god who planned my dear life, is he also a fan of romantic comedies? Should I be happy or more happy? I'm not happy at all, or maybe a little happy, but I'm confused. One year went by and he never spoke about this to me.

"Why didn't you ever bring this up before?"

"You were too busy hating me, remember?"

Ah, here it is. The challenging version of him. What made him think that I don't hate him now in the first place? But if I keep his game up, it will end very badly for me, like it always has.

"That's no excuse to keep this from me all this time."

I'm acting to be the angry lady now, my arms crossed over my chest, a demanding expression on my face, with a smile struggling to pour out of my lips. He moved a little more closer. If I take my time to calculate the distance between us, his lips would be nearly an inch and a half away from mine. I am totally out of any escape route, now that one of his hands rested on the wall jamming me within him. Soon his other hand sneaked around from my behind to hold me on my waist, my skin burning at each contact. I closed my eyes as he brought his face to the curve of my neck, his whisper bringing shivers all over my body.

"I was waiting for the perfect moment. Just like now."

_________________________________

"Mom?"

I gently kept my hand on her shoulders, my fingers ready to pull back as soon as possible. Her eyes are fixed on the cracked screen of her smartphone, bright light from it covering her face. She didn't notice me. I slowly pulled my hand back and turned around. Maybe it's not the right time. She obviously looks frustrated. I should come back later. I walked a few steps towards my room half heartedly. No. I just need to let it out and get it over with. I have to talk. I marched forward, nearly crushing into my dad, who was just showing himself out of the kitchen.

"Ouch", I cried, barely managing to keep myself from falling down.

"Careful, Tara." He said patiently, walking towards his reading chair.

He pressed his glasses closer to his nose, took a newspaper from the table nearby, flipped a few pages and started reading. As I was clearing my throat to call my mom once again, the default Xiaomi ringtone blared through my ears just for a second and on the next, my mom got up from her chair moving her phone to her ears and walked away. So much for the preparations and practice of sentences I did to speak today. I had it all figured out what I would tell to convince her, even the tone of speech was rehearsed on my way back home, a gentle and polite one that no one can say no to. Perks of being part of an Indian household.
Tip 1: Be calm and polite.

I didn't realise how long I had been standing there, in the middle of the house, spaced out, only when my father called me I came back to my senses.
"Yes?"

"You've been standing there for a long time."

"Oh? Yeah.. I know that. Well never mind.. I was just-"

"What is it?"

I sat down in a chair next to his.

"Like to explain what's wrong with mom?"

His eyes followed her as she kept walking in the balcony talking to someone in her phone. He leaned towards me, his eyes still fixated on her. Then he started.

"You know about the upcoming marriage function." I nodded.

I think it's a wedding of my mom's distant cousin. It is really hard to follow all the relations, I dropped it years ago. Then he said in a low voice, his face dead serious.

"The ladies left her out."

I gave him a questioning look. He whispered into my ears so faintly that I had to assume what he was saying.

"They didn't tell her the dress code for the party?" I repeated after him, making myself clear that I had heard it right.

A small hint of smile was popping up on my dad's face making it harder for me to try not to start laughing. Soon our efforts were in vain and we burst into hysterical laughs. Suddenly I noticed that the room came to a silence, the background voice of my mom talking had stopped. My dad had figured the same as we turned our heads towards the balcony simultaneously. And there she stands in a totally
pretending-to-be-angry-I-know-what-you-were-talking-about face. My dad looked away into the the newspaper pretty fast, trying to look innocent. His reflexes are impressive, I'll admit. Then she smiled. A green light. Both of my parents are in a good mood. I've to do this now. My speech is all ready to go.

"Mom. Dad. We need to talk."

"Go on ahead." They said in unison without even giving a second thought on my so called practiced- serious- tone.

"I'm going to California." I said, eyes straight, with my boldest voice ever.

Dad slowly lifted his head from behind the papers, checking for any sarcasm in my dialogue through his glasses. My mom raised her phone, looking into something, a text maybe and started walking away. Again.

"Listen." This time I raised my voice to gain attention. "My name got listed in the university research team and the team leaves for Berkeley in less than three months."

As soon as I finished the first sentence of my speech, the air around me got thicker. I was getting more nervous. And as I had expected the happy mood on their faces disappeared soon after.