Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 24: Ambiance

I stare at myself in the mirror as I brush my teeth absentmindedly. Today is a pretty big day: it's the day to execute my plan, aka talking to Vashisht mama and seeing if he cracks. 

My mom and dad are acting like what happened three days ago just didn't happen. Ever. Seriously, neither of them has mentioned nor even acknowledged it. They both decided that I didn't just implicitly tell them that I know what they are. What do they want me to, literally yell out loud that I know that they're from the Netherworld? Will they tell me then?

Watch them not. They'll probably make some elaborate excuse.

So I'll play along. I'll pretend like it didn't happen too. But seriously, this just hurts. This shows the massive lack of trust they have in me. I trust them with my life, yet they don't believe in me enough to just tell me something that's actually vital to the life they made me.

This is why talking to Vashisht mama is the best option now: if they're not gonna tell me, then I'm gonna find out myself and confront them. If anyone will tell me the truth, it's him. If my mom is a werewolf, then he has to be one too. So I just have to get him to tell me, and that'll be enough.

But is it too much, though? He's my uncle, my favorite uncle.

Well,  he has to be. He's the only uncle I know of. I've never met Revanth doddappa (my dad's older brother) before, and my mom only has one brother, so Vashisht mama is the only uncle I'm aware of right now.

This just feels so manipulative, though. Is it bad that I feel a little awful for doing this? 

I don't know why I'm considering this NOW. But this is the first time I've ever done something so crazy before. In times like these, I guess I have to do first and think later. I'm gonna be in New York for three weeks; it's better to do this now and get it over with.

I wanted to wait a couple of days to do it though because I have to make sure my parents aren't on my back. The first day was just chaos, and I let it come out way too soon. So now, I'm gonna take my time and be sneaky. And today? It's the perfect time to do what I need to do. My mom is taking my dad out on a date for his birthday (yup, he's now two years away from 50), and I know for a fact that they're not gonna come back home until tomorrow. Like I said, they love each other so much that it's almost sickening. But it makes me kinda jealous that my parents can get more action than I ever could. The farthest I've ever gotten with my ex Charlie was making out, but that's it.

But with them being out of the house, for the most part, that gives me a lot of time to do what I need to do. I need to plan it out first, though.

"Sarvani!" my mom calls me from her bedroom. I'm still brushing my teeth, so I quickly spit and wash my mouth before drying it. And then I dash to her room through our connecting bathrooms.

The perks of living in a small house.

I go inside to see my mom in her walk-in closet, going through outfits left and right frantically. My dad just stands there casually, holding my mom by her waist behind her as he rests his chin on her head. The way they have a massive height difference even though my mom is almost 6 feet, and my dad is halfway to 7.

"No work today?" I wonder as I go through her clothes too.

"Illa (no)," she declares with a smirk. "I got the day off today. So I'm trying to pick my outfit for tonight in advance."

"Raj, why aren't you helping?" I play with my dad, using his first name to annoy him. He says, "I did. I picked out the three dresses on the bed, so I'm done. I have good style," he winks as he leans his head to the side to give my mom a kiss.

"Someone's in a good mood, it seems," my mom teases him as she tries to break his grip on her. But just as she lets go, he whines and pulls her back in and she giggles. "Let me live. I'm going to be an old man in two years," he kisses the area where his neck meets her shoulder. And maybe it's because I'm really overanalyzing things right now, but I notice her shivering a little. Not like an 'I'm-cold' shiver, but an "oh-shit-I'm-horny" shiver.