Falling into the Chaos

Four: The subtle art of giving all the fucks!

Aditya

ZOYA FUCKING SIDIQQUI.

In my town.

On my farm.

And she didn't remember me.

That only seemed appropriate. All things considered.

"Are you wearing a onesie?" Cheeku asked, finally dropping the pirate's brogue for a moment. She circled around Zoya, giving her clothes a close study. "It looks like a onesie. How do you go to the bathroom?"

Zoya gave cheeku a smile that held no hint of annoyance.

That surprised me.

I figured she would have no use for the six-year-old who'd never once kept a thought to herself. Or she'd offer some curt remark and then ignore the child.

After all, Zoya Siddiqui was too good for all of this.

For all of us.

"It's called a romper," Zoya said. She sounded like she was talking to a friend.

"If you want to talk about real grown-up onesies, that's a bodysuit, and those are a lot easier in the bathroom. These things"-she gave a half turn, gesturing to the zipper down her back-"are a little bit of a nightmare." She held out her hand to Cheeku. "I'm Zoya. What's your name?"

She ducked behind me, suddenly shy. I felt her fingers balled in my t-shirt.

"Cheeku," she whispered.

Zoya waved, saying, "It's so nice to meet you, Cheeku."

I really wanted to hate her, and for a million different reasons, but most of all, she had showed up here after all these years and she didn't remember me.

Not that I wanted anyone to be rude or dismissive to Cheeku-the kid had been through enough-but I would've appreciated it if I could walk away from this exchange resenting Zoya.

That would really help me out.

Instead, she gestured to Cheeku's striped skirt, the one with the ragged hems because the kid was not to be trusted with scissors, and said, "Tell me about this look you've put together. It's fabulous."

"I like black and white," Cheeku said, abandoning me altogether and dancing off to give a little twirl. "It's my favorite but Adi says I should try other colors."

Zoya reached for the diamond pendant resting at the base of her throat, zipping it back and forth several times while she blinked at Cheeku. It took her a second but then her gaze snapped to me.

Zip zip zip.

"Aditya?" she whispered, finally abandoning the necklace to push her sunglasses to her head and gape at me. Heat crawled up my neck. "Aditya Hooda? What?" I nodded. "Why didn't you say so sooner? You are the last person I expected to find in Mussoorie."

Wasn't that the damn truth.

"I could say the same to you," I replied.