Crossroads | ✓

s i x t e e n

Song attached: Just the way you are by Bruno Mars.

Totally unedited. I'm a little sick today so I wrote this with a dizzy head. Bare with me.

                                           s i x t e e n

                                                 [ d o n ' t   l o v e   y o u   t o o]

Kiranya's father didn't utter a single word as he stood there, watching us. I was the first one to get up and greet him. He grunted a response which I decided to translate as 'nice to meet you too, kid' in my mind.

Kiranya didn't look at him, pretending like he didn't exist and I wanted to bang my head on the nearest wall. She was just making things much difficult. Her father's eyes narrowed his eyes at her.

"Kiranya," he called.

Her face remained as passive as ever. His face remained as passive as ever. But both their eyes cringed. Having spent almost all my time with this girl for the past few months made the glaring discomfort hard to not notice. And since it was evident that mastering the art of stoicism was something Kiranya learnt from her father, it wasn't tough to read him too.

"What's this?" he asked with a hiss.

Kiranya gave a lazy shrug and her father's eyebrows twitched a millimeter. I wanted to shout at her.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you."

His jaws clenched and he tightened his fist. A vein popped up above his temple. He wouldn't die of high blood pressure, would he?

Kiranya scoffed. "And when did you start wanting to hear me talk?"

For a second, a millisecond, his eyes lost their scathing intensity and his jaw slacked.

"Kiranya, I'm your father."

She fake applauded, pulling the attention of the few customers from the nearby tables. My face burned.

"Thanks for reminding me that I'm not an orphan."

"Kiranya—"  I started.

"You stay out of this!" She jabbed a finger at me and my words died in my throat.

There was an inferno storming behind her onyx eyes. Redness crept up her face. Her nose flared and for a second, even her eyes seemed red. I staggered a step back. Her eyes flickered for a second but as if that moment of clearance hadn't happened, she took her belongings and stormed out of the room. Few whispers followed her departure.

Kiranya's father simply stood there for a second, his head lowered to a few degrees. My eyes trailed over his clenched fists and slackened shoulders.

"Uncle," I started but with a curt nod thrown my way, he followed his daughter and left the room leaving me as the prey for judgmental eyes ready for juicy gossip.

Not wanting to disturb my parents asking them to pick me again, I called the only other number I've come to trust.

Yuvan picked up at the third ring. "Varun?"

I rubbed the back my neck. "You think you could come to that pizza, cake place right now? And, uh... bring some cash."

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I didn't know if Yuvan's eyes drilled holes in the back of my head but I could feel like something evil was fondling me with it's poisoned talons.