Rupali hadn’t seen Maya for last two days. But Paritosh had still been avoiding her. She wanted to talk to him, to clear the air. But what would she say? She couldn’t exactly complain that he wasn’t talking to her. She wasn’t a guest in his house. They weren’t friends. He wasn’t expected to entertain her. He was her employer. He was paying for her presence at his home. Beyond that, if he did not want to talk to her, it was his prerogative. What she wanted didn’t matter.

But today she had to break the wall of silence. For purely selfish reasons. She knocked at his door although it was already open.

“Ms. Banerjee?” his face flushed. Was he angry that she disturbed him?

She swallowed her pride and started speaking, “Sorry to disturb you, Sir. I needed…” She lost her voice as her eyes found the object he seemed to have been busy with before she came. It was a white dress, which he had tried to ball up in his hand, but it was too voluminous to remain confined there. She started as she recognized the dress. She turned her eyes back on his face, but now his were fixed on the dress.

“What do you think?” he met her eyes all of sudden. His own looked stony. “Will Maya like this dress?”

“I… I…” she stuttered at first, then gathered her wits together, “I don’t know, Sir. I have seen her in sarees mostly. But this is a beautiful dress. I’m sure she will like it.”

Why did he not look happy still?

“She’ll look good in it,” she added hoping that he will feel content.

But he only pursed his lips. Then suddenly he seemed to recall that discussing the dress was not why Rupali was there. “You wanted to talk?”

“I needed some help.”

“Yes?”

Her old computer had finally given up. She would have to look out for someone selling a second hand one. But meanwhile Soumitra was getting frantic. His summer project was almost typed up. He needed to figure out if he could recover it from the old hard drive and complete it. If it was lost, he needed access to a computer for long hours to redo it.  With school reopening in a week, he was running out of time.

She explained that to Paritosh and asked if she could use the desktop Paritosh had at home.

“Okay. But to use the desktop he will have to come here–” Paritosh intended to offer her a laptop, either his own if it was needed only for a day or two, or to arrange for another one if it was needed for longer.

“I will do the typing, Dr. Khanna,” she interrupted, “When Meenal’s counsellor is around and I am not needed.”

“You are doing his project?” he frowned.

“No. He will write things up and I will type it for him.”

“Why? Can’t he come here and type it himself?”

She hesitated in replying. She didn’t want her brother around the house. Maya had once accused her of stealing. She had put up with the insult meted out to her. But should something else happen and Soumitra was blamed for it, she might not be able to show enough forbearance.

“It isn’t a good idea to have too many people around the house, Sir,” she replied vaguely.

Now Paritosh hesitated in offering the laptop. One, she might shrink from his proposal if she thoughts he was going out of his way to help. Second, she was clearly still smarting from Maya’s insult and hence didn’t want to bring her brother to the house. He had to amend that.

“Let him come here. This is my home, not RBI’s vault.”

His tone brooked no dissent.

She thanked him and left.

—

“I met Mihir today,” Soumitra informed her after dinner.

“How come?” she kept her voice level.

“He called me and asked to meet. You had a fight?”

“He shouldn’t have involved you in this,” Rupali said irritably, “If he calls you again you tell him to talk to me.”

“Didi!”

“What?”

“I won’t presume to lecture you. But he seems like a nice guy–”

“Yes Piku. Don’t presume to lecture me.”

“I’m sorry, Didi,” Soumitra was persistent, “But the two of us are all you have got. Until you find someone more suitable, that is. So I have to ask, don’t you like him?”

She took a deep breath before replying, “I like him well enough. But he doesn’t know me and my circumstances. And I don’t see the point in telling him.”

“Why not? Why don’t you tell him and see how he feels?”

“Howsoever he feels, it isn’t going to work out. So why make him feel responsible? He has to leave India in a few weeks.”

“And even if he wants you to go with him, you can’t go because of us.”

“Wonderful!” Rupali was annoyed, “Wonderful logic, my dear brother. What about what I want? What if I don’t want to go anywhere, or follow anybody?”

She stood up and walked off to her room in a huff. She came back ready to go to the pharmacy. Soumitra’s eyes were glued to his book, but his shoulders looked sagged. Rupali could not hold on to her anger then. She sat down beside him and pressed his shoulder.

“Hey. Angry?”

He shook his head, but did not look up.

“Look at me,” she insisted.

“I am fine,” he replied and that gave away the reason he had been avoiding her in the first place. He was crying.

“Oh God!” she exclaimed, “Please Piku. I’m sorry. I really am–”

“No Didi. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”

“The two of you are all I have got, didn’t you yourself say so? I am sorry I reacted like a jerk. You’ve every right to worry about me and to ask questions. Okay? Just that you shouldn’t behave like you are some kind of a burden on me. That hurts me, do you understand?”

He nodded.

“There now. Stop crying. Good thing Pintu is not home. Else he would have teased you to death. I need to leave now. All right?”

“Go on, Didi. I am fine.”

—

To be continued