Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,134

mess this up over my dead body.”

“Shree. It’s nighttime, I’d like you not to say inauspicious things in my home.”

“He’s going to win this election. He just has to keep his pants on.” Both Yash and Ma groaned, and HRH raised a hand. “I mean that figuratively. He’s been with Naina for ten years. No son of mine betrays someone this way.”

“About that . . .” Yash said. “I think you should sit down, Dad.”

For once his father complied without argument, and Yash told them. At long last, he told his parents that he and Naina had lied. He told them about meeting India at Nisha and Neel’s wedding. He told them how she had helped him after the shooting. He navigated the ugly parts, but they seemed to know more than he’d given them credit for.

“So if you hadn’t met this yoga—fine, India—you and Naina could have turned it into a real relationship,” HRH said.

Mom had been eerily quiet. She looked at Dad with an expression Yash couldn’t decipher. “Sometimes you make me so angry, Shree. How can you parent as though you were never young?”

“I never lied to my parents. At least not about anything important.”

Ma scoffed. It was even mean. “Really? Have we conveniently forgotten about Namrata Gadgil?”

Dad, for the first time in Yash’s life, blushed.

“Well?”

“Well, I didn’t bloody well have an election to lose.”

Ma was standing now, hands on hips, glaring down at a man who honestly could have used a little more glaring in years past. “We’re assuming that Yash is only going to win because he was shot and because Naina was caught crying on camera. I thought you believed in our son. Those are the least of the reasons why he’d going to win.”

Dad did not look happy, but those were exactly the words Yash needed to hear.

For the past ten years Yash had lied. Even as the lie became bigger, he’d let it slide. He’d put the election before the truth. He’d believed the narrative that you had to come to power first, then you could do the work you held dear. That belief had turned him into a politician. Instead of the people he wanted to work for, he’d allowed the system to become his guiding force.

“You know how our son is,” Ma continued. “He becomes obsessed with what he wants and then you can’t get him to back off.”

“I’m standing right here, Ma.”

“I know. That’s why I’m saying it. So you can hear me. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m saying your greatest strength is knowing what you want. Of all my children, you have the gift of clarity. It’s the things you’re clear about, that’s what sets you apart. You only lose your way when you let what everyone else wants from you become tangled with what you want.”

In all his life Yash had never felt such relief.

“Giving Julia that internship, going to see her. It was about doing what Trisha wanted you to do.” Terrible sadness flashed in Ma’s eyes. Yash knew her history as a child star in Bollywood was wrapped up in pain. He knew what Julia had done to him had broken Ma’s heart in ways he didn’t fully understand. “It took me a long time to understand this, but you can’t make up for other people’s evil. It’s on them when they hurt you. And this farce with Naina . . . I knew something was not right. But I thought it was what you needed. I should have pushed harder for you to get therapy, but you always seemed so strong, I didn’t want you to second-guess your strength. But I was being an ostrich. You gave Julia’s actions even more power when you believed that it was your fault. And our actions reinforced it. I’m sorry.”

He found himself squatting in front of Ma, her hand in his. “Thanks, Ma. I am going to need therapy for that. I’ve already set something up.” India was wrong. It wasn’t too late, and Yash would be damned if he didn’t do all he could to be his best self for her.

“Good,” she said. “Better late than never.” Then she asked the million-dollar question. “What are we going to do?”

“Don’t do anything reckless, son,” Dad said. “The election is next month. Let’s wait until it’s over. Take some time to think about it.”

“Don’t you think he’s already thought about it?” Ma said. “You just have to trust yourself, beta. Focus on what matters to

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