Incense and Sensibility (The Rajes #3) - Sonali Dev Page 0,89
intensity, such vulnerability. She gives everything. It’s almost scary. It’s such a huge risk for her, but she still does it. And you want me to think about principles?”
No matter how cold China thought she was, India wasn’t cold enough to point out that Song was giving everything within the protection of these closed walls and a nondisclosure agreement drafted by some of the highest-paid entertainment lawyers in the world. China, on the other hand, was giving everything unconditionally and without any caution.
Nonetheless, Song did have the right to love and be loved like everyone else. “I don’t doubt that Song loves you. It’s obvious in the way she looks at you. Who could not love you? If bigoted social structures are keeping her from showing it publicly, then absolutely she has the right to keep herself safe, but you have to protect yourself too.”
“Protect myself from what? Why, when I want to leap, do you always want to pull me back?”
How could she not, when China was leaping into an abyss of pain? Pain she knew too well.
“You might be going up against something far larger than yourself. You might even have the strength to fight it. But like you said yourself, you would be coming at this fight from a place of privilege. Everyone in your life cherishes you, always has. Your family, your friends, your colleagues, your whole world already celebrates you. That’s not true of Song.”
China dropped onto the floor at India’s feet and looked up at her, luminous eyes glistening with tears, mass of curls spilling from her high ponytail. “She stands to lose so much by being with me and she doesn’t care. How can I return that with choosing my job over her? My wanting to stay here, wanting my life to be exactly as it was before her, before us—how can I be that selfish?”
China had worked harder than anyone India knew to get where she was in her career. The anxiety of giving anything but one hundred percent and achieving anything less than perfection used to keep her up nights even when they were little girls. India had sat by her sister through many a night as she worked tirelessly on anything she took on.
“You’ve never left California.”
“I’m not yet thirty. I’m growing up. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted for me?” She laid her head on India’s lap.
India stroked her hair. “You’re being very brave, and I’m very proud of you.”
“Well, hold that thought until you hear the rest.”
India waited.
“I quit the show.”
That show was her sister’s baby, and India’s heart broke a little bit. She kept stroking.
“The season is about to begin. Sharon wanted me to stay until the end of this season.”
“Sharon has been kind and patient these past few months.” China had missed work on crucial days and her boss had done nothing more than lecture her about how important she was to the show and how much they needed her work ethic. Sharon probably suspected that China was going through some sort of personal crisis, but a boss could only make so many allowances for an employee who had suddenly decided not to show up.
“Actually, Sharon turned out to be a piece of work. She’s taking this as a personal affront. She thinks I’m going to a competitor and she threatened to sue me if I did.”
“What did you do?”
“I told her that I hadn’t planned to, but now that she’d shown her true ungrateful colors I was tempted to. Don’t look so disappointed. I’ve worked harder than anyone else there. My show is the first of the channel’s shows that’s licensed to stream in every country that has streaming services. Granted, Rico and Ashna helped with making the show a phenomenon, but I was the one who got Ashna in, which got Rico in. I was the one who made sure that we took the audience interest and mined ratings gold from it.”
“You probably took her by surprise, and this is just her knee-jerk reaction to get you to stay until the end of the season.”
“She threatened to end my career, India. She told me that I wouldn’t work in the industry again if I quit the show now.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You deserve more respect than that. How dare she?”
That made China smile for the first time today.
“But you know she has a temper, she says things when she feels threatened. You usually do such a great job managing her. Go back and tell her you’ll