Page 30 of Born in Sin (Phoenix #3)

It was Parents Day. The final one for their tenth grade class. They were due to go home for study leave and only come back when it was time to write the board exams.

Celina dawdled through the halls, a part of the controlled chaos and yet, a step out of sync.

With her mother being a teacher, the concept of Parents Day was lost on her.

Her mother just collected her report and then berated her about it over dinner.

Studies was not where Celina shone. She frowned.

At the moment, she wasn’t sure exactly what she shone at.

But she was sure she’d find it…whatever-

Her thoughts scattered as she caught sight of Virat. She looked for his father’s manager, Sharan Chacha, but the older man was nowhere to be found. Celina frowned. Had he not come? It was almost lunch time. All the parents and guardians had already arrived.

She was about to go up to Virat when she saw the man beside him shift and turn, the light from the window hitting his stern profile.

Her breath caught in her chest as she stared at the older man, a mirror image of the boy she loved.

Virat’s father, Raghuvansh Jha, had come!

Her stunned gaze darted to Virat’s face, but she saw no expression on it.

Father and son watched each other, their faces impassive, eyes blank.

Then Raghuvansh Jha gestured with one hand to the door that led to the school gardens.

Virat followed him without a word. Alarm flared within Celina as she watched Virat.

Something wasn’t right. He looked stiff, emotionless, like a puppet whose strings were being pulled.

She followed at a distance, hoping to be of some help to Virat.

They stepped out of the building and stopped at the head of the driveway.

Virat’s father signaled to someone, a driver she presumed, before turning to face his son.

But it wasn’t a driver. His business manager, Sharan Chaudhry, stepped into view.

Celina flattened herself to the wall, unashamedly spying.

“Sharan Chacha!”

Virat sounded relieved at the sight of his father’s manager, or maybe just at the sight of what passed as normal in his world.

For the entirety of his existence, it had been Sharan Chacha who had attended every Parent’s Day, driven him to his own house for term breaks, and dropped him off at the beginning of the next term. So why was Virat’s father here now?

“Why are you here?” Virat asked abruptly, almost seeming to be in tune with her thoughts.

Raghuvansh Jha cleared his throat. “There is something you should know. Something I thought you should know at least.”

“What?” Virat’s voice was calm but Celina knew him well. She was the only one who would have heard the thread of uncertainty underlying it.

“Your mother is dead.”

The ground shook beneath her feet. Was that an earthquake? Or was it just Celina’s shock sending tremors through her. She took a shaky step forward and peeked around the wall at the Jhas.

Virat was staring at his father, expressionlessly, no flicker of emotion in his face. Her gaze dropped to his hands, and she saw the fine tremor that passed through them.

But when Virat finally spoke, his voice was as steady as a granite rock.

“Okay.”

One word. That’s all it was but Celina’s heart broke with it, shattered into a million pieces. She knew without his saying anything more that his world was never going to be the same again.

His father nodded, seeming pleased with Virat’s reaction or lack of it.

“Goodbye,” he said, before getting into the car the driver had pulled up.

He didn’t wait for a response from his son before putting the window up and driving away.

As they passed down the driveway, the window was wound down, and a paper came fluttering out.

Virat’s report card. He stared at it, making no move to pick it up.

“Virat,” Sharan Chacha said, giving him a compassionate glance. “I’ll bring the car. You go get your luggage.

With that, the manager left and Celina exploded out of her hiding place. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight, squeezing until she felt like she was burrowing into him.

Virat gently unwound her arms from around him, setting her back. “You’ll get into trouble,” he told her, his voice a calm monotone.

“I don’t care!” She stared at him mutinously, anger, pain and grief mixing within her.

“I do!”

She shook her head, not wanting to fight with him. Not now. “I heard what your father said,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“Virat.” Agitation coated her words. “Now you’ll never get to meet her. Ever.”

“She didn’t want to meet me Celi.” His voice was rough with unspoken emotion. “She left me a long time ago. This…this is nothing.”

“She was your mother!”

“She gave birth to me,” he replied. “But she wasn’t my mother. No one was.”