Page 25

Twenty-Four. You gave my daughter hickeys

Vera

W hen we pull up in front of my parents’ house a few days later, Elias makes a sound of protest. He gave Kuriakose the day off and decided to drive instead. His knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel too tight. I cover his hand with mine and smile when he glances at me. He had a match yesterday and seemed totally fine when we were lying in bed after another round of wild sex talking about this visit. But now he looks nervous and maybe even a little scared.

“If you’re not ready, you don’t have to stay,” I tell him.

My parents know I’m bringing a friend, but they didn’t ask any further questions. So if Elias can’t do this today, it won’t be the end of the world. I certainly won’t hold it against him. Meeting family is a big deal and while we’re in a good place in our relationship, it’s a lot of pressure.

“No, I’ll be okay.”

“Elias…”

“ Peaches ,” he replies, hands loosening on the wheel as he slumps back in his seat. “I’ve never met the parents of someone I’m dating before. I never got to this stage in the past.”

“I get it. I’m nervous about meeting your siblings too.”

“But parents , Vera. That’s…different.”

I nod and glance at the house. “They’re pretty normal, for the most part. My mother will ask a million questions and my dad will be excited to meet you. Be yourself,” I say and he chuckles.

“This version of myself or the one from last night?”

“Neither.” I roll my eyes and lean across the console. “Be the guy you were with my friends. That’s enough.”

“Okay, I can do this.” He turns off the car and wipes his hands on his thighs. With an assuring smile, I get out of the car as a cab pulls up behind us.

Tamara slides out and flips her dark curly hair over her shoulder with a grin. “Is he ready for the chaos?”

“He is not!” Elias whisper-shouts and grunts when my cousin snorts.

“They’re my favourite people and I promise they’re perfect,” Tamara adds and walks towards the front door.

After losing her parents and growing up with mine, it’s no surprise she loves them the way she does. But Tamara’s opinion of them doesn’t assuage Elias’s nerves. He comes around the car and takes my hand, exhaling loudly. I squeeze my fingers around his and head up to the door as it swings open.

“Well, look who decided to come home,” my father teases, pulling Tamara in for a tight hug. When he releases her, my mother is there to embrace her as well.

Their attention shifts to us and Elias tenses at my side. Amma’s eyes are so wide as she glances between us and down to our linked hands. It takes Appa a few seconds to recognise him and he grins.

“If I knew your friend was a cricket star, I would have dressed better.” He’s wearing his standard uniform of cotton shorts and a floral printed shirt—we call them dad shirts because every retired father now wears them—and looking as sharp as always. “Welcome to our home, Elias.”

“Uh, thanks, Mr. Thomas. And you look way better dressed than me.”

My father laughs and shakes Elias’s hand. “Kind of you to say. And none of that mister nonsense. I’m Jacob, or Jakes, if you’d prefer.”

Elias blushes. “My parents would not be okay with that.”

“They never have to know,” my father adds in a loud whisper.

“Okay, enough,” I interrupt, because they seem to have forgotten I’m even there. Appa hugs me and laughs at my eye roll, but we’re both distracted by my mother analysing Elias.

“You gave my daughter hickeys.” She says it so casually and I groan as my father chuckles. Elias nods and she continues, “You’ll be good to her, yes?”

“Absolutely. Always,” he answers quickly and Amma smiles.

“Good, welcome to our home.” She steps aside and lets us into the house.

This performance from my folks is exactly why my friends like them. They’re not your typical Mallu parents and when they joke and tease, it’s not some underhanded way to make you uncomfortable. What you see is what you get with them and despite how tense Elias is, I know he’s glad he passed the first test.

My brothers slide into view as we step into the main room and they stare at my boyfriend like he’s an alien. They blink slowly and look at each other.

“Elias, these are my brothers, Varun and Vikram.”

Varun stands tall, gaze unwavering. “This is the Elias that gave you hickeys?”

“Can everyone please let this go!”

“He’s famous, Vee,” Vikram says with stars in his eyes. As a cricketer, coach and fan of the sport, I’m not surprised by his reaction. He hurries forward and looks Elias in the eyes. “You’re my hero. But if you hurt my sister, I will end you.”

“Vikram!”

“I’m kidding,” my brother says and backs away, narrowing his eyes at Elias.

Shaking my head, I look at my older brother. “Do you have any threats?”

“Treat her well and we won’t have any problems,” Varun replies, arms crossed over his chest. He was there to pick up the pieces when Ajay dumped me and has reminded me never to settle for the bare minimum.

“Like a queen, I promise.”

Silence settles around us and Appa clears his throat. “All right. Elias, would you like a drink?”

Sensing his hesitation, I squeeze Elias’s arm. “Beer?” My family nods and I turn to my youngest brother. “Your turn, Vik.”

With a grunt, he goes to pour the drinks while everyone else settles on the sofas in the living room. Elias sits between Tamara and me, attempting to look relaxed, but he’s struggling to be still. My cousin is doing her best not to crack up and I’m worried Elias will snap if he doesn’t breathe normally. I set my hand on his arm and he relaxes a smidge, so I turn to my parents.

“Have you two decided your first holiday destination?”

Amma rolls her eyes. “I want to do Asia, your father wants to do South America.”

“Why can’t you do both?”

“We want to do a family trip once Viola is on break.” Appa shrugs. “We’re trying to space it out, so we don’t get tired of all the travelling.”

“My parents just finished South America, so I could ask them for recommendations,” Elias says, his voice steady and I smile as my father beams at him.

“That would be fantastic, Elias. Are you parents in town or still abroad?”

“They might come home for the ICL finals, they’re off to Europe for the Olympics.”

“His siblings qualified in their respective sports,” I say as Vikram returns with the drinks.

My father looks impressed. “A family of athletes. What do they play?”

“Will you be joining them?” Amma asks, interrupting my father.

“I’m hoping to. It all depends on how the next few matches go.”

There’s a split second of silence before the men in my family are practically yelling out ICL-related questions. Elias is shocked for a minute, but leans into it and answers as much as possible. Tamara and I leave them to it while we go help my mother and Chinnakka set the table.

“I’m happy for you, chakkare.”

Amma’s not looking at me, but she’s smiling as she transfers the rice into a bigger bowl.

“He’s good for her, Tessammai,” my cousin adds and my mother nods.

“After those who shall not be named, I thought you’d never meet anyone new.”

I roll my eyes and set serving dishes on the table to be filled. “I wasn’t looking for anyone and I certainly didn’t plan for him either.”

“Sometimes the best things in life are surprises.”

Of course that’s what my mother would say. While they didn’t pressure me into any more arranged marriage meetings, they did sometimes bring up sons of friends who would make for good partners. But I knew soon after Ajay I wanted to find someone on my own. Society has a way of making women out to be the bad guy when we’re not interested in marrying their sons. And they hold our parents responsible for our choices. I didn’t want that for my folks. They deserve better.

“More importantly—” my mother turns me to face her “—are you happy?”

“I am, Amma. He’s probably the best person I’ve ever met.”

“Outside of this family, you mean,” Tamara says, her chin on my mother’s shoulder.

Ignoring my cousin, I add, “I’m happy and he is good to and for me. And you’re not wrong, the best part of life can be a surprise.”

There’s a moment where they stare at me then I’m wrapped in their arms. Laughing, I hug them back. While I’m not thinking about the future, I know being with Elias is what I want. And admitting it out loud was the first step.

“You’re thinking too loud,” he grumbles, pressing his face into my neck.

“Sorry,” I laugh, winding my fingers through his hair. “Got work on the brain.”

Since we did a weekday family lunch—Vikram has a cricket tournament outside of the city and Varun’s attending an event in Delhi this weekend—I took the whole day off. But my head can’t shut the fuck up. It’s like the meme about so many tabs being open and I can’t figure out where the music is coming from. I’ve got presentations and proposals fighting for attention, but none of them appeal to me.

After a very successful lunch where my family insisted he come back whenever he can, Elias and I dropped Tamara off and went to his place. We collapsed in bed as soon as we walked in, and have been fully clothed and horizontal for the last three hours. I was asleep for most of it, but when my phone started buzzing, I grabbed it and returned to bed. Between the family chat blowing up—my brothers praising my choice in boyfriend, a string of emojis from Viola because she missed out—private messages from my mother telling me she’s really happy for me and emails from work, I’ve been on a hamster wheel of emotions while he snored beside me.

He spent the whole afternoon laughing and arguing with my brothers, he helped my mother serve dessert and talked to my father about his own family. Tamara and I watched most of it from a distance because I didn’t want to pop that bubble. Even if they liked Rakesh, their loud approval of Elias means a lot more to me. I haven’t said anything, because this isn’t about me. The success of the day is more about him and he doesn’t look like he wants to run.

“We promised no work today, peaches.”

When he called me that in front of my family, their eyes bugged out and he fumbled in his explanation. Telling them I taste like peaches was definitely not the way to win them over. So he made up some silly story I know they didn’t believe. However, the nickname made my mother smile like a fool, so I don’t think it mattered why he calls me peaches .

“Can’t ignore the world, superstar.”

“Just for another hour, baby. Then you can do whatever you want.” He peppers kisses along my jaw and tugs me roughly into his chest. I don’t protest, I move with him, hitching a leg over his hips as he presses his bottom half against mine. It’s not even a sexual thing. I find of late, we sleep like this. As someone who doesn’t really care for excessive physical affection, this is a nice change and I quite enjoy it.

I enjoy everything with Elias, truth be told.

The way I feel about him scares me sometimes, because it’s familiar—the rush of affection, the need to always be with him, the rattling in my chest when he’s around, the desire to say I love you every few seconds. It happened with both my past relationships and look how those turned out. It’s easy to say Elias isn’t like them, but we haven’t been in a position where the roles are reversed. Where I’m working and travelling all the time while he sits at home waiting for me; I don’t know how he’d react to it. While he might enjoy me, there’s no guarantee he’ll feel that way forever.

Don’t get ahead of yourself .

“You good?” His question breaks through my thoughts and I exhale loudly. “Vera.”

“I’m okay,” I insist and kiss his forehead, down to his nose and brush my mouth over his. He tips his head back to meet my lips and smiles into the kiss.

“Thank you for taking me with you today.”

“My family loves you, so you’re welcome.”

“They’re pretty amazing, even if I was so nervous at first.”

Pushing his hair back, fingers twisting in the soft strands, I smile. “Told you there was nothing to be worried about. Now, let’s hope your siblings feel the same way about me.”

“Oh, they already think the world of you.”

“Is that right?”

He hums, hands on my ass pulling me closer. “Nina is very excited to meet you. She’s always complaining there isn’t enough oestrogen when we’re all together.”

Laughing, I wriggle until our hips are perfectly lined up. “If that’s all she expects from me, I’m winning already.”

“They’re going to love you, like your family obviously loves me.”

I smile and press my mouth to his. Like I love you too.