"Jai? What happened?" Sanaya asked, concern taking over her features and seeping into her tone. Jai turned and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes glazed over.

Mohit worriedly glanced at me and I hesitantly stepped forward.

"Jai, what did Carol say?"

"Gran's...dead?"

The whisper came out as a question, as if he didn't believe the thought. My breath got caught in my throat and my eyes widened.

What? Gran died?

"Jai, w–"

His eyes shot up, jaw clenched and his fists trembling beside his body.

"Gran died of a heart attack this morning."

Sanaya gasped and covered her mouth in shock, and I stood there, frozen.

No...Gran can't be dead! She was so healthy when we saw her last.

He shook his head before his eyes travelled to Sanaya and Mohit.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry, but I need some time alone. Can we–"

"No, that's completely fine. We'll come back another time," Mohit cut in, nodding his head sympathetically.

He ushered Khushi over to him, who looked up at Jai in confusion.

"Joi...are you okay?"

He forced a smile for her. "Yeah, course I am, monkey."

"You don't look okay," she mumbled, "you usually swing me around before I go, too."

With fake enthusiasm, he chuckled.

"Well, you asked for it," he said, and picked her up, tickling her in the process. Even though he was smiling, I could tell it wasn't genuine and that he was only putting up an act.

The strain in the corner of his lips as he stretched a smile made that very obvious.

Khushi just giggled in a carefree manner once she was put down on the floor and pecked him on the cheek.

"Everything will get better, Joi! Don't be sad," she declared, holding up her Elsa doll. "Elsa will make you happy again."

This time the laugh that escaped his mouth was genuine, and he held out his hand to ruffle her messy hair that had come out of the bun.

"I'm sure she will, Khushi," he said.

Khushi beamed at him before running over to me and hugging me tightly. She whispered a small goodbye before running back over to Sanaya who looked like she was about to cry.

She hurriedly rushed over and hugged Jai, softly sobbing on his shoulder causing my heart to ache. After we parted ways and the door shut, Jai leaned against it, his hand made into a fist against the door.

"Jai," I whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder. His body was stiff, but as soon as my hand made contact with it, the muscles in his body began to relax. "I'm–"

He abruptly turned and pulled me into a hug, his head on my shoulder. His hold tightened around me, and I could feel his chest jerking as he tried to hold in the sobs that heaved through his body, yet the occasional one slipped through now and again.

"She brought me up and now—now she's gone. She's gone Karishma," he whispered, brokenly.

Jai...

I knew how much Gran meant to him. I could see it, and from what he told me, she practically raised him. I held him close, wrapping my arms around him and stroking his head–like what a mother would do to console their child.

Jai helped me a lot, and I owed it to him to do this at least. And I really liked our Gran. She was a woman I wanted to be around for the rest of my life, but, her life ended too quickly, and I couldn't bear to see the pain on Jai's face.

We had such good fun playing UNO, and she was so kind to me, unlike other people I've met.

She made me feel welcome and showed me the good side to Jai as well.

I owed it all to her.

My hold around Jai seemingly loosened when he pulled away from my embrace.

His face was pale and his eyes were red; he was sniffling and brought a hand to roughly wipe the tears from his eyes.

But, he looked calmer now.

"And she was so healthy," I stuttered to myself, still not being able to believe this was happening.

"Yeah..." he muttered, his voice hoarse from the crying. He ran a hand through his hair roughly. "I should have fucking been there for her. I should have visited her more often and–"

"Jai," I began, softly.

I was to be blamed too. I could have asked Jai to visit her more.

"It's not your fault. You have an important job at your father's company, and, even if you couldn't visit her, from what I knew about her, she seemed to be the most forgiving and loving person in the world. She will understand, Jai. It's not like you didn't visit her because you didn't want to."

He nodded his head, slowly.

"My gran–" he swallowed hard, and then continued talking about her in the past tense, "was the sweetest woman in the universe, but just," he walked over to the couch, his head in his hands and his voice strained with unshed tears and anger, "I wish I could have done more for her. I wanted her to be with us and—and I should have pushed her to come live with us even if she didn't want to."

Taking a seat beside him, I placed my hand over his, squeezing tightly.

"Please don't blame yourself. If she wanted to come, she definitely would have. You blaming yourself is hurting me," I whimpered, trying not to cry–for him. "And it'll hurt our Gran too."

At the mention of 'our Gran' he looked up at me, his face crumpled into an expression of pure sadness and my heart clenched and began to weep for him. He reached out and placed a hand on my cheek, and unconsciously, I leaned into his touch.

"I'm so glad I have you," he whispered.

I put my hand over his. I don't know who moved first, but our fingers laced together, and I looked down at it in awe–the differences in skin tone and the fact that we had gotten so far as to lace fingers like this tightly, was shocking.

Now is not the time to be thinking about that! Gran would want me to make him feel better.

"You need to stay strong, Jai," I continued, "for her."

Jai nodded, his eyes now burning with determination.

"Yeah, you're right," he said with a strong firmness. "Gran would hate to see me crying helplessly."

When he got up, he pulled me up with him, his hold on my hand tightening.

"I have to call my parents and tell them the news," he said, sighing distastefully. I squeezed his hand in reassurance.

Jai's past was a complicated one; one filled with hate, misunderstandings and unfairness to everyone involved.

At first glance, his parents seemed nice–especially when we had gone to the movies together in India. But now that I knew more about Jai and his story, the tension was always there and I just didn't notice. 

I wonder how they'll act? Will they act normally, like I've always seen and heard them?

Jai picked up the telephone and dialled up a number. After three rings, the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

The familiar raspy voice of Prem uncle, Jai's dad, echoed through.

"Dad." Jai's voice and expression changed, his jaw clenching. "Did you hear the news?"

"Oh, yeah. Pretty tragic, son. I'm very sorry to hear."

Is this really Prem uncle? He sounds...distracted and not sorry at all?

My shock must have shown on my face because Jai inclined his head, to reassure me as if saying 'he'll deal with it'.

"You're very sorry to hear, huh?" Jai repeated, mocking his words, scoffing. "Right. You weren't very sorry when you kicked her out to put her in a nursing home, were you? So why would you feel any sorrow, dad?"

"Jai!" I whispered, urgently, shaking my head. He ignored me.

"I know you don't give a fucking shit about what happens to anyone that knows me, but can you at least try to grow a heart and get better at acting a bit more genuine? Because it needs a hell of a lot of work."

My eyes widened, as his words were accompanied by a long pause from the other end.

"Look, son, I know you loved your Gran more than your own mother–"

"Fuck yeah I did. Mom cared more than you did, but because she was afraid of you, she didn't bother defending me even when Aman was losing control and was wrong. Gran stood up for what was right—she called me out when I was wrong but stood by me when I was right. She was both a mother and father to me, but I wouldn't expect someone like you, who despises their own son, to understand that," he spat venomously.

Another pause.

"Stop being dramatic, son. I don't hate you, but you have to understand that what's happened, happened and we can't help that. Gran's gone, but...I'm sure you'll always have a piece of her in your heart. We do, too. Let's not dwell in the past, okay? I am very sorry for the loss; she left us so soon."

So, he apologised...it sounds much more genuine now. Maybe Prem uncle isn't so...bad?

I spoke too soon because immediately his voice turned sarcastic–not at all what I pictured Prem uncle to be like.

"So, how was that for acting better, hmm, son?"

Jai took a sharp intake of breath and swallowed hard. The muscle in his cheek began to tick rapidly, and I immediately knew that it was a sign that he was getting angrier by the minute.

"It was pretty shit, dad, a lot like you."

He hung up and the whole house went eerily silent as he stared at the telephone, his face as pale as a ghost.

"Jai?"

He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again and turning to me.

"Now you know my dad for the dick he really is."

His words made me realise that the whole situation was indeed, real. I had never known Prem uncle had a side like that to him.

I remember that time he asked me to call him Pa when I was ready–was that all an act? It seemed to be. To me, it seemed like they were two different people.

But Jai had warned me that day—he had warned me from the very start but I dismissed it without thinking too much of it.

Are there other, more evil sides to him that I'll never find out about?

Jai had to deal with his dad's bitterness and hate all his life–this alone was hard to listen to, let alone having to deal with that your whole life.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.

"When's the funeral?" I asked. He sighed.

"Thursday, at the Pockyard cemetery. I won't be going to work that day, so we'll go together."

I silently nodded and he went to walk upstairs.

"I'm going to bed. I need to lie down or I'm gonna go fucking mental," he said, sounding exhausted.

I watched with guilt and worry as he mounted the stairs and slowly walked towards our room, his head bent low and his shoulders hunched.

It was a sight I thought I'd never see. Especially not with someone so confident and arrogant as Jai.

I knew I had to do something. I couldn't watch Jai so depressed, and all I wanted, was for his relationship with his parents to be better, and with everything he'd told me in the past, I knew he did too.

I know what to do! Just, hopefully this works...

With my plan in mind, I picked up the phone and, swallowing my fear, dialled the number I needed to.

***

I was watching TV, feeling nothing but numbness at the whole situation with Gran, when Jai came down, wearing a loose tank top and sweatpants, his hair disheveled and eyes red. Seeing him, I couldn't help but gasp, my heart tightening.

He sighed as he sat down on the couch next to me, staring blankly at the TV.

"How are you now?"

"Better."

I knew he wasn't feeling any better than before. I scooted closer to him and held his hand.

"You can tell me how you really feel, Jai. It's not good to bottle up your feelings," I said. He looked exhausted as he leaned his head back.

"Look," he sighed, "there's nothing to say. Not really. I'm just...after everything, even after hearing of her death, my father still has no fucking heart and refuses to show any sympathy."

I nodded and wrung my hands together.

"Have you tried to talk to him...decently?" I said, carefully. I flinched internally when his eyes snapped to mine, his jaw clenching.

"What?"

Oh no.

"No, I meant like talking to each other in a civil manner. He was probably mad at the way you spoke to him." His tense jaw relaxed and he dragged his eyes away coldly.

"He's a dick of a father. He doesn't deserve to be spoken to in a civil manner, Karishma."

"Don't you at least want to make up with each other? Don't you...want that father figure in your life?" I asked, desperately. "Don't you think our Gran would want all of you to move on and love each other as families would?"

I needed him to see the good side of things. Of course, life isn't always rainbows and a bed of roses, and Jai had been through a lot in his life.

But...maybe, his parents regret the things they did. Even if Prem uncle didn't sound or seem sorry, perhaps it's because of the way Jai treats them as well.

Jai sighed in frustration.

"Of course I do, Karishma. I only ever wanted him to care about me," he snapped. "I—but it's too late. He never loved me. He's always loved Aman because I was the son he wished he never had and nothing is ever going to change that."

"Have you ever asked him or talked to him about that?" I asked, softly. Jai went silent and then, shook his head.

"Didn't really need to. It was pretty fucking obvious."

He scoffed before pushing himself off the couch. Before he went to leave again, he turned, looking me in the eye.

"Karishma, they're not very good people. I lost faith in them years ago, so there's no point in trying to find any good in them," he looked at me pointedly.

"Trust me—it's a lost cause."