Forgetting Billions | ✓

06 | Forgetting Rules

IT HAD been three days since SS broke into Bianca's house and wrote the message that changed the lives of the Karesh Family completely.

Those days were anything but uneventful. Jasmine had hoped her life would slow down for a little while, but it seemed that no one really cared about what she wanted anymore.

After the accident, Bianca and her children couldn't risk staying in their home. Jasmine offered her house to her aunt on a whim, causing her father to lose his temper once he found out. Her parents had ushered her upstairs soon after Varun's tantrum, not wanting their daughter to hear the explosive argument that would follow.

That didn't stop her from eavesdropping, though.

"I will never let that woman step into this house. She can stay in a motel for all I care, but she will never come here." her father whispered, his hands flailing around as he tried to make his point.

Her mother was never one to back down from a fight. She yelled, unable to contain her voice to anything quieter, "She's your sister-in-law. What kind of brother are you if you don't offer her a home in a time of need?"

"She is no sister of mine. She killed my brother." her father's words hit Jasmine hard in the chest. Varun's voice softened when he saw his wife fall silent, but his diction did not, "She asked him over to the school that day for her laptop. If not for her, he would have been safe at home and Karina and Aditya would have grown up with a father."

Her mother glared at him, "Instead, Bianca would have died. That's what you would've preferred, right?"

Her father did not say anything.

Her mother clicked her tongue, "That's what I thought. Bianca would have died, and along with her, Karina and Aditya. She was pregnant with them during the shooting, you do remember that right? It would have just been Rahul alone in this world." her mother placed a hand on her father's shoulder and continued, "I know you never supported their marriage, but they loved each other. Love pays no attention to color, and to him, it did not matter that she was an American elementary school teacher. While it did to you and your parents, he did not care, because he knew love was love. You must show Bianca this same love. Being white does not make her any less human."

"That does not change the fact that she killed him."

"That was twelve years ago. It is time you got over it. She will stay in our house for as long as she pleases, and you will treat her as a sister," her mother whispered her final words, before thrusting a blanket and a pillow into her father's hands, "Until you appreciate the family you have, you'll stay down here."

Jasmine quickly hurried into her room, closing her door behind her as she slid to the ground, her back against the wall. She placed her face in her hands, taking consecutive deep breaths like her therapist had suggested for her to do. The simple, calming action sent her into a deep slumber, sitting upright on the rough carpet of her room.

The next day, Bianca moved into the spare room that was normally saved for her grandparents. She thanked Aishwarya over and over again, smiling weakly at Jasmine's father too. He did not speak a single word for the first two days that Bianca stayed with them. He did not attend dinners, did not interact with her, and even went out of his way to make sure their paths never crossed.

He continued to be locked out of his own room.

Of course, avoiding a member of the family was extremely hard in a house as small as theirs. Eventually, they made eye contact in front of Jasmine's room, both of them coming to talk to her, and Bianca had the nerve to stare her father down. He averted his gaze to the floor, frowning so deeply that wrinkles began to ripple across his forehead.