Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 34: Internalizing

"Our? Oh, are you-"

"I'm Prashanth. I talked to you guys on call, I believe." I never thought Prashanth could be so... dedicated. I really thought he would just leave me on my own, but no. He's here, right next to me. Talking way more than I thought he would. He's a big nodder.

My mom really takes her time looking at him, head to toe. She looks back at me confused yet intrigued. 

"Neevu hegidheera (how are you)?" Oh, he brought out the Kannada. That's an automatic win in my parents' book. They wouldn't give a shit if my mate was Kannada or not, or if they were Indian for that matter, but it' still a big bonus for them.

"Naavu chennagidene (we're good), kuttu. Sorry, we didn't mean to scare you and your friends," my mom responds with a smile. My dad notices my friends standing behind awkwardly and gives them a wave. When Prashanth looks back to see my friends waving to my dad, I notice that her eyes haven't looked away from Prashanth at all. She's looking at him in almost... fascination. Disbelief.

When Prashanth turns back to my mom, he also notices how my mom is looking at him. He raises his eyebrow again, seeing if moving his face does anything. But, no. Her eyes are glued on him.

"Um- aunty? Is something wrong?" he breaks the silence. But suddenly, she does the most unthinkable thing. 

She comes forward and pulls him into her arms.

Prashanth is stunned. His jeweled eyes glance at me in panic before he hesitantly wraps her arms around him. Okay, he already did too much hugging for one day when he did that back there. Now my mother is hugging him? 

"I never thought this would be possible. I used to dread the day I would run into someone from before, but how bittersweet is it that it's because you're with my daughter?" 

I have no idea what to say. How did I go from scolding my parents just now to watching my mom embrace my mate who she just met for the first time officially? Like, what is my life?

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

She chuckles, and then she lets go of him. She leans into my dad's ear and whispers something. Prashanth, very confused and possibly traumatized, turns to me with golf ball eyes.

"Now I see where you get the hugging from."

I laugh sheepishly. I'm so sorry, I didn't expect it either. 

He scoffs and shakes his hand. "It's really no big deal, Savi. I'm used to you; I'll get used to your parents, too."

I don't get it. Why did she just randomly hug you like that?

"Because I know Radhika."

I'm sorry, what?

Stunned, Prashanth and I look up to my mom and dad. She gives us a soft smile before she pulls out her Soulstone. It's the first time I'm actually seeing it. It's a champagne-colored claw, but it glows with constant magic. The others' necklaces definitely don't glow like that. 

"Chi chi (ugh), it's been so long since I used this." Yeah, 20 years is a pretty long time, Ma.

After touching it for a second, a random ray shoots out in front of us. Prashanth instinctively dodges me out of the way as we turn to see what exactly just happened. Naishal, Vaibhav, and Divya's faces are in complete bewilderment. Complete confusion.

It's a picture, a somehow completely 3D reenactment that is shown on the snow. A brown table sits right in the middle. On one side, a couple sits down together. Their faces are in giant happy grins as they look ahead, but the person in front of them is not shown. The lady has Prashanth's entire face. Meanwhile, the man looks exactly like his sister. Prashanth mutters "what the fuck" under his breath. 

"This is Radhika and Ojas, Prashanth's mother and father. This photo was taken the day I announced that I was engaged. All the way back in 1998," she nudges my dad, and he wraps his arm around my mom and smiles warmly at the memory.

The gold, peridot, and ruby ring that keep haunting my visions once again make an appearance. At this point, I would be a fool to deny the truth. I still don't know the exact story, but I found one piece of the puzzle. This is heartwarming, though. I can't believe my mom has known his parents for so long; it makes things between us feel not as spontaneous as I thought. But this only exacerbates the need to get to the bottom of all of this.

"Amma... who are you?"

She sighs, putting down her pendant and letting the photo descend into magic that goes into the atmosphere. She looks at my dad, who nods his head in encouragement, before she turns to me.

"It is a long story, kuttu. But you're right. It's time for you to know who you are."