All Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Sita?" I hear Nanamma call out when she walks into the living room. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" She frowns, her gaze landing on Ruthvik next to me.

The kid looks down at the floor, rolling the ends of his bag straps and unrolling them; something I used to do with my own schoolbag as a child.

"I'm just helping Ruthvik with something," I tell her, ruffling the child's hair. "Did you need anything, Nanamma?"

Nanamma looks displeased, to say in the least, her frown mellowing into a stern expression of pursed lips and strained eyebrows, but I maintain my composure and smile.

Are we really going to act this way about the maid's child?

"No," she says, her tone clipped. "Why does this child need your help?"

"With homework," I let her know, forcing my lips to stay curved. "I offered to help. I have nothing to do right now."

Her pursed lips remain as they are, and she turns to walk away, leaving me with Ruthvik.

"I'm sorry," I apologise, and smile when Ruthvik looks up at me, his eyes widened. "Shall we start then?"

He nods, quietly, and shows me his homework book and textbook that's marked with all the sums he must do before school tomorrow.

"That's a lot of sums," I acknowledge, "how long did you not do your homework for?"

Ruthvik smiles sheepishly, and holds up three fingers. "Three days."

I mask my laughter at his cuteness, and gape at him. "That's a lot of days not to do your homework."

He looks down, his lips jutting out into a disappointed pout.

"That's okay, though," I tell him, comfortingly. "We'll get it done now."

He looks up, and nods, sincerely.

"But we can't go through it quickly if you keep disliking math," I tell him, gently, "you'll have to keep an open mind."

When he looks at me with a confused frown, I chuckle at myself for using words too big for the child. "You'll have to try and enjoy it, okay?"

Rithvik's look turns to that of unfettered judgement, making me laugh. "Okay, let's start. We'll see how it goes," I compromise.

He nods, earnestly, and puts his book down on his lap and copies down the first question. I instruct him to put his book on the table so he has support and I can see what he's doing as well. Ruthvik follows my instructions to the t, and I teach him simple tricks and logic to help him understand the material better.

By the time we're done, the sun's set and Ruthvik looks happy, to say in the very least.

He picks up his books, and packs them up, ready to run out and play with his friends.

"I said I'd give you chocolate," I remind him, "don't you want any?"

He looks up at me, his eyebrows raising animatedly. "You said only if I finish in an hour and a half," he mumbles, quickly averting his gaze to the floor.

"How do you know it's been longer?" I ask him, chuckling.

He points to my phone that flashes with a message, displaying the time on the lock screen. I raise my eyebrows at him, appreciatively. "It's okay, you did a lot of work today. You can take a chocolate."

Ruthvik grins toothily, flashing all of his front teeth. "Okay," he agrees.

I lead him back to the kitchen, and bring out a chocolate bar from the fridge. He takes it with a huge grin, but his smile dims down immediately. He looks up at me with puppy dog eyes. "Akka ki?" [What about my sister?]