SHE waved the little boy goodbye and planted herself on her bicycle. She started paddling back to her house and didn't stop to even spare a glance at Everett. He had been incredibly passive towards her and she didn't want him to think she was an attention seeking maniac. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but be jealous of him. She had never been on a trip alone or with friends. She wondered what it must be like to do everything on your own–planning the trip, setting a budget, changing plans according to her own wish. What did that kind of freedom feel like? Maybe she'll get a chance one day to find out.

The metal grey gate screeched when Aahana shoved it open without getting down her bike. She rode to the bike shack and parked it once she reached the lawn of her house. She sighed at her home. She desperately wanted to get away—to be someplace else, to be around someone else, but it seemed impossible. This year's summer break was definitely going to be a complete fail for her.

She unlocked the door and pushed her flip flops away without bothering to keep them in their right places.

"I'm back!" She cried out.

Her Ma replied, "Good. Come to the kitchen. I need you to help me make chapattis. Your Papa is bringing his boss' family with him."

Aahana walked past the kitchen with a sigh of frustration. "I just came home. I'm tired."

"Get your ass here. Now. It's your summer vacation. You have nothing to do anyways," Ma demanded.

"Exactly," Aahana huffed while stomping into the kitchen. "It's my summer vacation. I should be enjoying it and not cooking food for someone I don't know!" She shouted.

"Lower your voice and attitude in front of me," Ma replied calmly while flipping the vegetables with a spatula. "And you do know who your Papa's boss is. He could get a promotion because of this. Either help me cook or vacuum the whole house."

She groaned in response. "No doubt Kavya moved away," she retorted. "She couldn't wait to get rid of your controlling attitude and honestly, so do I." Aahana strode towards the washbasin and washed her hands.

"Aahana!" Ma yelled. "Don't try to get on my nerves. If the dinner doesn't go well, I'll make you help me with dinner every single day."

Aahana poured a few cups of flour in a white bowl. "I already do laundry, help you with lunch, and vacuum the house every alternate day. Making dinner won't be a huge difference anyway."

"Enough!" Ma spun around, the hot spatula in her hands clenched tightly. Her face went red with rage. "One word more and you're grounded for the rest of summer. No phone, no TV, no going out after 3 p.m."

Aahana silently poured a few spoons of water and oil.

"Why don't you just lock me up?" She muttered while submerging her hands in the mixture of flour, water, oil, and kneading it.

"What did you say?" Ma questioned. Aahana chose to remain silent. Her eyes were glued down to her hands which kneaded the dough using all her strength.

Ma sighed and went back to flipping finely chopped vegetables which Aahana couldn't see from the distance between them. Even though Ma's back was facing her, she didn't shed any tears away. It was futile to cry.

"You know why I'm making you do all this..." Her Ma's voice softened followed by a deep breath.

So that you don't have any trouble when you get married to an Indian man.

"So that you don't have any problem when you move away after getting married in India," Ma added.

It's for your good.

"I'm doing this for you," Ma continued.

Because no matter what hardships I make you go through, you're my daughter and I love you.

"Your elder sister walked away from us but you didn't. I know why you chose to get graduated from Peakview University, so that you could stay a call away from us. And we love you for that."

Aahana breathed. The silence grew thicker around them. This conversation was held every time they got into an argument. The words may have been modified but the message remained the same; do what I'm telling you to do. And get married to an Indian guy.

Aahana was in her grandmother's room, asking for guidance when the bell rang. She dashed out of the room without completing the conversation and saw Ma hastily wipe her hands with a towel and throw her apron away. She wrapped her hand around Aahana's arm and dragged her to the door. They dusted themselves and plastered big smiles on their faces.

The door was opened by Aahana's mother.

"Mr. and Mrs. Avery," Papa said with a smile, "Meet my wife, Neha Mehta and my daughter, Aahana." He gestured towards the both of them. Mr. Avery was wearing a black suit and Mrs. Avery's hands were wrapped around her husband's arm just like the blue dress hugged her body.

Aahana and her mother said in unison, "Namaste."

But Mr. and Mrs. Avery weren't alone. They had brought their son and Aahana's ex-boyfriend that her parents didn't know about along with them.

"Your son is very handsome," Neha commented. It was mandatory to praise the people you work for no matter how disgusting the opposite person can be. If you want a promotion, you flatter the boss.

But one thing was true, Corbyn Avery wasn't disgusting. Unlike his usual Oakside High's jock jackets and I don't give a shit demeanour, he was wearing a decent outfit and holding a grin on his face.

As soon as Neha's eyes left Corbyn, he smirked at his ex-girlfriend. Aahana widened her eyes in terror but quickly collected herself, pretending not to know him.

"Dev mentioned that you and your wife enjoy Indian dishes, so we made them for you. Come in, dinner is ready to serve," Neha said and ushered them inside.

Mr. and Mrs. Avery along with Dev and Neha made their way to the dining room, but Aahana tugged Corbyn's arm and pulled him down to her height to whisper in his ear.

"My parents don't know about us. If you tell them, I'll kill you," She muttered as she pressed on every word to let him know that he can't risk slipping anything about them out.

Corbyn shrugged. "Relax. We just fake dated as a dare for a week," he reasoned.

"They. Can't. Know."

"Yeah, all right. Whatever," he said and then squinted his eyes at her. "What's wrong with you, anyway? Looks as if you have lost all your charm."

Corbyn has been her friend for a while now. No wonder he could sense her mood.

"Bad day. Don't make it any worse for me."

He gave her a two-finger salute. "You got it, ex-girlfriend." She glared at him before they walked into the dining room.

Mr. and Mrs. Avery had already taken a seat across from her Ma and Papa on two long ends of the rectangular table while shorter ends were saved for the two of them. Corbyn pulled the chair for Aahana and then ran across to sit on the other side.

Aahana held back from rolling her eyes. Corbyn always becomes a gentleman around his parents or anyone of their age.

The food had already been served. Aahana looked at her plate and cringed. She loathed bhindi ki sabzi.

"So, Aahana," Mrs. Avery began. Aahana looked up. "Corbyn tells us that you and he were in the same school year."

She nodded. "Yeah, we shared French and Calculus."

"Oh, okay." She chewed her food and continued. "Weren't you and Corbyn Prom King and Queen? He didn't tell me about you being his date or the fact that you're so pretty."

Aahana blushed but it wasn't because Mrs. Avery complimented her. She was shrinking at the sudden intense gaze that was radiating from her parents. She had lied to them about prom. They had allowed her to go to prom only if she was going alone when in reality, Corbyn had picked her up a few blocks away from her house.

The truth was shimmering upon her lies and she didn't know what to do.

"We, um. We played Romeo and Juliet in a play, so everyone kinda expected us to go together. Plus, I could've gone alone but I wanted to be the prom king so I asked Aahana at the last moment," he lied. Her parents nodded at him with an unreadable look. She glanced at Corbyn who offered a half-smile.

"Thank you," she mouthed when no one was looking. He nodded.

"What universities did you apply for?" The question was posed to Corbyn by Neha.

"I ac—"

"Columbia, Harvard, Yale and NYU," his father answered for him. Corbyn clenched his jaw. Aahana could feel his rage from across the table. She knew he had applied for community colleges because he didn't like to study. He wanted to get a scholarship through basketball but his parents didn't approve of that.

They both had their struggles.

"I can't believe it!" Neha spun around and stomped towards her daughter as soon as the guests left their house. "How could you hide it from us?"

Despite Corbyn's convincing save, her Ma wasn't happy.

"He told you. I did go alone. He asked when I reached school," she lied.

Ma's face had turned red while her Papa stood in one corner of the room with a disappointed look. "You couldn't tell us after coming back?"

"I was tired and it slipped my mind." Aahana yelled. "Oh, God. Look at you. You're overreacting."

"I'm not overreacting!" Ma shouted. "I'm upset because my daughter is hiding things from me."

"Ma!" She called out. "It was just a date."

Neha took a long breath. "Aahana," she said, her eyes big and glaring. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Of course, not. You would never let me date, don't you think I already know that?"

There was a short pause.

"You are grounded for a week," Ma announced. "Like I said earlier, no phone, no TV. No going out after 3 p.m."

Aahana's jaw-dropped. She peered at her father. "Papa?"

Do you approve of this?

He shrugged. "Ana—" His voice was soft— "you can't hide things from us and talk back to us and expect to be forgiven."

"Great!" She said sarcastically. "Perfect!" She ran back to her room and banged the door shut. Tears streamed down her face. She was tired of this. Tired of being locked up. Tired of being told not to date. Tired of doing what she was told.

Tired. Tired. Tired.

She took a bag out of her cupboard and started filling it up with piles of clothes.

She needed a way out. 

phew, this was a tough chapter to write. I wrote this chapter to give a glimpse of why Aahana wanted to run away.

without this chapter, I got a lot of feedback saying she is careless and a fool to run away with a stranger and I think this chapter explains why she is doing things she shouldn't do.

do you hate, love, like any character?

[ don't forget to vote and comment! ]