MAYA NOTICES THE change about herself.

If you look at her, she’s still The Same Old Maya but in fact, she’s not. If you know her, she’s grown. She’s more confident now because she doesn’t need to hide anymore. Maya feels free to exist—all parts of her.

The conversation with her dad had went way better than she could have imagined.

She was nervous when she sat down to have breakfast with him and Karan reciprocated her nervous energy. She fidgeted in her seat as he cleared his throat.

“So, I researched on the lgbtq community. I am not sure if I understand all of them but I am trying to. It’s a lot to take in, I must say but I’ll try,” he said and it was enough to put all her worries at bay.

Maya smiles even now as she thinks about it. Her dad had reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze that reassured her in ways words could never. He had asked her if there was anyone in particular whom she liked but Maya had refrained from telling him about Estela. She had already given him a lot to deal with, she didn’t want to dump another thing to unlearn over him all at once.

Even marrying out of one’s caste was frowned up in her homeland, an entire different race was unheard of.

“Did the talk go well?” Irfan asks, smiling as he catches her after class.

“Yes,” she breathes and Irfan’s smile widens. She’s glad that he’s here and she makes sure she tells him so. He laughs, catching her elbow and asking her if she would be okay with grabbing a coffee. The chat over coffee and cake. Irfan even walks her to her dorm room. She waves him goodbye with a grin and opens the door, not expecting Estela to be inside and to be waiting for her.

Her heart stops for a second as she sees the nervous expression on Estela’s face. She has her we need to talk face on and it’s enough to make Maya anxious in one moment. She swallows, her mind coming up with different reasons as to why Estela has that face. Not even a quarter of them are positive.

She had not been expecting this and even the thought of having to deal with whatever is about to come unprepared—oh god, it is making her head spin.

She needs to sit down.

She sits down, facing away from Estela and takes out her bottle. She sips on thee water.

“Maya,” Estela begins softly. “So, I figured some stuff out but I am not sure if I want to, you know, tell anyone about it yet. I know I am not straight and I know which community I identify with but it’s still so new that I don’t want to talk about this, okay?”

Oh, this isn’t about her. She’s glad to know that one of the realizations Estela came to isn’t “I don’t want to be friends with you anymore, Maya”. But more than that, she’s glad to know that Estela feels comfortable enough to share this with her. That maybe things hadn’t changed, not entirely and certainly not in a bad way.

“If you need anyone to talk to, you know that I am here, right?” she says softly, taking her hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. She looks into Estela’s eyes trying to tell her  that she will love her no matter what and that she would always be here.

“I know. I am glad,” she says her smile genuine and Maya smiles back.

The window is open and the air blows on their face. It feels like as if the truth is kissing her face and it widens her smile.

“We are in this together.”

———

i was supposed to update this book on monday but it's friday today oops—

but it's okay. no one reads anyway lol.

also, that's it. if you have read along, i hope you took away something from this story. it's an important story to me and i hope you could resonate with parts of it. even if you couldn't, i hope you understood.

stay safe and wear masks x.