Chapter 18: Opening Up

The walk home was a blur. I floated through the colony, a ghost in my own body, my mind replaying the events of the afternoon in a lurid, euphoric loop. Janaki’s praise, Prakash’s pathetic worship, the taste of my victory still fresh on my tongue. I was a prince. The word echoed in my skull, a mantra, a truth so profound it felt like it had been etched into my very bones.

I burst into the apartment and I locked myself in my room, the click of the lock a sound of pure, triumphant finality. I stripped off my clothes, my movements clumsy, eager, and collapsed onto my bed, my body still humming with a residual, electric energy.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, my mind a whirlwind of strategy and conquest. Devi and Kushi. My two queens. My foundation. How the fuck was I supposed to get them into my bed?

Devi was a fortress. A high, impenetrable wall of maternal affection and genuine kindness. She treated me better than my own father ever had, her care a warm, comforting blanket that was also a cage. She saw me as her son. Her project. The stray puppy she was nursing back to health. The thought of seducing her, of crossing that line, was so absurd, so unthinkable, that my mind recoiled from it. It was like trying to figure out how to climb to the moon. There was no plan. No option. None.

My thoughts shifted to Kushi. She was different. She was a crack in the facade, a flicker of curiosity in the darkness. I remembered our disastrous encounter, my clumsy, insulting words, her cold, silent retreat. The first thing that came to my mind, the only thing that seemed to make any sense, was to apologize. I couldn’t think of anything else. It was a pathetic, scrawny plan, but it was the only one I had. It was the first step. The first move on the board.