04-08-2026, 05:41 PM
Jab, jab, cross. Jab, jab, cross. Cross.
Sweat trickled into Aditya’s eyes, burning him, and he swiped a
forearm over his face before slamming a fist into the punching bag again.
Whenever thoughts crept back into his head, he hit harder. Too many fucking
thoughts, too many fucking feelings.
Jab, dodge, hook. Jab, cross.
His arms burned, and he welcomed the pain, welcomed the way it seared
everything out of his brain. There was nothing but the hard resistance of the
sand in the bag and the jolting impact that shocked up his arm and down his
leg.
Jab, jab, jab, cross, cross, cross. Harder. Could he punch the bag straight
off its chains? Maybe. Cross, cross, cross, cross—
Loud knocks distracted him midpunch, and he glared at the front door. His
annoyance quickly morphed into worry. Shit, was it the landlord?
Throwing a towel around his neck, he went to open the door.
“’Aye Jhaatu” Sunny brushed past him, set a six-pack of beer bottles on the
coffee table, and tossed his motorcycle jacket on the couch. Without pausing
to look at Aditya, he strode into the kitchen and began digging through the
fridge. “Got anything to eat?”
“You’re the one who works at a restaurant,” Aditya said on his way back
to his punching bag.
It still swung side to side from the pummeling he’d given it, and he
steadied it before he drove a fist into the faded leather. As he got back into
beating the shit out of the bag, he heard a series of sounds followed by rumbling in kitchen.
“I’m eating your breakfast,” Sunny called out.
Aditya ignored him and continued punching.
Sunny carried a cool bowl to the couch, sat, and proceeded to eat Aditya’s breakfast. Very noisily.
When Aditya couldn’t take the slurping sounds any longer, he paused in
his punching and said, “Most people eat silently.”
Sunny shrugged. “I like this better.” He shoved a spoon of semi-frozen oats
into his mouth and slurp-chewed, arching his eyebrows at Aditya in a what
gives? way.
Aditya gritted his teeth and tried to find his rhythm again.
“You been hitting the weights hard lately? Your arms are bigger.
Steadying the bag, Aditya asked, “Why are you here?”
“You gonna apologize to me or what? Because you’re the shittiest cousin
ever, Aditya. You really are.”
He shut his eyes, exhaling. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to try that again.”
He pushed away from the bag and threw himself onto the couch next to his
cousin. “I’m really sorry. It’s just complicated right now, and I—” He rested
his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his wrapped hands. “I’m
sorry.”
“I don’t get why you lied about not having a girlfriend. ‘No one special’
my ass. You scared she won’t like the family or what?” Sunny asked with a
sneer.
Aditya resisted the urge to tear his hair out. “I don’t want to talk about
this.”
“The fuck, Aditya.” Sunny set his bowl on the coffee table next to the beer
and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll leave, then.” He stalked to the door and grabbed
the knob.
“yesterday was crappy, okay?” He began yanking the boxing wraps from his
fists. “All my days are crap days, but yesterday was worse. I thought my mom was dead. When I got there, she was stooped over in her chair, and it didn’t
look like she was breathing. I lost my shit.”
Sunny turned around, worry lining his face. “Is she okay? Why didn’t I hear
about this earlier? Was it like the other two times when you found her in the
bathroom? Is she in the hospital right now?”
One of the wraps came off, and Aditya switched to his other hand,
reliving the fear and the relief and the embarrassment. “She’s fine. She just
fell asleep. When I went crazy, she woke up and yelled at me.”
Sunny’s expression went from relieved to amused. “You’re such a
momma’s boy, you know that?”
“Like you aren’t.”
“You should tell my mom that. Maybe she’ll stop being so mean.”
Aditya rolled his eyes as he coiled his boxing wraps back up. “After that,
someone came looking for my dad. They were trying to serve him. Not sure if
it was the same person from before, or the ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE, or someone new. It’s always
fun seeing people’s faces when I tell them yeah, I’m his son. I can see them
sizing me up and making assumptions. And then when I tell them I have no
idea where my dad is or if he’s even alive, I get the doubt or the pity. My
mom spent the rest of the day repeating old stories about how fucked up he
is.”
“You’re the only one she tells, you know. She won’t even talk to my mom
about that stuff, and they’re like this.” Sunny crossed two fingers. “You just
gotta let her do it.”
“Yeah, I know.” He understood it was good for his mom to talk about it,
and most times, he handled it pretty well. But lately, it had gotten harder for
him. Because he was a selfish asshole.
Like father, like son.
He was tempted to take Ayesha up on her offer even though his gut told him
he should say no. She would be better off spending her time with tech geeks
and economics laureates—people who were actually good matches for her and
could afford to be with her even when she wasn’t paying them.
Not like Aditya. He would give almost anything to take the money out of
their equation, but the bills didn’t stop, so he couldn’t, either.
“You want me to go, or you want me to stay?” Sunny asked from where he
stood in front of the door.
Aditya took two beers out of the cardboard container, popped the top off
one using the other, and set the open bottle on the coffee table. “Stay.”
Sunny snatched the bottle on his way over and sat down next to Aditya on
the couch. After taking a deep swallow, he traded the beer for the oats and
took up where he’d left off, only not as loud now.
Aditya popped the top off his own bottle with the edge of the table,
turned on the TV, and drank as he absently flipped through the channels.
“So, about your girl . . .” Sunny said. “How long you been seeing her?”
Aditya took a long drag from his bottle. He needed to be buzzed if he
was going to talk about this. “Ayesha’s not really ‘my girl.’ It’s only been a few
weeks.”
“Whatever, man, you’ve got serious pussy mojo. If you want a girl, she’s
yours.”
Aditya snorted and drank more. “I don’t want a girl who likes me just
because I fuck her right.”
He wanted a girl who liked him for him.
“You’re so full of shit.” Sunny swapped his empty bowl for his beer and
took a swig. “She almost cried when that lady SARAH plastered herself to your face. She’s into you.”
Aditya’s heart threatened all sorts of dramatic gymnastics at his cousin’s
words, and he gave himself a stern mental shake as he stared into his beer
bottle. It probably wasn’t what he thought. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“That’s cool.”
“That’s cool?” Sunny arched an eyebrow. “You’re not in seventh grade
anymore. You should be like, that’s awesome, man, thanks for telling me, I
can’t see from inside my ass. Do you need sex advice? Because I know shit.”
Aditya couldn’t stop the laughter from cracking out of his lungs. “No,
I’m good on the sex advice. Thanks. But if you ever need some tips . . .”
Sunny fingered the raised letters on the side of his beer bottle like he had
something to say but was trying to figure out how. Pinning Aditya with a
weighted gaze, he finally asked, “Have you ever thought she’s kinda like
Bunny?”
Aditya smiled slightly. “Yeah, just a little, though.” Ayesha was on the
socially awkward side like Bunny, but she was far more expressive and
sensitive. “Why do you ask?”
Sunny arched his eyebrows and drank his beer. “No reason.” After a
moment of consideration, he pointed his bottle at Aditya. “So have you
two . . . you know?”
Aditya took a long drag of beer. “Nope.”
“Really?” Sunny grimaced. “Is she a virgin? Shit, is she saving it for
marriage? Run like my mom is after you.”
Aditya shrugged. “She needs me to go slow. I don’t mind. I kinda like it.”
Every new response he earned from Ayesha felt special, just like in the old
commercials. It’s better when you win it. Maybe because it had always
been so easy for him before.
“Fucking liar. You’re probably jacking off ten times a day.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t jacking off.”
Sunny shot forward to the front of the couch. “Oh fuck, am I sitting on your
'come' cushions?”
“Do you really wanna know?” Aditya asked with a smirk.
“You’re disgusting. You know that?” Sunny got up and sat on the coffee
table, brushing at himself like he’d been contaminated.
Aditya laughed, and the two of them spent a moment contemplating their
beers.
When he couldn’t hold back any longer, Aditya asked, “What did you
think of Ayesha? Did you like her?” He braced himself for the answer, realizing
he cared about his cousin’s opinion.
How stupid was that? Even if he did accept Ayesha’s proposal, he’d only be
her practice boyfriend. Their practice relationship would end as soon as she
gained the confidence to enter a real relationship with someone better.
“Yeah, she’s cute, a lot sweeter than the girls you used to go for. Your
mom is going to go nuts over her.”
Aditya downed the rest of his beer. Not fucking likely. They’d have to
meet first, and he couldn’t see that happening.
“What’s her last name? Ayesha what?” Sunny asked as he pulled out his
phone.
“Why?”
“I wanna see if she has a LinkedIn profile. I do this with every guy my
sister befriends. Aren’t you curious?”
Yeah, he was curious. “Naz, Ayesha Naz.”
Sweat trickled into Aditya’s eyes, burning him, and he swiped a
forearm over his face before slamming a fist into the punching bag again.
Whenever thoughts crept back into his head, he hit harder. Too many fucking
thoughts, too many fucking feelings.
Jab, dodge, hook. Jab, cross.
His arms burned, and he welcomed the pain, welcomed the way it seared
everything out of his brain. There was nothing but the hard resistance of the
sand in the bag and the jolting impact that shocked up his arm and down his
leg.
Jab, jab, jab, cross, cross, cross. Harder. Could he punch the bag straight
off its chains? Maybe. Cross, cross, cross, cross—
Loud knocks distracted him midpunch, and he glared at the front door. His
annoyance quickly morphed into worry. Shit, was it the landlord?
Throwing a towel around his neck, he went to open the door.
“’Aye Jhaatu” Sunny brushed past him, set a six-pack of beer bottles on the
coffee table, and tossed his motorcycle jacket on the couch. Without pausing
to look at Aditya, he strode into the kitchen and began digging through the
fridge. “Got anything to eat?”
“You’re the one who works at a restaurant,” Aditya said on his way back
to his punching bag.
It still swung side to side from the pummeling he’d given it, and he
steadied it before he drove a fist into the faded leather. As he got back into
beating the shit out of the bag, he heard a series of sounds followed by rumbling in kitchen.
“I’m eating your breakfast,” Sunny called out.
Aditya ignored him and continued punching.
Sunny carried a cool bowl to the couch, sat, and proceeded to eat Aditya’s breakfast. Very noisily.
When Aditya couldn’t take the slurping sounds any longer, he paused in
his punching and said, “Most people eat silently.”
Sunny shrugged. “I like this better.” He shoved a spoon of semi-frozen oats
into his mouth and slurp-chewed, arching his eyebrows at Aditya in a what
gives? way.
Aditya gritted his teeth and tried to find his rhythm again.
“You been hitting the weights hard lately? Your arms are bigger.
Steadying the bag, Aditya asked, “Why are you here?”
“You gonna apologize to me or what? Because you’re the shittiest cousin
ever, Aditya. You really are.”
He shut his eyes, exhaling. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to try that again.”
He pushed away from the bag and threw himself onto the couch next to his
cousin. “I’m really sorry. It’s just complicated right now, and I—” He rested
his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his wrapped hands. “I’m
sorry.”
“I don’t get why you lied about not having a girlfriend. ‘No one special’
my ass. You scared she won’t like the family or what?” Sunny asked with a
sneer.
Aditya resisted the urge to tear his hair out. “I don’t want to talk about
this.”
“The fuck, Aditya.” Sunny set his bowl on the coffee table next to the beer
and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll leave, then.” He stalked to the door and grabbed
the knob.
“yesterday was crappy, okay?” He began yanking the boxing wraps from his
fists. “All my days are crap days, but yesterday was worse. I thought my mom was dead. When I got there, she was stooped over in her chair, and it didn’t
look like she was breathing. I lost my shit.”
Sunny turned around, worry lining his face. “Is she okay? Why didn’t I hear
about this earlier? Was it like the other two times when you found her in the
bathroom? Is she in the hospital right now?”
One of the wraps came off, and Aditya switched to his other hand,
reliving the fear and the relief and the embarrassment. “She’s fine. She just
fell asleep. When I went crazy, she woke up and yelled at me.”
Sunny’s expression went from relieved to amused. “You’re such a
momma’s boy, you know that?”
“Like you aren’t.”
“You should tell my mom that. Maybe she’ll stop being so mean.”
Aditya rolled his eyes as he coiled his boxing wraps back up. “After that,
someone came looking for my dad. They were trying to serve him. Not sure if
it was the same person from before, or the ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE, or someone new. It’s always
fun seeing people’s faces when I tell them yeah, I’m his son. I can see them
sizing me up and making assumptions. And then when I tell them I have no
idea where my dad is or if he’s even alive, I get the doubt or the pity. My
mom spent the rest of the day repeating old stories about how fucked up he
is.”
“You’re the only one she tells, you know. She won’t even talk to my mom
about that stuff, and they’re like this.” Sunny crossed two fingers. “You just
gotta let her do it.”
“Yeah, I know.” He understood it was good for his mom to talk about it,
and most times, he handled it pretty well. But lately, it had gotten harder for
him. Because he was a selfish asshole.
Like father, like son.
He was tempted to take Ayesha up on her offer even though his gut told him
he should say no. She would be better off spending her time with tech geeks
and economics laureates—people who were actually good matches for her and
could afford to be with her even when she wasn’t paying them.
Not like Aditya. He would give almost anything to take the money out of
their equation, but the bills didn’t stop, so he couldn’t, either.
“You want me to go, or you want me to stay?” Sunny asked from where he
stood in front of the door.
Aditya took two beers out of the cardboard container, popped the top off
one using the other, and set the open bottle on the coffee table. “Stay.”
Sunny snatched the bottle on his way over and sat down next to Aditya on
the couch. After taking a deep swallow, he traded the beer for the oats and
took up where he’d left off, only not as loud now.
Aditya popped the top off his own bottle with the edge of the table,
turned on the TV, and drank as he absently flipped through the channels.
“So, about your girl . . .” Sunny said. “How long you been seeing her?”
Aditya took a long drag from his bottle. He needed to be buzzed if he
was going to talk about this. “Ayesha’s not really ‘my girl.’ It’s only been a few
weeks.”
“Whatever, man, you’ve got serious pussy mojo. If you want a girl, she’s
yours.”
Aditya snorted and drank more. “I don’t want a girl who likes me just
because I fuck her right.”
He wanted a girl who liked him for him.
“You’re so full of shit.” Sunny swapped his empty bowl for his beer and
took a swig. “She almost cried when that lady SARAH plastered herself to your face. She’s into you.”
Aditya’s heart threatened all sorts of dramatic gymnastics at his cousin’s
words, and he gave himself a stern mental shake as he stared into his beer
bottle. It probably wasn’t what he thought. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“That’s cool.”
“That’s cool?” Sunny arched an eyebrow. “You’re not in seventh grade
anymore. You should be like, that’s awesome, man, thanks for telling me, I
can’t see from inside my ass. Do you need sex advice? Because I know shit.”
Aditya couldn’t stop the laughter from cracking out of his lungs. “No,
I’m good on the sex advice. Thanks. But if you ever need some tips . . .”
Sunny fingered the raised letters on the side of his beer bottle like he had
something to say but was trying to figure out how. Pinning Aditya with a
weighted gaze, he finally asked, “Have you ever thought she’s kinda like
Bunny?”
Aditya smiled slightly. “Yeah, just a little, though.” Ayesha was on the
socially awkward side like Bunny, but she was far more expressive and
sensitive. “Why do you ask?”
Sunny arched his eyebrows and drank his beer. “No reason.” After a
moment of consideration, he pointed his bottle at Aditya. “So have you
two . . . you know?”
Aditya took a long drag of beer. “Nope.”
“Really?” Sunny grimaced. “Is she a virgin? Shit, is she saving it for
marriage? Run like my mom is after you.”
Aditya shrugged. “She needs me to go slow. I don’t mind. I kinda like it.”
Every new response he earned from Ayesha felt special, just like in the old
commercials. It’s better when you win it. Maybe because it had always
been so easy for him before.
“Fucking liar. You’re probably jacking off ten times a day.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t jacking off.”
Sunny shot forward to the front of the couch. “Oh fuck, am I sitting on your
'come' cushions?”
“Do you really wanna know?” Aditya asked with a smirk.
“You’re disgusting. You know that?” Sunny got up and sat on the coffee
table, brushing at himself like he’d been contaminated.
Aditya laughed, and the two of them spent a moment contemplating their
beers.
When he couldn’t hold back any longer, Aditya asked, “What did you
think of Ayesha? Did you like her?” He braced himself for the answer, realizing
he cared about his cousin’s opinion.
How stupid was that? Even if he did accept Ayesha’s proposal, he’d only be
her practice boyfriend. Their practice relationship would end as soon as she
gained the confidence to enter a real relationship with someone better.
“Yeah, she’s cute, a lot sweeter than the girls you used to go for. Your
mom is going to go nuts over her.”
Aditya downed the rest of his beer. Not fucking likely. They’d have to
meet first, and he couldn’t see that happening.
“What’s her last name? Ayesha what?” Sunny asked as he pulled out his
phone.
“Why?”
“I wanna see if she has a LinkedIn profile. I do this with every guy my
sister befriends. Aren’t you curious?”
Yeah, he was curious. “Naz, Ayesha Naz.”
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