Chapter 47: Aloo Parathas...

​Damon kept walking without a pause, completely ignoring Himanshu’s previous question.

​"Hurry up, I’m starving," she called out over her shoulder.

​Himanshu dragged his feet, trailing behind her. That unfinished sentence was eating him alive. He kept bugging her from behind.

​"What did you mean when you said... ’if you’re here’?"

​Damon didn’t answer.

​"Come on, tell me..." he asked again.

​She just kept walking straight down the path. Himanshu kept repeating the question like a broken record until they finally reached their familiar street.

​What a snob! She only opens her mouth when she feels like it.

​Letting out a deep breath, he figured it was best to just drop it.

​But this time, Himanshu felt something weird inside. Before, whenever Damon ignored him, he would either get scared or pissed off. But today... her ignoring him wasn’t making him angry. It was just making him curious. He was genuinely itching to know what was actually going on inside that cold head of hers.

​......

​The moment the front door opened, Mom’s eyes fell on them. Seeing them together brought a deep, peaceful smile to her face.

​"Seems like your first day went really well."

​Himanshu and Damon stopped right in their tracks.

​They stared at Mom’s blissful smile for a second, then slowly turned their heads toward each other. Their eyes met, and without saying a word, they silently acknowledged all the madness and sheer terror they had been through today. Then, they slowly looked back at Mom.

​Together, they gave a very forced, helpless smile.

​"Yeah, you’re right."

​Mom probably mistook that weird, relieved look on their faces as the happiness of their first day at work.

​She stared at Himanshu for a moment. Her eyes lingered on his face like she was trying to notice something specific. Himanshu caught her staring, but he looked away too quickly to figure out what she was actually looking for.

​Turning around, Mom said, "Go freshen up quickly. Or else the food will get cold."

​Saying this, she walked toward the kitchen.

​Himanshu just stood there, watching her walk away. Even after she disappeared from sight, he kept staring at the empty hall wall for a few seconds.

​He felt different inside today.

Yeah, it was kind of like the feeling he had when he first introduced Damon as his girlfriend, but back then, it felt like a fake smile. Just a show. But today... today the feeling was actually real.

​He felt like a good son, a sensible guy. He hadn’t acted like a loser today. Instead, like a normal guy, he had actually handled a messed-up situation. Even his terrifying fear of Damon was somehow gone.

​With a deep, genuine smile on his face, he stepped fully inside the house. For some reason, the walls didn’t look so depressing today. They were the exact same walls they’d had for years, but somehow, they were shining a little brighter today.

​Damon had already gone inside, though probably not to the bedroom. Himanshu noticed it, but didn’t think much of it. He just turned toward his room to take a shower.

​Losing all track of time, he got lost in his own thoughts. A long time later, showered and dressed, he walked back to the hall.

​His feet stopped dead as soon as he reached the dining table.

​Mom was resting her elbows on the table, glaring right at him. There was a weird strictness in her eyes.

​Pulling out a chair, Himanshu asked, "Mom, aren’t you gonna eat?"

​Sitting nearby, Damon turned around, still chewing her food, and looked at him.

​Mom spoke in a dead flat voice. "I already ate."

​Himanshu narrowed his eyes and pulled his chair closer. "Already? Weren’t you hungry?"

​Mom suddenly stood up from her chair. Placing both hands on the table, she leaned forward a bit.

​"Do you have any idea how long you’ve been in there?"

​Serving food onto his plate with a spoon, Himanshu looked up at her.

​"You were in that room for exactly 40 minutes!" There was a clear scolding in her tone. "I told you the food would get cold, but you still took forever. Now sit down and eat it cold."

​40 minutes?

​Himanshu quickly repeated it in his head.

Honestly, he had never taken that long in the shower. Getting ready for school or going anywhere usually took him 10 to 15 minutes max. And even 15 was a stretch.

​But today... he finally understood why people spend so much time in the bathroom. Why they just stand there staring into space. Because today, for the first time, he actually had some good, sorted things in his life to think about.

​He fumbled a bit, "I... I just zoned out for a bit."

​Mom glared at him with those sharp eyes for another second. Then, grabbing her empty plate, she spun toward the kitchen.

​Clang...

​The loud sound of the plate crashing into the sink echoed into the hall. Hearing it, both Damon and Himanshu snapped their heads toward the kitchen.

​Mom walked out. With zero expressions on her face, without even glancing at the dining table, she went straight to her room.

​They both just watched her until they heard her door shut tight.

​Himanshu shrank back into his chair. He dropped his gaze back to his plate.

​Staring at his plate for a moment, he let out a heavy sigh.

​She didn’t have to get this mad over something so small.

​Thinking this, he glanced over at Damon’s plate.

And that’s when his eyes fell on her food.

​A half-eaten ’Aloo Paratha’ was sitting on Damon’s plate.

​The moment he saw the aloo paratha, his brain froze. In a split second, he understood exactly why Mom was glaring at him so strictly with her elbows on the table.

​Aloo parathas...

From his childhood until today, Himanshu had never, ever eaten aloo parathas cold. Their smell alone was enough to distract him from literally any work in the world. But somehow... he hadn’t even noticed their smell today!

Maybe... maybe that was why Mom was so angry and shocked. He had completely ignored the smell of his absolute favorite food!

​Himanshu’s eyes stayed glued to the plate for a second. He couldn’t understand how that even happened. Did it happen because of this new feeling, because he was overthinking so much?

​Himanshu quickly jumped up from his chair. He knew exactly what he had to do now.

​Without wasting a second, he walked straight to Mom’s door and knocked twice.

​"Mom... these aren’t smelling like anything," he said in his most innocent voice. "Please heat them up na. I want to eat them nice and hot."

​No answer came from inside. Pin-drop silence.

​Back at the dining table, Damon shoved the rest of her half-eaten paratha into her mouth in one go. Her cheeks puffed out like balloons, and she just chewed, looking back at this entire family drama with her same dead, empty eyes.

​Himanshu called out again. "Come on Mom, please do it na."

​Still no sound from inside. Himanshu waited a second and raised his hand to knock again, but right then, Mom’s voice came through.

​"Heat it yourself. You know how to cook."

​Without thinking, Himanshu spun his lie as fast as he could.

​"I would’ve done it myself Mom, but it just doesn’t smell the same when I do it. Please do it na..." He rested his forehead gently against the door. "I only want to eat your steaming hot aloo parathas. Veloria is still eating anyway. Come sit and eat with me na."

​He made his voice sound even more pathetic.

​"Mom, my nose got completely stuffed because of the cold outside. And I was just thinking way too much about the new job, that’s why I got late."

​Himanshu had definitely lied, but deep down he didn’t expect Mom to actually buy such a childish excuse.

​But maybe... his lie actually worked this time.

​Click...

​His mom opened the door. She stood there holding the edge of the door frame.

Her eyes still carried a hint of that previous strictness, but the stiff anger in her shoulders had completely melted away.

She didn’t say a single word. She just stared at his desperate, pleading face for a long second before letting out a tiny, defeated sigh.

Himanshu’s tense chest finally relaxed. He immediately stepped back, making way for her to walk past him toward the kitchen.

The familiar sound of the gas stove clicking on a moment later felt like the biggest victory of his entire day.

​Sitting at the dining table behind him, the Demon just watched with narrowed eyes, trying to process the scene.

Chewing on her stuffed cheeks, the only conclusion she could reach was that this mother and son were just crazy humans. People who just got happy and sad for absolutely no reason.

​She swallowed the massive bite of the cold paratha with a heavy gulp, washing it down with a glass of water.

From her seat, she could see Himanshu standing near the kitchen counter, quietly watching his mother flip the flatbread on the hot pan.

The fragrant smell of melting butter finally started filling the small house, replacing the heavy tension from just a few minutes ago.

A faint, almost invisible smile appeared on Himanshu’s face. The Demon slowly blinked her red eyes, shifting her gaze back to her own plate.

Humans were fragile, she thought, yet somehow, they possessed a strange, binding warmth she had never seen in her eight thousand years of existence.