A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 9

The Bhaat estate takes up half a city block on the outskirts of Primeiro. I can see it from a distance in the autocab as we speed across town. Kalvin and Saif exchange small talk the whole way, and I sit in silence, preparing to meet his family. I wish I had known about this ahead of time. I really wanted to go inside and change since I’m not wearing anything remotely flattering. I thought I was leaving the Amagi for a shuttle and the jungle. I am not dressed up to ‘meet the family,’ but that’s the situation I’m now stuck in.

This is what I get for trying to be softer and easygoing. I look into the middle distance, and all I see is myself in the mirror of my bathroom as an eight-year-old. That promise I made to myself — to be strong with no feelings — is wearing away, centimeter by centimeter. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

I try to calm my racing heart as we approach the front gate. When I imagined this meeting taking place, I saw myself in a smart dress, looking radiant and happy on Saif’s arm. I would smile and make jokes and charm the pants off his mother, enough for them to excuse my poor family and business prospects and give their permission for Saif to date me.

That moment slips from my grasp as we enter the side garden. Greenery, flowers, ponds, and patios dominate the space. Everything is fresh and sparkling after the brief storm. I stare at the garden, and a pit grows in my stomach. This is a lot of wealth.

Kalvin walks ahead with his mouth open in awe, and Saif closes the gate behind me.

“So, um, your family is home? Do they know we’re coming?” I ask, keeping my voice quiet.

“Yep. I messaged them while we were waiting for our autocab.”

“Okay,” I nod and take a deep breath. “How do I look? I regret not wearing something nicer.” My hand shakes as I try to finger-comb my hair.

“Well, if we had done this my way, we would have come for a fancy dinner with all the relatives. We would have made a proper night of it, and you would be dressed up and the center of attention. And we would have gone out for your birthday in a few days, instead of you denying me this opportunity to spoil you. But you’re an independent woman, Skylar. You don’t need that pomp and circumstance stuff, right? You make the decisions, and I just follow along.”

I sigh and deflate as he walks away. “Wait, Saif. That’s not how this is at all.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me it’s not so.”

I swallow as I remember how I ordered him not to celebrate my upcoming birthday, and I ignored his advice on leaving Ossun. But those are personal decisions that only affect me. So why am I getting this treatment?

When I don’t answer him, he says, “That’s what I thought. Good luck with my mother.”

He walks off and joins Kalvin on the patio.

You know what? I could walk away right now. I could turn and run out the gate and never come back. And maybe I should.

But I told Marcelo, and Vivian, and Saif, and pretty much everyone that I was going to give relationships a chance. I was going to trust men. I trust Saif, right? He would never do anything to purposely hurt me.

This must be a test. He’s testing me to see if I’m going to run.

I draw a deep breath. Yes, this is a test. That’s what it is.

And I can pass this test.

I will not run.

I walk forward to join them both on the patio and set my bag down next to theirs. The doors leading out onto the deck open and a young woman a few years older than me comes sweeping out. This must be Sejal because she’s with Nadine, dressed again in black. Sejal is more colorful in a bright orange silk beaded top and flowing wide pants. She’s covered in gold jewelry, including a nose ring and rings on almost every finger.

“Saif, what are you doing here? I thought you were touring the gemstone mines.”

She does a double-take when she sees me standing off to the side. I’m a total schlub next to her. At least I’m wearing the elephant charm Saif gave me.

“I thought I’d go tomorrow. I wanted you all to meet Kalvin and Skylar beforehand. Kalvin, this is my sister Sejal and her friend Nadine. Kalvin is a pilot and a friend of Skylar’s.”

Sejal’s eyes are on me, calculating and assessing every slight twitch of my face. Embarrassment grows in my chest. Saif introduced Kalvin first.

Nadine comes forward and smiles as she shakes hands with Kalvin. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she says gracefully.

“And this is Skylar Kawabata,” Saif says, waving to me from across the patio. Wait, not even a proper introduction? His eyes are hard on me, daring me to rock the boat.

Of course, I’m not going to.

Trust, trust, trust, I repeat in my head.

“Hello.” I step forward and try to summon up a smile from fucking nothing. I am fuming inside. I hold out my hand to shake Sejal’s. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. I mean, not as kids.”

Sejal’s grip is firm, but her manner is cool as she looks me over from head to toe.

I pull my hand away before things get awkward and run my fingers through my hair.

“So sorry about my appearance,” I say with a laugh. “I swear I clean up just fine. I didn’t know we were coming here, or I would have dressed nicer.”

I would have rented another dress and put on something more than a tinted moisturizer and a swipe of mascara. Sejal and Nadine look like they’re ready to head out for a business luncheon.

Sejal tips her head, and her long ponytail shifts over her shoulder. “You didn’t know you were coming here?”

“Nope,” I say, shaking my head. I smile anyway. “Came as a complete surprise.” I glance past her to Nadine. “Hi again, Nadine. It’s good to see you.”

Nadine leans in and kisses me on the cheek. Oh, we’re doing that? Okay, then.

“It’s good to see you too, Skylar.” She turns to Sejal and lowers her voice. “She does usually look a lot better than this.”

My laugh comes out breathy and shaky. I press my lips together and shrug.

Kalvin’s smile drops to a frown, and he crosses the garden to me in a few great strides.

“Skylar,” he whispers, his smile tight as he angles me away from Sejal, “is this the first time you’re meeting Saif’s family?” We walk several meters off while she stares us down.

“Uh yeah. I thought that was obvious.” I glance over at Sejal and smile at her, hoping I appear confident and sure of myself.

I am not confident nor sure of myself.

Anger grows in Kalvin’s eyes. “It was not fucking obvious.” He closes his eyes, and his jaw sets. “He let you come here like this to teach you a lesson.”

My apprehension about the whole situation cools and becomes as hard as stone.

“Skylar,” Saif says, approaching us, “this was your idea.”

Now, this is really embarrassing. Sejal narrows her eyes at her brother.

I raise my finger. “I did suggest we visit your family first. But if you had agreed when we first spoke of it, I would have prepared myself. In fact, I suggested I get changed before we left. Instead, you and Kalvin left and expected me to tag along.”

Kalvin brings his hands to his chest. “I wasn’t aware this was the first meeting. You guys seem so tight. I figured she was already buddy-buddy with your whole family.”

He turns his eyes on Saif.

Saif pauses, and my blood boils. “Sorry, Sejal. It appears we’ve miscommunicated about our plans today.”

Sickness claws at my belly. This is how I was treated my whole childhood, and now I’m hearing the same thing from someone I’m falling for. He’s insinuating that I lie to get what I want or to make him look bad, and that’s not what happened at all.

My knees start to shake, and my vision tunnels. I can’t believe this is happening to me. My eyes fill with tears as I stare at Saif, and I watch his haughty demeanor crumble. Kalvin is silent. Too silent.

Sejal turns and grasps my upper arm. “Darling, what’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” A tear rolls down my cheek. “I, uh… I trusted Saif, and it appears that was a mistake.” I take a step back out of her grip. “I’m going to leave now.” I grab my bag. “I’m sorry to have interrupted your morning unannounced. This is not… This is not how I wanted to meet you.”

“Skylar, wait,” Saif says as I turn to go.

My back is to the patio as I hear an older woman’s voice lift over everyone else’s. “Do we have company? Saif, you’re home!”

This must be his mother, but I’m not going to turn around to find out. I hasten my steps and disappear before she can spot me.

“Skylar, wait!” Saif calls out.

I break into a full sprint along the side of the house and push through the gate at lightning speed. Two sets of feet pound on the pavement behind me as I turn and run in the opposite direction of the house.

“Skylar, stop!” Kalvin calls.

I whirl around to face them both.

“How could you do that to me?” I ask Saif as he comes to a halt in front of me. “How could you throw me to the wolves like that and then call me a liar?”

I wipe the tears from my cheek with my whole hand. Thankfully we appear to be alone on this residential street, although Sejal is standing at the gate.

“I trusted you,” I say, bringing my fist to my heart. “I thought, this is Saif. He would never do anything to hurt me.”

“I wouldn’t,” he starts, but I cut him off with a flash of my hand.

“You just did. You know, it was just the other day, I was thinking about how I was getting used to having a kind and gentle man in my life, someone I could trust, who was a man of his word. I’m not sure I see that anymore.”

He closes his eyes as if I’ve slapped him.

I lower my voice. “The reason I don’t celebrate my birthday has nothing to do with you and denying you anything. The last time I ‘celebrated’ my birthday, I was fucking eight. And Dom ruined it by throwing my birthday cake on the floor, blaming me for it, and then convincing my mom I needed discipline. And guess what?” I widen my eyes with pretend shock. “He took away my room, my clothes, my books, my meals, and I haven’t celebrated my birthday since. And Dom used to do that to me, too.” I point back at the garden. “Call me a liar when I never did anything but tell the truth.”

His face pales. “I-I didn’t know. I was just —”

“Of course, you didn’t know.” My voice has turned mocking now, and I can’t stop it. “Because if I sat down and told you all the ways I was screwed over and manipulated as a kid and a teen, it would take years to go over every moment of abuse, and you would run for the hills. But maybe I should have done that, right? Should have scared you away, right from the beginning.”

I heft my bag onto my shoulder. Kalvin adjusts his stance from one foot to another. His eyes bounce back and forth between us.

“Listen closely to me because I’m only going to say this once.” Saif’s eyes widen at my stern tone. “You have no right to question decisions about my business if we’re not in a contract. Period. This power trip you tried to pull today will never happen again. I trusted you to be kind to me, to treat me like I’ve always wanted to be treated, deserved to be treated. Not like this. This relationship is on seriously rocky ground right now, but I will not end it because I promised myself I would give relationships a chance. If it ends now, it’s because you fucked it up, not me. I’m going to work. Don’t follow me.” I look past his shocked face at Kalvin. “You can come with me.”

I turn and stalk off.

And just like I demanded, he doesn’t follow me.