It was getting late

We texted back and forth for a few more minutes until finally I decided to call it quits.

Me: Anyway, I'm gonna go. Goodnight.

Mujib: Goodnight, beauty. Sweet dreams

I didn't bother replying to that. I just closed the app and tossed the phone onto the mattress.

I glanced at the digital clock on my bedside table. 10:55 PM.

I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands. It was barely eleven. Since tomorrow was Sunday, there was no school, which meant sleeping now would just be a waste. I wasn't tired, just restless. The silence in the room felt heavy, and if I stayed in bed, I'd just end up doom-scrolling on my phone until my eyes burned.

"Fine," I muttered to the empty room. "Physics it is."

I rolled off the bed and walked over to my study table, stretching my arms over my head. I reached for my chair to pull it out, my eyes scanning the floor for my school bag.

Nothing.

I frowned, looking under the table, then near the closet. Still nothing.

Then it hit me. Shit.

I closed my eyes as the memory flashed back. Coming home with Arvind. Tossing the bag by the living room door near the sofa. Digging through it later for the condom. I hadn't touched it since. I’d run upstairs to shower after he left and completely forgot to bring it up.

I let out a long, frustrated sigh. It was still downstairs. In the living room.

I stood frozen for a second, straining my ears. The house was dead silent. No TV noise, no clinking of dishes, no voices.

I bit my lip. I really, really didn't want to go down there. The thought of running into Gopal Uncle; or worse, seeing something I wasn't supposed to see, made my skin crawl.

But I couldn't study without my books.

"Just go," I told myself. "Grab it and run."

I hoped Ma and Gopal Uncle had wrapped up their "dinner" and he had already left. Or at least that they had retired to her bedroom so the living room would be empty.

Taking a deep breath, I unlocked my door and stepped out into the dark hallway.

I crept down the stairs, placing my feet carefully trying not to make any noise. Halfway I stopped when I saw a strip of yellow light was spilling out from the kitchen door, cutting across the dark hallway.I froze, cursing internally. Great. They were still in there.

I debated just turning back, but my bag was right there in the living room, just a few meters past the kitchen. If I was quick, I could grab it and disappear before they even noticed.

I took a slow breath and moved forward, hugging the wall. As I got closer to the kitchen, the silence of the house was broken by sounds drifting through the crack in the door.

At first, it was just low murmurs. The clink of glass against granite. But then the sounds changed. There was a shuffle of fabric, a heavy thud like someone being lifted onto the counter, and then a low, wet smacking noise that made my stomach turn.

I tried to block it out, to focus on just getting past the door, but then I heard it. A soft giggle followed by a moan. It was Ma's.

I stopped dead right outside the door.

Every alarm bell in my head was screaming at me to run, to walk away, to pretend I heard nothing. But my feet wouldn't move. A dark, twisted curiosity took over, rooting me to the spot. I had to know.

I held my breath, leaned forward, and pressed my eye to the narrow gap between the door and the frame.