"Sorry, Mom... I shouldn’t have lied to you..."
Clenching his fists and keeping his eyes glued to the floor like always, Himanshu was about to say what he absolutely didn’t want to. He didn’t know why, but saying ’sorry’ felt so heavy this time. Why was it making him so restless inside? It felt like after telling this truth, something would break... something very precious, something that had kept him connected to his mom since childhood.
Gritting his teeth, Himanshu finally gathered the courage to lift his head. He slowly shifted his eyes toward his mom.
Just like always, his mom’s face had that same forgiving, kind, and compassionate look—the look of a mother who just wants to see her kid happy. No matter how many times she had to forgive him for it.
"Did you fail again?" Mom asked very softly.
Seeing that smile on her lips and that shine in her eyes, Himanshu just kept staring at her. His mouth was left hanging open. The terrifying truth he was about to spit out choked in his throat halfway.
"Y-yeah... yeah, you’re right."
’I... I can’t say it. I can’t tell the truth,’ he thought, suffering inside. ’If she’s happy, then this is the right thing. Even if it’s a lie.’
"It’s alright, I trust you’ll pass next time," Mom said lovingly.
"I’ll try."
"Hmm." Mom brushed off Himanshu’s words like it was a completely normal thing for her now.
Pulling himself together, Himanshu quietly sat back down on his chair. The Demon was already fed up with Himanshu’s pointless human drama and his giving-up attitude.
And right then... a sharp pain shot through his thigh! The pain was so terrible and sudden that Himanshu literally jumped out of his chair and started rubbing his thigh.
"I’m dead! I’m dead!"
Mom and Aunt instantly stood up from their seats in a panic.
"What happened? What happened?"
Rubbing his thigh, Himanshu took a side-glance at the Demon. A boiling ocean of anger was clearly visible in the Demon’s red eyes. She was the one who pinched Himanshu so hard under the table that his soul almost left his body.
"Nothing, it’s just... my skin got caught in the chair while sitting," Himanshu quickly made up a dumb excuse.
Mom immediately put her hand on his thigh and started rubbing it.
"Are you hurt badly?"
"No, no... I’m fine." Himanshu hid his pain with a forced smile.
He sat down again, but this time he slid his chair a little further away from the Demon.
On the other hand, Shyam wasn’t even blinking this whole time. He was staring at the two of them like he was watching some detective show. After that lie about failing, Shyam had become even more quiet.
Today, Himanshu felt like Shyam wasn’t Shyam, but someone else sitting in his place. Not a detective, but some introvert who didn’t care about anyone. These were genuinely surprising moments. But Shyam’s silence was also giving Himanshu a weird sense of safety. At least he wasn’t throwing sarcastic taunts.
*****
"Goodnight, cute!"
Now it made sense why Himanshu was so scared. While leaving, his Aunt was clinging to the Demon again. Maybe even tighter than before.
But it looked like the Demon was already prepared for this human attack. She had turned herself completely stiff, like a rock.
After some time, Aunt finally let go. Himanshu took a long sigh of relief. He said goodnight to his Aunt, and to Shyam as well.
But Shyam didn’t say anything. He just stared at him for a few seconds. And then he suddenly walked towards Himanshu.
For a second, everyone’s eyes in the room were fixed on Shyam. Himanshu still couldn’t figure out what the hell he was trying to do. His only fear was that this guy might say something on his way out and ruin the whole game.
But then all of Himanshu’s scary thoughts vanished when Shyam came close and just said—
"Goodnight."
Poor Himanshu got so confused that he panicked and said goodnight back to him again.
"G-Goodnight."
But then Himanshu’s eyes went wide. Just a second before hugging, a very faint human expression showed up on Shyam’s face—a weird softness appeared in his eyes, and a small smile flashed on his lips.
Shyam suddenly pulled him into his arms. He hugged Himanshu! Because of this sudden affection, Himanshu’s body completely froze for a second, because he absolutely didn’t expect this from his brother. And very softly, whispering near his ear, Shyam said,
"I’m proud of my bro. And take care."
After hearing this, it didn’t take Himanshu a single second to understand why he was so quiet the entire evening. Hearing this, Himanshu remembered the day when he had said the exact same thing to Shyam.
Seeing the two brothers hugging like this, a very sweet smile appeared on Mom’s face. Like she had been waiting for this moment for god knows how many days.
But standing far away, the Demon felt this was nothing short of some useless overacting. She couldn’t understand this human drama at all.
After Aunt and Shyam left, the moment the door closed, Mom turned around and pulled the Demon into a tight hug.
"Today is the happiest day of my life! This all happened because of you. You are seriously no less than an Angel, my dear."
The Demon’s pupils shrank for a second hearing the word ’Angel’. ’If she finds out my true form, this woman will die of a heart attack right here,’ the Demon thought, feeling suffocated.
"Mom! She’s suffocating. Let her breathe a little." Himanshu said, panicking. The poor Demon was in a terrible state because of that tight human grip.
"Shut up! Can’t I even hug my daughter-in-law now?" Mom scolded him and held the Demon even tighter.