* * *
‘Ouch.’ Sahan had forgotten to use a cloth to protect his hands and burned himself on the sizzling chicken korai.
‘Again?’ said Mr Ghosh. ‘Go home, Sahan. You look ill. Come back when you’re better.’ He waved Sahan away.
But—’
‘We’ll manage. Go.’ His boss turned and went back into the restaurant.
Sahan rubbed his eyes and winced at the pain in his fingers. After a night of no sleep, he was clumsy. He was only two hours into his shift and had already spilled one dish and burned his hands twice.
‘He’s right, you do look like you’re coming down with something,’ said Deepthi, who was tying an apron around her waist, so that she could take over Sahan’s tables. ‘You going to be okay getting back home?’
Sahan nodded. ‘Yeah. I’m just… tired.’ He yawned and gathered his things. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully.’
Deepthi waved distractedly and pushed the trolley containing the food order out to front of house.
It wasn’t time for the bus yet, so he may as well walk. Maybe the exercise would help him think. Sahan stepped out of the back, deep in thought.
Logically, he knew the right thing to do, the sensible thing to do, was to let Soma go; to distance himself from her and her deception as much as he could and forget all about her. Soma had lied to him. Not just a little lie, but one that touched everything he knew about her. Could he ever really believe a word she said to him now? That was no basis for a relationship.
He had known all along that his parents would not have approved. So now he had the perfect reason to let the whole thing drop and never think of her again. He could get on with his life. Build a career in England. He was young. He would meet someone more suitable, get married, have a family. That picture in his head of a small family unit could still come true. It would just be with someone else.
All that made perfect sense to him, but the idea of a life with someone else made him feel hollow. He couldn’t face it. He sighed.
‘Finally,’ a voice said in Sinhalese.
Sahan looked up to see Kemasiri, leaning against a wall, waiting.
‘You.’ This man. He was the reason for all this.
Soma said Kemasiri had worked out her secret. An image of Kemasiri leering at them out of the car sprang to his mind. If ever there was a man who could blackmail a young woman; that would be Kemasiri. The tiredness was replaced by sudden anger.
‘Not so wonderful now, eh Colombo Seven?’ Kemasiri said. ‘ I told you – everyone has secrets. Your little piece of skirt has been lying to you from day one and you fell for it.’
Anger flared. Even in his state of confusion, the need to protect Soma burned bright. Whatever Soma had done, Kemasiri had still threatened her. Blackmailed her. If he could work out a way to stop that, then at least one good thing would have come out of this debacle.
Sahan carried on walking, knowing the other man would follow.
‘Lying to me about what?’ he said, trying keep his voice casual. His mind worked furiously. Kemasiri was a man who preyed on other people’s secrets. He was keeping his boss’s secret about his mistress, so he could be secure in his job as a driver. He was now blackmailing Soma. But her secret was only a problem if anyone believed Kemasiri in the first place…
Kemasiri gave a ‘hah’ of satisfaction and fell into step beside him. ‘Your girl, who you think is so innocent,’ he said. ‘She’s a fraud. She’s not called Soma. She’s not even from where she says she’s from.’
How much did he know? ‘If she’s not called Soma, what is she called?’
‘It doesn’t matter what her real name is.’ Kemasiri’s eyes gleamed with triumph. ‘What matters is that she’s lying. Nothing she’s told you is true. She’s not even the age she says she is. You’ve been screwing a child.’
Ugh. Sahan almost winced. This guy thought Soma was a child. Yet he would have had her anyway. Nausea rose in his throat. Sahan took a deep breath. ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘She—what?’ Kemasiri glared at him. ‘What?’
The confusion in the other man’s voice made Sahan look up. He saw a flash of uncertainty in Kemasiri’s expression. He stopped walking and turned to face Kemasiri. ‘I don’t believe you. You say she’s lying about who she is. I don’t believe you.’
Kemasiri floundered. ‘She doesn’t always answer to her name. She says she’s from Matara, but she doesn’t even know the place.’
Sahan shook his head in mock astonishment. ‘That’s your proof? Basically, that she doesn’t want to talk to you?’
‘No. It’s not. You’re… you’re an idiot blinded by her charms. Any fool with half a brain can see that she’s not…’ He twitched as though unable to contain his frustration. ‘You ask her. You ask her and see what she says!’
So he had no actual proof. He had relied on Soma’s feelings of guilt when he’d preyed on her. Soma must have let her guilt show. Once she’d done that, Kemasiri had had power over her. Which he had used. Without hesitation.
Soma wasn’t a hardened liar. She was someone who had acted on the spur of the moment and found herself unable to go back. And he, Sahan, hadn’t given her the smallest chance. The anger he felt was only partly aimed at Kemasiri. Some of it was aimed at himself.
Sahan stepped closer to Kemasiri. ‘You stay away from her. And me,’ he growled. Kemasiri’s eyes widened and the sneer dropped from his face.
‘I’m guessing,’ Sahan continued, ‘that this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to blackmail someone. That there are other women you’ve assaulted. If you come anywhere near me or Soma, or anyone connected with any of us again, I will make sure she goes to the police to press charges.’
‘You wouldn’t. You can’t risk—’
He stepped even closer. ‘Wanna bet?’
Kemasiri took a step backwards. Hah. He had him. Kemasiri was a bully and a fraud. He wouldn’t risk his own activities coming to light. Before Kemasiri could come up with a reply, Sahan pushed the man back and walked away.
The night was cooling as he marched down the road. The walking and adrenaline was helping clear his head.
He thought of Soma, wrapped up against the cold, hesitantly reading children’s books, her face tight with concentration. Soma gaining confidence, reading chapter books, her lips moving as she formed the words. Soma, who had started off as a servant girl who he’d been helping and somehow ended up being his first and last thought each day.
He remembered the feel of her hand in his. The shock of feeling her skin underneath his fingertips. The long forgotten need to touch and be touched. Soma had made him feel emotions he’d never expected to feel again.
Something clicked inside. He loved her. Whatever her real name was. Whatever she had done, it didn’t matter. She was the girl who’d held his hand, who’d taken weeks to slowly, slowly relax in his company. She was that girl and he loved her. There could never be anyone else.
His father would be furious at him, but what if… what if his father was wrong? The thought stung him. Until now, his father had been right. The first time Sahan had tried to break away from the lines his father had drawn, he had met Tamsin. He had taken it to be a lesson that his father knew best. But it wasn’t. It was just an event. Shit happened.
That image of a perfect family wasn’t what he wanted. It was what his parents wanted. But he wasn’t them. He thought about his life here: the ropey student digs; the part-time job; the friends – the son of a canning factory supervisor and the daughter of a long distance lorry driver; in an interracial relationship, no less. His father wouldn't have deemed Nate or Cara suitable people for Sahan to hang around with, but Sahan couldn't imagine a world without them in it. All this time he’d been so worried about what his parents wanted that he hadn’t stopped to consider whether he agreed with them. Now, finally he knew that he didn’t see the world the same way they did. They wanted him to be just like them, but he wanted something different. He wanted Soma.
But Soma had lied to him.
But why? It was as though his brain was finally waking up. Details nagged him. He tried to think what she’d told him the night before. She had stolen a passport to come to England, but why? It couldn’t be for money, that wasn’t the sort of person she was. If it wasn’t that, then why? What was she trying to get away from?
He had been so wrapped up in his own feelings that he’d forgotten to ask the most important question.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Soma heard the doorbell, but didn’t move. She was standing in the kitchen, sorting Louie’s clean clothes into piles, ready to be taken upstairs. She felt as though she’d been given a precious reprieve for a few days. Losing Sahan had been bad enough. To lose Louie just as abruptly would have been too terrible.
She heard Madam answer the door. The voice that responded to her greeting was Sahan’s. The world stopped. Sahan was here. Sahan. She had thought she would never see him again. But he was here? Had he changed his mind?
His voice carried on, talking to Madam. She couldn’t make out his words, but she could tell that whatever he was saying made Madam happy. There was no sign of his trying to come into the kitchen to see Soma. Her hopes, which had started to rise, froze. Madam was his cousin. Of course he’d come over to see her. He would have known he could come and talk to Madam without ever venturing upstairs into Louie territory. If she hadn’t got behind with her washing chores, she wouldn’t even be down here.
A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed onto one of Louie’s t-shirts. Soma sniffed and dried her cheek on her shoulder. She needed to get over this. It was cruel for Sahan to come to the house like this, but he didn’t owe her anything. Whatever she might feel for him, he clearly didn’t feel the same way about her. People like him didn’t fall in love with people like her. She’d known this all along. If only her feelings would respond to reason.
Footsteps came towards the kitchen. Soma knew from the measure and weight of them that it was Sahan. Behind him came Madam.
What should she do? She wanted to look at him, but what if he looked at her like he had done the night before? She couldn’t bear that. She could feel him coming closer. She bowed her head. Her heart throbbed in her ears.
He came in, but didn’t acknowledge her. He and Madam continued talking. Madam turned her back to reach for the coffee.
Soma shot a glance at Sahan from under her lashes, terrified to see his expression.
Sahan wasn’t scowling. His gaze caught hers. There was an urgency in his eyes, as though he was trying to tell her something. Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head. She quickly looked back down at her work.
Sahan and Madam were speaking English, but they weren’t talking about anything to do with her. They were discussing somewhere called Teesside, which was near where Sahan’s new job was going to be. Soma tuned it out, too distracted by the pounding of her own heart. Sahan was back. He didn’t hate her. He had come back.
She wished Madam would leave, so that she could talk to Sahan. What could she do to get her away from them? How could she engineer a few minutes alone with Sahan?
As though her prayers were heard, the phone rang. ‘What now?’ Madam sighed. She looked upwards for a few rings and sighed again. ‘Bim’s not going to answer it, is he?’
‘You get it,’ Sahan said. ‘I’ll get the coffee.’
The minute Madam left the room, Soma looked up. Sahan didn’t move from where he was, but put a finger to his lips, cautioning her to stay quiet until his cousin got to the phone. She tried to stream all her questions to him using just her eyes, but all he did was shake his head.
When she heard Madam say ‘hello’, she darted across the room to him. ‘You came back.’
He nodded. A small smile. ‘There’s one thing I need to know, before anything else. How old are you? Really?’
Oh. Of course. He might be back, but it was silly of her to expect nothing to have changed. ‘I’m twenty-one. Twenty-one and two weeks.’
His eyebrows drew together. ‘It was your birthday two weeks ago? You… never said.’ He stared at her for a second.
‘I…’ Of course she never said. What did he expect her to have done?
‘I suppose you couldn’t do that…’ He shook his head. ‘This is going to take a bit of getting used to.’
Did that mean he was willing to try getting used to it? Hope rose, warm and golden, in her chest. She could never go back to being her old self, but perhaps she didn’t have to.
‘Sahan.’
‘Yamuna told me she’s not sending you home.’ He pulled out a small phone, the same make as the one Kemasiri had stolen. ‘Here. I’ve put some credit on it. We don’t have long to talk now.’
She took it and slipped it into her cardigan pocket. ‘Thank you.’
He nodded, his mouth lifting up on one side.
‘I thought… I thought you hated me.’ Tears threatened again.
‘You lied to me. I don’t even know your birthday,’ he said, sounding weary rather than angry. ‘We have a lot to talk about.’
She nodded, there was no denying that.
Sahan glanced towards the door. ‘Soma, there’s something else I need to know,’ he said urgently. ‘On the night of the bus crash. Why were you on that bus in the first place?’
She stared at him. In her rush to explain, had she missed out the thing that started it all? She had. ‘I was running away from my stepfather.’ she said. ‘Because he hurt me the way Kemasiri tried to do.’
* * *
Her words struck him like a physical blow in the stomach. His view of her shifted again and he knew he was right to have come back. If only she’d told him that last night, he would have understood straight away.
She was watching him, her big eyes wide and fearful. A tear leaked out and ran down her cheek.
‘It’s okay,’ he said. Gently, he put his arm around her and drew her closer until she was leaning against him, awkwardly. ‘I had no idea,’ he whispered into the top of her head. ‘I will look after you, Soma. Don’t be afraid. I will never hurt you.’
She bowed her head and was quiet for a long moment. When she looked back up, he was surprised to see her eyes were dry. Her gaze met his. ‘I’m not afraid of that,’ she said. ‘If you’ll let me, I will look after you too.’
There was something fierce about her expression, a determination he hadn’t seen before. He smiled. ‘I’d like that.’
They heard footsteps on the landing. Soma sprang back, swiping the tears off her face with the back of her hand. She hurried back towards the pile of washing.
‘No. Wait.’ Sahan caught her hand.
‘But Madam—’ She tugged her hand away.
‘She has to find out sometime.’ Sahan took a step closer and put his other hand out, so that hers was sandwiched between his two warm ones.
At that moment, Yamuna appeared in the doorway. ‘What the hell is going on here?’
* * *
Yamuna stared at the two young people. Soma looked terrified. Sahan looked determined. Was Sahan holding Soma’s hand against her will? For a second, she was genuinely baffled as to what she was seeing. ‘Well?’
Soma glanced at Sahan and he smiled at her. Soma seemed to relax. She stopped pulling away and took a small step towards Sahan. They both turned to look at her.
Fragments fell into place in Yamuna’s mind. ‘You two,’ she gasped. ‘You’re together.’ Her first feeling was relief that Sahan wasn’t another person that she needed to protect Soma from. Close behind that came the shock. ‘Sahan. What are you doing? What will your parents say?’
Sahan shifted his weight. ‘I… think we need to talk.’
Yamuna didn’t know which one of them to glare at first. Sahan, who really should know better. Or Soma, who seemed to be a different person every time she looked at her. ‘I’ll say we do.’ She made a decision. She couldn’t deal with this on her own. ‘You,’ she said to Sahan. ‘Come with me. We’re going t
o see Bim.’ She turned to go upstairs, then turned back. ‘You,’ she said to Soma. ‘Stay here.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bim made everyone sit down in the living room so that he could make sense of what was going on. Yamuna tried to untangle her emotions. Sahan’s parents would be furious. What was he thinking?
Yamuna glared at him. ‘But… how? How did this happen? You were supposed to be studying. And—’ She shook her head. ‘This is ridiculous, Sahan. You can’t run off with the servant girl. It’s madness.’
‘She’s not just a servant girl. You trusted her with your son!’
‘I pay her to look after my son. I suppose I might have expected it of her, but you… I expected better from you. Your parents didn’t send you all the way here so that you could mess up your future.’ Her voice was rising. She couldn’t believe he would do this. Someone as intelligent and well-heeled as Sahan needed a wife in the same league. Not some girl who could barely speak English. It was so idiotic. And what would his parents say? They would blame her. She was supposed to have been looking after him.
Bim laid a hand on her arm. ‘Let’s look at this calmly,’ he said. ‘Sahan, start from the beginning. Tell us the whole story.’
Yamuna sat back, her arms folded. Sahan told them the story – of meetings in the park, of English lessons, of isolation and homesickness and of love, blossoming in whispered snippets. Yamuna watched her cousin’s face as he talked. She had always seen him as the teenager but she realised now how much he had changed. He had been a shy and anxious boy in those first days. She remembered the time she’d met up with him a few weeks after he’d moved from her house to student digs. He had looked so ill that she’d offered for him to come and live in her house. He’d recovered, but remained nervy.
Since Louie’s birth, she had stopped noticing anything else, and that included Sahan. Now that she was looking at him again, she saw that he was calmer; still serious, but somehow less wired. When he spoke about Soma, his face softened, a smile tugging lightly on his mouth as he spoke. There was something beautiful about the effect it had on him.
This Stolen Life Page 24