By the time Astha finished selecting her books, the pile had grown.
Shanaya had contributed to the chaos, sneaking in her own picks. Arin simply watched, entertained, as Astha finally stood up, clutching the books like a knight preparing for battle.
“This is fine,” she muttered. “I’ll just convince myself I won’t buy another book for the next two months.”
Arin snorted. “Lying to yourself isn’t healthy.”
She shot him a look. “Says the man who just happened to be ‘in the neighborhood.’”
He conceded with a slight tilt of his head. “Fair point.”
Shanaya, meanwhile, eyed the stack. “Okay, so are you actually carrying all that home? Because that’s a workout.”
Astha squared her shoulders. “I’ll manage.”
Arin, without thinking, picked up half the stack.
Astha blinked. “What are you doing?”
“Being efficient.”
She stared at him, clearly torn between arguing and accepting the help. Finally, she just sighed. “Fine. But if you drop any, I will personally haunt you.”
He smirked. “Noted.”
As they stepped out of the bookstore, Arin glanced at Astha.
She seemed lighter. Less weighed down by whatever had made her take the day off.
He didn’t ask what it was.
He didn’t need to.
And maybe that was why, for the first time, she let the silence between them exist without filling it.
They walked together—a woman, her daughter, a stack of books, and a man who wasn’t supposed to care.
And yet, despite himself—
He did.
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