Avani thought she could hear the hesitation in Kasai’s voice, but whether it was actually there or she was so worried herself that she projected it on others was hard to tell. Maybe it was a bit of both. She wasn’t sure what to expect if she introduced Kasai like her girlfriend, and she wasn’t sure how Kasai would take it if she didn’t either. She knew it would be a better idea to please the one person she spent most of her time with, rather than those she barely ever saw and didn’t really need.

“Are you sure?” Avani asked. “I mean, great. That’s great.” She hoped neither of them would come to regret the decision to visit her family. It’d been a long time though, so she supposed to some extent it would be nice seeing them again. She wondered how noticeable it’d be that they hadn’t seen each other recently, that they’d all gotten older.

Avani found the guards stopping the poor from entering the middle district tacky, especially when she was showing someone new to the city around. Oh, we don’t plan on helping them. We just want to contain them and make sure they don’t bother anyone outside their own area. She sighed as it seemed little had changed since she was last in the city. At least they had been allowed into the middle district without much protest.

“Yup, I grew up in the middle district.” Avani responded with a smile, and drove in the direction she thought she remembered her relatives lived. She coughed, almost choked when Kasai brought up crazy exes. It brought back memories of someone she’d wanted to forget. “Haha, no, that’s silly. I don’t have any ex-girffriends.” It sounded a bit too much like she was hiding something, so she went on. “I’d be the crazy ex anyway, so you better not leave me or I’ll cut you.” She joked, and tried to make her laugh sound natural. “Why would you fight them though?”

She was glad that it didn’t take long for her to recognize herself, and one house in particular, before the current topic of conversation went on for too long. Avani parked a short distance from the house, hoping to surprise her relatives rather than have them get the jump on her. It was a pretty large house, and it’d been in the family for a few generations at least. Avani hadn’t lived there much, as her mother hadn’t been the oldest child and therefore not in line to inherit it. Besides, her mother was a sort of black sheep now. Not necessarily because she’d committed a crime, but because she’d been locked up and brought such attention to herself.

“This is it, babe. I doubt there’d be any reason for anyone else than my family to be there.” Avani said, after getting off the motorcycle, and took Kasai by the hand to drag her along with her. She imagined she might need the support more herself.

As they got close to the house, they could hear the noise of children playing. When Avani was about to knock on the door there was a loud crash coming from inside, then someone swearing over damn kids breaking stuff, followed by an adult telling the kids to play outside. She stiffened and squeezed Kasai’s hand when she realized they were about to get the jump on her after all. Avani stepped back from the door, right before it swung open and hit the side of the house. Four kids rushed past them, not caring that they were there, maybe they hadn’t even paid that much attention.

Avani let out a sigh of relief, only to notice that an adult woman was standing in the open doorway staring at her. She was dressed in an apron, with her red hair tied in a bun on her head. “Is that you, cousin?” The woman eventually asked. “Avani?”

“Ye- yes, it’s me. Nice to see you again, Jaya.” 

“I didn’t know you would be coming, but yes, it is nice.” Jaya said and reached for the door, to check if it was still in one piece. She looked at Kasai afterwards. “Who are you?” It didn’t take long for her to spot that Avani was holding Kasai’s hand. “Oh.” She paused. “Well it’s nice to meet you too. Come on in. There’s not really anyone else here than me and the kids at the moment.”

Avani was mostly glad to hear that. A slow introduction would be better than everyone at once.

“I heard that!” An older voice shouted from inside the house. A voice she definitely recognized.

“Oh, grandmother is here too.” Jaya said.

They followed Jaya into the house, and she lead them to the living room where their grandmother was seated in a chair. “I’ll get something to drink.” Jaya left them alone as she went into the kitchen. 

“I feared I’d never see you again, child.” The short wrinkly lady said, and got up from her seat.

“I’m sorry about that, nana. Everything here got hard after…”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Give me a hug.” Avani did as her grandmother commanded, even if she had to bend down because the difference in height was considerable. The woman was still surprisingly strong despite her age, and Avani felt like she was trying to crush her. “Who is this young lady?” Her grandmother said after finishing the hug, and turning her attention to Kasai.

Avani knew her grandmother would hate it if she didn’t tell the truth, and Jaya would tell her first chance she got either way. “This is my girlfriend Kasai, nana.” She said, and worried over some kind of reaction of shock.

“Pleasure to meet you, Kasai. My name is Ekta.” She reached her hand out to Kasai to shake, then took her seat again. “Ten years ago something like that would have been a big fuss for me, but Avani couldn’t possibly drag more shame onto the family than her mother already has. Not by having a girlfriend anyway, it might bring us into whatever the future holds. Unless you get involved in some crime that turns into a publical stunt and you insist on everyone knowing who you are. Please, don’t do that.”

“Yes, nana.” Avani said, took a seat in a couch and gestured for Kasai to do the same. “We won’t.”

“The sins of the parents shouldn’t fall on the children. Who knows where this family would be if they’d taken responsibility for everything that I’ve done.” The old woman grinned, and looked out one of the windows. Her peace of mind was interrupted by more noises by the kids. “You should take one of those with you by the way. We’ve too many as it is, and you can’t get any of your own.”

Avani blushed. It was way too early to think about anything like that in this relationship. She’d hoped it wouldn’t be brought up when they came here, cause of obvious reasons yet here they were. She didn’t even know if Kasai had planned on getting kids back when she was still a proper straight girl.

“That was a joke!” Jaya shouted from the kitchen.

“No, it wasn’t.” Ekta shook her head, and whispered to them. “Take one if you want them.”