A Christmas Conspiracy by Reet Singh

Author:Reet Singh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cat lovers, south asian, romance comedy, cats as pets, holiday magic, holiday comedy, comedy caper, holiday love, romance clean, holiday romace
Publisher: Reet Singh

Meeting the parents, Gill style

'Hey, Mom?' I yelled upon entering the house. 'Whereabouts are you? Come and meet a friend of mine.'

Calling Nargis 'friend' was stretching the truth by quite a bit, but I was still holding her hand, so it didn't seem to be a complete untruth.

'Dad?'

'In the family room,' my dad rumbled, and so that's where I headed, the bemused Nargis following right behind me. We weren't holding hands any more, but she was dogging my heels so closely that if I'd stopped, she would have bumped into me.

It was nice to see her rattled for a change, although it was, to be honest, through no fault of hers. I reminded myself that I wasn't the only victim here - Nargis and I had both been played by an expert manipulator. But why? Well, we'd soon know.

'Tada!' I said, keeping an eagle-eye on my parents' reaction as I urged Nargis into their presence.

'Hullo, Beta,' my dad said, and Mummy parroted him with a politely welcoming expression on her face. Her eyes glittered with curiosity, not with recognition, and I was stumped for a minute.

Maybe her name would jog Ma's memory? 'This is Nargis. We met at the Quick Kick.'

Mama twitched, and then she beamed. 'Oh my god! Nargis Nair! You really did meet!' She jumped to her feet. 'Balram,' she said to my father, 'this is the girl. Isn't she lovely?'

'Absolutely,' my father affirmed, turning his gaze away from the TV news for a second.

'Ma? What were you thinking? Is this why you were fiddling with the dating apps?'

'Yes,' Mama stiffened. 'And I'm not ashamed. Or sorry.'

'But you could have said something. How weird of you to set up a date for me and not tell me about it.'

'Ha! Would you have gone if I had told you?'

'No!'

'Exactly! Come, Nargis, why don't you sit? My son is quite an ill-mannered fellow, as you can see.'

The minute the words left her lips, my mother blanched. 'No, no, I mean he is a wonderful fellow usually, Nargis, as I'm sure you'll discover, but today he's all stressed up and behaving quite unusually - very unusual for him to be all...'

'Ma,' I admonished, 'leave it.'

She subsided. My father, preferring to let his wife handle the situation, stayed glued to the news from India.

'Ma, look at the photo you chose. If you had to set up a profile for me, couldn’t you at least have used a recent pic?'

'Do you think I didn't try?' she snarled. 'Are you a compulsive selfie taker? No! Do you make it a habit of sharing your latest pics on social media? Or with your parents? No and No!'

She sniffed, and looked hopefully towards Nargis. 'Did you not find him much better looking in real life? Wasn't that a lovely surprise?'

Nargis, still overwhelmed, nodded. 'That mustache was hideous, Aunty.'

Aunty? I glared at her. This wasn't Aunty, this was arch nemesis number one.

The arch nemesis laughed. 'God, that's so true, Nargis Beta. We're all very glad he doesn't have it any more.

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