CHAPTER 3

A/N: I apologise a million times for the delay – real life is getting in the way. Yay, that rhymed! Warning: mature conversation and crude language.

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Kate and Sita were sitting outside the main building of the university on a bench, discussing men.

“Oh, come on, you know that ninety-nine percent of all men only think with their cocks,” Sita said loudly enough for two male students to overhear her. They stopped talking and stared at her. She ignored them, her lip curling.

“Look…Not all men are like that, and it’s not as if women are any better sometimes,” Kate said.

“I hate men,” Sita spat, “they are disgusting creatures-”

“-who only think with their dicks, I know,” Kate completed Sita’s sentence exasperatedly.

“Exactly. Biped dicks.”

“Okay, I’ve got this really strange image of a giant phallus walking around on two legs.”

“You’ve got to admit that most men only marry because they want a slave who’ll run the household for them. The sex is naturally free of charge, too, and children symbolise their virility, overinflating their macho egos,” Sita observed in a loud voice. The two students interrupted their own conversation again and stared at her for the second time; then they looked back at each other and shook their heads.

Kate dug her elbow in Sita’s ribs.

“Oh, stop it, Sita! Those two guys are staring at you!”

“Let them stare. So much the better if they hear a clear opinion of their disgusting-”

“Kyle is very sweet, you know,” Kate said coldly, “and I am floored that you were able to stand my brother’s disgusting male presence when he showed you around.”

“Well, your brother is…your brother. It’s different. He seems to be very nice and correct.”

Kate looked slightly mollified.

“Glad to hear it,” she said, “because if you move in with him, I hope you’ll be nice and correct to him as well.”

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Sita looked around the walls of her new room. Boxes were squatting on the floor, waiting to be unpacked. She had scratches and bruises on her hands, and her back was aching. Sita, who never complained, simply regarded the aches and pains as symbols of a new step forwards in her life. Both Brian and Kate had helped her with moving, and her parents, too, had gone over her checklist with her, making sure that she wasn’t leaving anything behind by accident. They were sad that Sita was leaving, and they made her vow to phone them twice a week – minimum. After Sita had moved into Brian’s flat, they came to visit their daughter. Brian immediately noticed the close resemblance between mother and daughter; their eyes were the same, and they both looked like girl-women with their small delicate faces and figures. Their poise and carriage of their heads, however, radiated dignity. Her father was a cheerful man who was determined to make sure that his daughter had everything she needed – including a gentlemanly roommate in Brian.

“Are you sure you don’t want to invite your brother over, Sita?” her mother asked rather pointedly halfway through the tour while Brian was in the kitchen cleaning the fridge. He had put all the contents outside on the veranda on newspapers where the winter air did a perfectly decent job of acting as a temporary fridge.

“No, Mom,” Sita said tersely.

“He is your brother,” Sita’s mother said. “Remember that you only have one brother.”

“That’s already more than enough,” Sita answered, her voice tinged with irritation.

“Sita, that is not a nice thing to say,” her mother reprimanded her.

“I do think Sita has a point,” her father observed mildly. Brian pulled out the vegetable drawers, shelves and all the other compartments in the fridge, feeling embarrassed that he couldn’t help overhearing what seemed to be a touchy subject.

When Sita showed them around the kitchen, her father looked approvingly at Brian.

“Sita tells us that you are a very agreeable young man.”

Brian smiled at Sita.

“She is a very agreeable young woman,” he said courteously. Sita smiled back, but her eyes were wary, as if she mistrusted the sincerity of his statement.

After her parents had left, Brian remarked:

“You have very nice parents.”

Sita gave him a warm smile – the first one he had seen since she had moved in.

“Thanks. We’ve always been close.”

“So your brother is not dropping by?” Brian asked Sita as they shoved the drawers, shelves and various compartments back into the fridge.

“No.” Sita turned on the tap and washed her hands, applying soap meticulously.

“Ah, okay.”

“We don’t get on well with each other at all,” Sita added, going out onto the veranda to fetch the food.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Brian said when she came back. Sita shrugged and began to stow away the vegetables in the appropriate compartment. She didn’t seem to be keen on talking to him, and Brian sensed that she was being overcautious around him. He could not make up his mind whether he liked her or not – he didn’t know her well enough, and it looked like Sita was ensuring that he wouldn’t get to know her well enough in the first place, in spite of the fact that she was his sister’s best friend and his roommate.

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