When Daya arrived at Kala's place, she was not expecting the attractive blonde man who opened the door. She should be forgiven for forgetting how to string a sentence together given the circumstances. The man was wearing only a swimsuit, and his chest was flushed was if he had been all morning in the sun.
"Uh…"
"Yes?" he asked.
"Wolfgang? Who is it?" Rajan asked in English from somewhere inside the apartment.
"Kala's sister," he answered, with a small grimace.
"Daya," she informed him with a frown. How did this man know her?
"I know," he said. Then his eyes moved somewhere behind her. Daya turned around but there was no one there. The man shook his head before he glanced down at Daya. "Why are you here?"
"I came to see my sister. Where is she? Who are you?"
The man —Wolfgang? What kind of name was that? German?— heaved a big sigh before opening the door to Kala's apartment just enough to let her in.
Daya eyed him warily and crossed her arms over her chest without moving. "Where's my sister?"
"Daya, can we do this inside? You're giving the doorman a show," he said, flicking his gaze to the security camera pointing at the door.
Well, at least, there were cameras. The police would know where to start if she disappeared mysteriously.
She went inside with a healthy dose of caution, walking fast and looking around searching for her sister. That was the moment Rajan decided to come down the stairs, barefoot, buttoning up his dress pants. He froze mid-step when he noticed Daya, his eyes widened in surprise, and he looked like he was about to say the biggest lie in the universe.
Daya's jaw could have touched the floor like in cartoons.
Oh.
Rajan? With another person? With a man?
Cheating on her sister?
Motherfucker.
"It's not what you think," Rajan said immediately.
"And what do I think, Mr. Rasal?" she could not keep the frost out of her voice. Daya felt her insides go cold at the magnitude of this revelation. Sometimes she thought Kala and Rajan's marriage was less than perfect, but what marriage wasn't, right? But never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that Rajan would be the one to cheat. She thought they were in love. They were supposed to be in love. Wasn't that why Kala had married him in the first place? Her sister did not believe in having a marriage of convenience, but perhaps…
No. Her sister had married in love, hadn't she? Hadn't Rajan?
"Well?" Daya pushed.
"You think I'm cheating on Kala with Wolfgang. But it's not— it's not like that. We can explain."
"We can explain? Rajan, I never thought— a man? I thought you were in love with Kala! She loves you, and you… you are fucking the bodyguard? Who is this guy?"
"Daya—" started Wolfgang.
"And you!" She pointed a finger at the blonde man. "I don't even know you. Don't be so… casual."
Wolfgang raised his hands in a clear I give up gesture, then he walked around her and walked into the kitchen. Daya watched him as he moved around with a familiarity that seemed wrong, but what was she going to say? She didn't know how long this man and Rajan had been… involved. For all Daya knew, he had been in Kala's home a number of times while Kala was… where was Kala?
"Where's my sister?" Daya asked Rajan.
Right on cue, the main door opened and Kala called from the door, "is Daya here? I saw Wolfgang open the door—" She stopped talking when she saw her sister standing in the middle of her living room. "Hi, Daya."
Daya looked at her sister and her chest tightened. Sure, Daya was the youngest, but that didn't mean she wasn't protective of her older sister. Who else was going to protect Kala from the world?
"Kala," she greeted, softly. "I'm glad you're here. Rajan was about to explain something to me. I'm sure you'll want to hear it."
"Raj?" Kala asked, looking around. "Where's Wolfgang?"
Kala watched them both with a frown in her face, then she visibly relaxed as she spoke to the empty space next to Daya. "Will you come here? Actually here where Daya can see you?"
There was some shuffling in the kitchen, then the blonde man, Wolfgang, appeared in the living room, biting into a crisp apple. "Hi, sister," he teased.
"Wolfgang," Kala warned, but her tone was fond. Endeared, almost.
What is going on? she thought.
"I feel like I'm missing something," Daya admitted.
"Daya," Kala started, "we… we are together. The three of us."
Daya waited for the rest of the joke, but when it didn't come, she had to assume that was it. She started laughing, slightly nervous when no one else seemed to laugh.
"I told you," Wolfgang said, poking Kala in the ribs. "Not to be European about this, but I did tell you so—"
"Wolfgang," Rajan said.
"What? I didn't say no one would get it." He made a gesture that encompassed Daya and perhaps someone else. "Kala's family is going to be fine."
"Fine? Wolfgang, this is my little sister, she's not going to— Actually, I'm not talking to you. You didn't wanna go shopping with me, which actually would have avoided this entire mess because then Daya wouldn't know—"
"You're serious?" Daya asked when she found her voice again.
"Yes," Kala said, holding her head high. "We are a throuple."
"Gross," said Wolfgang.
"Yeah," added Rajan, dragging out the word, "I still don't like that word, my love."
"Ugh. Fine. We are, uh, involved. The three of us. Together."
"The three of you," Daya repeated.
"Yes."
"You're both cheating with the same person?" Daya asked, incredulous.
"It's not cheating if we're all in the same page," said Kala. It sounded like something she had been rehearsing. "I was in love with both of them and I couldn't choose. So I didn't."
"You were in love with both of them? Where did you even meet this guy, Kala?"
"I think," said Rajan, "that's a conversation that needs a drink, don't you think, Kala?"
Daya glanced between the three of them and saw Kala's shoulders slump. "I didn't think we'd be having that conversation today."
"Oh no," said Daya, "you are telling me how this" she gestured between the three of them, "came to happen, and you will tell me now. But Rajan's right. I need a drink first."
Wolfgang and Kala shared a look, as if they were communicating something to each other without words. Daya felt like she was intruding in something intimate when Rajan cleared his throat.
"My loves, can you not do that?"
"Right, uh, words," Kala said. "Wolfgang and I… we're different, Daya."
Daya waited for them to elaborate, but when they didn't say anything, Daya turned to Rajan. "Is it always like pulling teeth with Kala?"
"You've known her longer than I have, Daya," Rajan said. "But no, this is just… complicated. Come sit."
They all sat in the living room: Daya was in the loveseat while Kala sat on the sofa, Wolfgang to her right and Rajan to her left. She took a deep breathe before she started.
"It all started a little over a year ago, when a woman named Angelica…"
Kala spoke for a long time. Daya, for her part, did her best to not freak out at the thought that her sister was a different kind of human being to her. By the time she was done, Daya's head was spinning, yet she couldn't help but notice how scared her sister seemed.
"Kala…"
"I know this is hard to believe, but, Daya, I wouldn't lie to you." Daya raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I wouldn't come up with such an elaborate lie to explain our relationship. In fact, our relationship might be the easiest thing to explain in all this mess."
Daya took a minute to process this new information. At last, she decided that she could still have some fun with the three of them.
"Ah, I get it now," she said, pretending to be slower than she was, "this is a sex thing."
Kala blushed furiously. Wolfgang smirked at her, as if he was aware of what she was doing.
"It's not just a, a… sex thing, Daya," Rajan started, "we're… we really are together."
"Daya." Kala covered her face with her hands. "Please, don't say that."
"So it's not a sex thing?"
"Oh, it's definitely a sex thing," Wolfgang teased, winking at her.
Daya laughed. "Does Dad know?"
"No! No one knows!" Kala lowered her hands and looked at her sister with a serious frown. "And you can't tell anyone. We're not… it's not… we're not ready, okay?"
Daya could see the wheels turning in her sister's head about how to convince Daya of the importance of their secret. Daya understood it perfectly. But first, she had sibling teasing duties to fulfill.