There's Something About Mira

by Sonali Dev

Then he reaches over and collapses against me. From the depth of his soul, he lets his pain out in heart-wrenching sobs. Krish, stoic, indomitable Krish. Krish, who hasn’t shown me a sliver of emotion in the time I’ve known him, is crying in my arms as though he’s been waiting his entire life to be able to cry. I wrap my arms around him. For those minutes, I’m what holds him up. What makes it possible for him to keep breathing through the pain that’s choked him for so long. In being that, I’m also what I’ve wanted to be for as long as I can remember: someone whose humanity is complete because they’re connected to others. Someone who feels undamaged and enough. Someone with the power to make the unbearable bearable. When the sobs stop, we sit there like that, his forehead pressed into my shoulder. Another moment when we’ve breached a wall with each other that has kept us safe from everyone else. When he pulls away, his face is wet. That, combined with the swollen, bruised jaw, makes him so vulnerable, it’s like he’s stripped down to his soul. He takes off his glasses and wipes his eyes. “You should have seen the look on my mom’s face when I said those things to her. I see her face in my dreams every night. I gave her that. In return for a lifetime of love, I gave her that.” I squeeze his hand. “You were horrible to her one time. You were obviously a wonderful son all the other times. Do you think she took only that one conversation with her? Do you think she forgot the life...