If Mason knew he wasn’t the only one panicking, maybe it would have put him at ease.

Because as soon as Ayaan replies to his text, he looks down at his suit, immediately sighing and tipping his head back in exasperation. Loosening his collar and looking down at the pile of files sitting on his desk, he shakes his head in disbelief.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot” he mutters to himself, remembering how he had casually lied about being done for the day so he didn’t have to say no to going out with Mason.

But then he remembers that he’s about to meet Mason in less than two hours, and the corners of his lips lift in a minuscule smile.

He shakes his head and reminds himself that his problem isn’t solved. He sits down quickly and sorts through the files and paperwork that he wishes would suddenly vanish into thin air, trying to narrow down his work and figure out if he would be missing something extremely important.

His mood progressively dampens when he sees that there is, in fact, a lot of important stuff he has to deal with before the day ends. Scratching his head and letting out another sigh, he tries to squash the thought that he might have to call Mason and apologize-

The door of his office burst open, and he’s just about to scowl and snap at the person for coming in without knocking before he sees who it is.

“I’m taking over for the day. Get out,” Tanvi announces dramatically, and Ayaan has never looked this wide-eyed in his life. She stands there with her hand on her hip, looking at him expectantly.

Ayaan stays put, still too surprised to react.

She sighs and walks over and around his table. The sound of her heels echoes in the office between their silence. “Okay, seriously. Get up.”

Mouth still parted, he follows through with her order but stands there with his hands hanging by his side uselessly.

Tanvi groans and flips him around, pushing at his back. “Go, go, go. Get out. You have a date. I talked to Gwen to confirm. You’re not letting work come in the way of this. I’m not going to let you.”

“But-”

“No. Go.”

Ayaan wants to ask how she managed to come over so quickly. He also wants to ask her if she had anything to do with Mason texting him out of the blue, but he decides against it and fixes his feet on the floor, making Tanvi groan in annoyance.

She tries to push him out of the office, but he doesn’t budge.

“God, when did you turn into a freaking mountain? I swear you were shorter than me two years ago or so-”

He turns around and quickly wraps her in a hug, eyes still wide and head filled with questions. He doesn’t ask any of them out loud. Just hugs her and says, “Thank you.”

Tanvi blinks, surprised.

“Thank you so much,” he says again, breathing out a sigh as if relieved. “You’re the best.”

Oddly emotional, Tanvi pushes him away. “I know I’m a good sister. You don’t have to tell me.” Her little sniffle gives her away, and Ayaan can’t help but smile. “Please don’t meet him dressed like this. Change into something… that doesn’t look like you’re on your way to attend a funeral.”

Nodding quickly, he steps back. “I was going to stop by my house before picking him up.”

She nods back, making a ‘go away’ motion with her hand again and clearing her throat. “Okay, good. Now shoo.”

He breathes in deeply before letting it out, and then finally, finally he shakes his head as if finding the entire situation hard to believe. Tanvi can’t hold back her own watery smile when he bites his lower lip to bite back a grin.

“I’m doing this,” he breathes. “I’m really doing this.”

Tanvi nods, looking up at him like a proud mother.

“I’m going on a date with a guy.”

“You are.”

“A guy I like.”

She lets out a laugh, a little taken aback at how excited and nervous he sounds at the same time. Internally thanking Mason, she reaches out to push Ayaan out of the office again. “A guy that likes you back. But it might change if you don’t hurry up.”

When he finally moves, he basically bolts to the door, making his sister laugh again.

“Drive safe!” she calls after him, peeking out of the door.

Her eyes widen when he stops again, immediately turning back around to walk back in her direction.

“Now wh-”

He hugs her again. “You aren’t a good sister. You’re the best sister. And I’m so glad I have you in my life.”

And then he’s pulling away and bolting out of the door again, leaving her standing there with a stunned expression on her face.

When she finally finds her bearings again, she swallows the lump in her throat and sits back on Ayaan’s chair. Her eyes water within the next second and she fans her face, looking up to stop the tears.

She can’t remember the last time she saw her brother so… giddy. About anything. He’s never even looked remotely excited about anything. Especially since she got married and left him all alone to deal with people they have the misfortune of calling their parents.

Being children of the Sharma family gave them everything. Money. Power. An identity.

But the one thing their parents had failed terribly at was letting their kids learn what it was like to be loved.

And with all of her heart, she hopes Mason can set her brother’s heart free from the confines their parents had put it in.

-

“This is stupid,” Mason repeats for the umpteenth time, getting yet another smack from Gwen on the back of his head.

He doesn’t even flinch, used to the abuse.

Gwen continues to adjust his light blue sweater, wiping non-existent dust off his shoulders. Then she reaches out to swipe curls of his hair off his forehead and smiles like a mother sending her child off to school on his first day.

“I feel like I’m helping my son get ready for prom or something,” she muses, tilting her head to one side and stepping back to look at him one last time.

Mason stares back at her, nonplussed. “I never went to prom.”

“Shut up, Mase, you know that makes me sad.”

“...yeah, sorry.”

She breathes in, then out, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. “You’re going on a date.”

Mason tries to keep a straight face, but the slight twitch of his lips gives him away. “I’m going on a date.”

“Your non-existent love life is finally changing-”

“You’re embarrassing.”

“-I can’t believe you’re all grown up and I get to see you finally open up to a person-”

“For the love of God, if you start crying right now…”

“-I can’t wait for the day you fall in love-”

“Okay, that’s enough,” he interrupts, holding his hands up. Having a hard time fighting an embarrassed flush of his cheeks, he steps back. “I’m going to wait for him outside.”

Gwen sniffles--actually sniffles--and nods.

He doesn’t have to wait too long, hear any more comments from Gwen, or even step outside beforehand because there’s a knock on the door.

He stares at Gwen, who stares back at him with the same expression.

“Open the door.”

Mason glances at it once, then back at her, his mouth dry. “I-”

“Open the damn door, Mase.”

He hangs his head but walks over to the door anyway, looking back at Gwen with an expression that screams ‘help me’. She crosses her arms across her chest and points at the door with her chin.

Mason licks his lips and tries to look less nervous before he finally swings the door open.

“Hey-”

The rest of his words die in his throat because eyes that look a little too much like his own stare back at him with hope in them.

His hand limply falls to his side, and before he can comprehend what exactly it is that’s happening right now, his mouth forms the word,

“Mom.”