4
NICHA AND XINANU didn’t come to breakfast either, but Nicha came out of his room as I went back to our bedroom to get changed into my formal outfit—I hadn’t wanted to wear it to breakfast so as not to get food on it.
He was just closing the door behind him—it was dark inside his room and a stuffy smell spread from the door.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Yes, yes.” He turned around, meeting my eyes. He seemed . . . flighty, for want of a better word. Nervous. Guess I would be nervous, too, when Thayu was about to give birth.
But since when had I felt so distant from him?
He nodded—I wasn’t quite sure what the gesture meant. “You’re getting ready for the meeting?”
“I am.”
“Well, I better get dressed then, too.” He retreated back into the stuffy darkness of his room.
What an aw
