This is so humiliating, you think to yourself.  There’s no particular reason I guess, I mean it’s not like this is anything new, but for some reason this seems different.  Different in a bad way.  You’re sitting on a small stool in the bathroom while Tao runs the water for a bath.

He turns to you after deeming the water temperature as acceptable.  “Why don’t you start taking your clothes off, jagiya?  You look like you just saw a ghost.”  The water continues to run, the echo bouncing off the tile walls.