R&D

Chapter 18

The next day tons of relatives came over to see the family. They all joked that it felt like they had just seen them since they had come to India the year prior. Roshi's parents chuckled awkwardly. Roshi knew the real reason, but of course no one else could.

The cousin who was going to help with the hotspot was busy so he ended up not coming over that day. So Roshi went another day without internet. She was pretty busy since she was catching up with relatives and because of the jet lag she kept taking naps at random times during the day.

The next morning she woke up at a normal time and her cousin came over before school. He set up the hotspot and Roshi confirmed it was working by connecting her phone and laptop. She had a couple messages from Belle and Peyton asking how her trip was, but nothing excessive. 

Dev sent 10 messages in 2 days.

I see your flight landed How was it? Glad the 2 day trip is over? Did you get to your Ammumma's house okay? Hey, didn't hear from you I know your cousin needs to help you set-up the internet so maybe he hasn't done it yet Everything okay... Maybe you're busy catching up with everyone Hello? You there?

Roshi felt suffocated just reading them all. Why was she feeling suffocated? She talked to Dev every day back home. Now she hasn't talked to him in 2 days. Shouldn't she be happy to hear from him? But for some reason seeing all these messages from him just annoyed her. Maybe for the first time since they'd been together she had a feeling of, why doesn't he have a life?

Roshi was about to respond when she thought she should take some time to reflect before doing so. It was the middle of the night for Dev so he wouldn't see her response right now anyway.

She spent the afternoon going to the shop around the corner to get stuff for her grandmother. The people at the shop didn't speak English so she had to practice her Malayalam with them, which was choppy at best.

After that she was quite bored. Her cousins were still in school and her brother was watching TV. She looked at her WhatsApp and realized Dev would be asleep so she couldn't talk to him. She then felt guilty for thinking those mean things about Dev for not having a life just because he sent her 10 messages in 2 days.

Here she was, sitting around for 30 minutes, wishing he was around to talk to her. Of course he was missing her after 2 days of no communication. Roshi then responded to Dev with messages explaining why the delay and how the first couple days in India had been. She ended with one sweet message attached to a selfie.

Wish you were here baby

Roshi then took a nap since there was nothing else to do. She woke up around 8pm to see the house a bit more lively as cousins had come over to hang out and were waiting for her to wake up. They ended up playing games, having dinner, and then playing more games.

After everyone went home she checked her phone to see the 3 messages from Dev.

Glad you're okay

I miss you Call me when you get a chance

Roshi was wide awake because of her afternoon nap that turned into 3 hours, but she didn't know how she could call Dev from here. Her grandparents were asleep and her parents and brother were getting ready for bed as well.

She went upstairs to the empty bedroom and called Dev from there. He picked up after the first ring. Hey, he said excited. Hi, she said. She saw him wipe his mouth. Are you eating, she asked. He showed his cereal bowl. Keep eating, don't stop because of me, she said.