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Sashank was relieved to hear this.
Kusum continued, “I will take care of Akash as well. You don’t have to worry about him.”
This was a great assurance for Sashank from his wife, and they made plans to visit Vaishno Devi as per family tradition.
~ ~ ~
Deepak called again, and Roshni picked up the phone this time, and they talked about the reception.
Roshni was amazed at how frequently Deepak was calling. She wondered if all this excitement would continue now that Sashank bhaiya’s wedding was over.
“Roshni, I know everything would have gone well. Since you coordinated it, there was no doubt in my mind.”
Roshni was flattered but did not react. She was silent for a few seconds.
“Roshni, how come you are so quiet all of a sudden? I almost felt you hung up.”
“Sometimes it is good to listen and not say anything.”
“I hear Sashank bhaiya and bhabhi are going to Vaishno Devi in a couple of days.”
“Yes, I asked them to stay longer or go away on a short honeymoon.”
Deepak was happy and sa
d. He wished he had done that with Roshni, taken her away on a honeymoon and spent time with her. He wished he understood her better, and how he wished she was with him and all that happened between them never happened. These thoughts kept him busy for a few seconds, and he was quiet.
“Okay, bye, Deepak, and take care,” she said abruptly. She’d mistaken Deepak’s silence.
“Oh, hold on, Roshni. What is the matter?”
“Since you were quiet, I figured we were done talking,” she responded.
“Roshni, you…”
He never hung up when she was quiet. He was tempted to give this rationale, but as she’d mentioned, it was better to listen sometimes…he learned this lesson from her!
Deepak tried to talk to her, but she gave short answers or tried to cut him off. It had become a question and answer session, and he did not want to force her. They decided to hang up.
Deepak was always ecstatic to talk to Roshni and felt cheerful after his telephone conversations. He was in a good mood and people around him began to notice this. Although he was busy with project work, he never procrastinated to call Roshni.
Chapter 14
Deepak’s surprise visit to India on Business
It had been over a month since Sashank and Kusum were married. Sashank tried to be a good husband to Kusum, and Kusum tried to be a good wife, good older daughter-in-law, and a motherly figure to Roshni and Akash. There was joy and happiness around.
Deepak, although busy with his approaching deadline, which was a week away, never missed calling India at least once a week and talking to Roshni for a few minutes.
Roshni led a project with a team of five individuals, and the design review for the prototype was scheduled for the second week of June. She and her team worked late hours, sometimes into weekends, to get this design and testing completed. Sanjay, her college friend, was on the same team. Work on this project progressed well. Roshni was very good technically, in addition she was a very good project manager, and she was sought after for any project at her firm. Everybody enjoyed working with her and had great respect and regard for her.
Nobody around Roshni was able to gauge the emotional trauma she was going through. She behaved perfectly normal outside but was going through a major internal struggle. Sashank and Akash were very close to her, and she herself had never lived with so many people and had become close to everyone.
Roshni thought of various options to move out of this house, move away from this family so nobody suspected her, and she wanted it to be a smooth transition for everybody.
Should she find a job outside of Mumbai for a year and then return once the dust settled in the Vermas’ house? Should she ask her director, Gupta ji, to transfer her out of Mumbai for a few months, and then later she could come back to the same firm in Mumbai. With several options available, she settled on approaching Gupta ji the first week of June.
Although Sashank and others made attempts to convince her, Roshni was adamant not to sell or rent out Babuji’s house, for she needed a place to live after December 14th. She hired a young couple to clean the house once a week, and she took this opportunity to visit Babuji’s house, her house, and spend time alone with her childhood memories. This gave her a lot of solace.
