‘I see. And are you going to reply?’
No.
Yes.
Maybe?
Jacob’s hands instinctively flew to the dice in his pocket. There was only one way to solve this.
‘Not sure.’ He plucked them free and held them in the air. ‘Let’s see, shall we?’
‘You’re going to roll a pair of dice to decide this?’
‘Why not?’
The young boy huffed, slouching his weight over the front of the counter. ‘You’re a weird man – you know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but with very good reason to be.’
Jacob shook the wooden dice and screwed his eyes shut tight.
Evens is yes. Odds is no …
He opened his palm and let them free, unable to hide his joy at the two sixes staring up at him.
‘What’s the result then, numbers boy?’ Kushal peered over. ‘Is it good or bad?’
‘Well, my friend …’ Jacob began to type his response, refocusing his attention on the screen in front of him. ‘I think you’ll find it’s a bit of both.’
Olivia
It turned out that, despite Olivia’s best efforts to escape, Tracey was unshakeable. At one point she was convinced Tracey was going to accompany her to the toilet to make sure they stayed together. Olivia felt like a marked woman, and no matter what tactics of diversion she tried, it was clear that come hell or high water, there were two of them travelling to Jaipur that night. And it was just as bad as she’d imagined. Because for Olivia, whose opinion of India’s railway system was already low, travelling five hours in cramped conditions with no obvious escape routes, with a woman who talked solidly for twenty minutes about her underwear rotation technique without taking breath, was a real-life version of hell.
Fortunately, the gods decided to show a little mercy and place Tracey’s hotel in Jaipur as far away from Olivia’s as you could get, ensuring there would be enough distance between them that the chances of crossing paths over the next few days would be minimal. This fact, whilst a relief to Olivia, meant Tracey had insisted they exchange numbers when the tuk-tuk dropped her off.
Two days and five unanswered messages later, Olivia had started to see Tracey’s face around every corner. Many excuses had been concocted as to why they couldn’t meet up, each one less convincing than the last. And yet the guilt never came because, as harsh as it sounded, Olivia didn’t have time for friends, especially loud, overbearing ones. She had a list as long as her arm of places to see, and she was determined to visit them all by the time she left. And so far, it seemed to be going quite well.
‘Remind me’ – Kate flitted in and out of the screen, as she hurried to get herself ready to go out – ‘how many days have you got left there again?’
‘You have my entire itinerary; you don’t need to ask me!’
‘I know, but there aresomany pages, and it gets confusing.’
‘I have three more days here and then I move on.’
‘Three days, gotcha. And how is it?’ Her friend’s face popped into view, her eyes full of hope. ‘Are you starting to like it yet?’
‘Erm …’ Olivia thought for a second. It was true that she wasn’t hating it as much, or praying every minute of every day to be back home, butlikeit? The jury was out on that one. ‘Yeah, it’s getting better.’
‘That’s good! And have you heard any more from the hot mystery guy?’
The thought of Jacob triggered in Olivia equal parts annoyance and affection. She hadn’t heard a peep from him since she’d sent the email back in Agra, and she’d now taken it upon herself to limit the number of times she checked her inbox. What had started as impatience at his lack of response had quickly begun to morph into rejection, hurt and confusion. Confusion at the silence, but also confusion as to whyshe cared so much about a message from a guy she barely knew.
‘Hello? Can you hear me?’ Kate’s face came so close to the screen it was practically all forehead. ‘Olivia, are you there?’
‘Yes, sorry. I was trying to work out who you meant, because I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned a hot mystery guy before.’
‘Come on! You know who I mean.’
