“Vedu.” His deep voice was as familiar as it was soothing. The strange disquiet that had taken hold of her vanishing in its wake. “I checked in with the airline. Flights will most likely resume tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said flatly, a surge of disappointment taking her unawares. Disappointed? She wasn’t disappointed. She wanted to get home. She had work. She had family. She had Ash…She was getting married. She wasn’t disappointed, she told herself. She was excited.
“You don’t sound too happy about that,” Ashish said, picking up on her weirdness.
“I’m just tired,” Vedika murmured, pushing through the heavy doors that led back to the hotel.
“Of course,” Ashish was immediately conciliatory. “You should get some sleep.”
Vedika glanced at the time on the enormous clock hanging on the wall across from her in the hotel lobby. It was eight thirty at night. Most people her age were getting ready to go out and partyat this time. And she was being urged into bed like a geriatric with arthritis.
“Yeah,” she said, making her way to the bank of elevators. “I will. Good night.”
She disconnected, lost in thought, tapping her phone against her palm. She got into the elevator the minute the doors opened, relieved to find herself alone in it. The minute the doors opened on her floor, she stepped out, making her brisk way to her room, her mind churning a million miles a minute.
Then she called the one person in her life she knew would understand her and maybe help her understand herself. Her cousin, Kimaya Kashyap, picked up on the second ring.
“Vedu!” she shrieked. “How do you get lucky enough to get stranded in Goa while I’m stuck here in boring old Mumbai.”
“Nowhere is boring if you’re there, Kimi,” Vedika laughed.
“How are you doing?” Kimi’s voice changed, a thread of worry streaming through it. “Your stomach’s holding up?”
Vedika pressed a hand to her tummy, more out of habit than anything else. Her stomach hadn’t bothered her in a while, she realised. When had that happened?
“Yeah,” she said, surprised. “I’m fine.”
“Awesome. You’re not stressed then?”
“I was,” Vedika answered. “I am but I seem to be okay physically.”
A beat of silence and then Kimi said, “That’s wonderful news, V. Maybe it’s time for a review with the doctor? Let him know you’re doing better?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Vedika walked into the bathroom and slipped out of the dress, letting it fall to the floor as she opened the shower to test the temperature of the water. “But that’s not why I’m calling. I need your help. Advice actually.”
She held her hand out under the stream of water, hot enough to steam up the tiny space.
“You need advice fromme?”Kimi got a little squeaky at the end. “Hold on a second.”
Vedika rolled her eyes at her cousin’s theatrics. “What are you doing?”
“Checking to see if the pigs at the farm have taken flight.”
The smart ass answer had Vedika grinning. Her cousin was nothing like her. She was a wild, rebellious free spirit who lived to torment her father and brother. And no one, literally no one, understood Vedika and her million hang ups better.
“Kimi,” she remonstrated.
“Okay. Shoot. I’m listening.” Vedika heard a chair scraping in the background.
“I…” Her words failed her at the last moment.
“V?” Worry snuck back into Kimi’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you know how I always said Ashish made me feel calm and secure?”
“Yeah.” She could almost hear Kimi rolling her eyes. “Who needs excitement when you have calm and secure, right? That’s your mantra?”
“Well, I thought I didn’t. I thought I couldn’t actually feel it…excitement.” She shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly.
