Vows of Misfortune

25.

The meeting with my boss had gone fairly well — she wasn't very happy that I was taking a month off and wanted to know when I'd be back.

She wanted me back just as much as I wanted to be back. I had figured doing a short uni course would be easier to tackle and a much-needed distraction away from what was going on in my sort-of-past-successful-life-now-turned-to-shit but it only added onto stress.

The door knocked and I opened it. Susanne held a tray full of food. "I heard Jose was in the hospital. How is he feeling?"

"Much better." I opened the door wider and stepped aside. "Please, come in. I think he'd really appreciate you checking up on him."

"I hadn't even realised this was something that had happened until my husband called Jose on a whim."

"Yeah, it was kept on the down low, to be honest. I'm glad you came over. I think he's sick and tired of me hovering over him."

Susanne chuckled. "He mentioned that to my husband, as well."

"What did he say?"

"That you hover and complain like he's your son a lot."

I snickered. "That's because he acts like he's my son more than my uncle." I ushered her to the room Jose uncle was in. He put his iPad down and beamed.

"Thank God, I was going crazy by myself," he said.

"I brought you some homemade gajar ka halwa and some pani puri's."

"You are a Godsend, really, Susanne."

I took the box from her and opened the bowl of halwa. I grabbed a spoon and hurried back, ready to feed him when he turned his head. "My arms are fine, Arshia."

"Your arms are bruised and cut. You shouldn't be moving them around too much."

"It's not broken."

"Oh, am I embarrassing you?" Susanne snickered and he narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't trust you with anything by yourself."

He swatted me away and took the bowl from me. He wasn't actually mad, though, because I could see a slight quirk on his lips.

"Your daughter-in-law is quite amazing," I heard Susanne say as soon as I left the room. I don't know why but hearing a stranger say something good about me made my chest lighten.

I shouldn't care what others thought, to be honest, but I did. And it felt nice when I was being validated. I sighed. I craved that too much. Settling down to watch a movie on the television, I heard the front door shut. From the reflection of the black loading screen, I saw Romir make his way over.

"Someone visiting?" he asked. At first, I thought he was talking to Jose uncle but from the reflection, I saw that his head was turned in my direction.

"Susanne's here." I ignored him otherwise. A few minutes later, I watched as Susanne left the apartment and Romir take Jose uncle to the bathroom. A phone began ringing quarter way through my movie. I panicked thinking it was mine, but the sound wasn't close by.

It was on the kitchen island. Romir's phone.

It rang and rang and rang. Like five or six times repeatedly. Lulling my head back against the sofa didn't help the situation, so I got up and grabbed it. I went over to the bathroom. The sound of water hitting a bucket and then a few splashes here and there helped me realise that Romir was probably helping Jose uncle shower because of his arms.

I knocked. "Romir, someone keeps calling repetitively."

"All right. Put it on the island. I'll be out soon."