ELEVEN Ravi

ELEVEN

Ravi

CHAT GROUP

DEEP: Dude, you haven't been around for a couple weeks. What's going on? Are you still mad about your girlfriend?

RAVI: She's not my girlfriend, but yeah, it was a shitty thing to do.

DEEP: We already said we're sorry. We even apologized. But it's time to come out and play, brother.

VIK: It's not a party without you! If you want, you can bring your girl, and we'll be nice.

RAVI: I'll be out in a week or so, okay? Exams are coming up, and they're kicking my ass. Plus, I'm working on something.

DEEP: Oh yeah? Like an app? I KNEW you had it in you, brother. Can't wait to see you blow up just like the rest of your fam.

KUMAR FAM WHATSAPP GROUP

MUMMA: Ravi, beta, your brother is launching a new app in Boston this weekend. We'd like to see you if possible.

RAVI: I have midterms coming up.

PAPA: That shouldn't stop you from coming out to support your brother. In fact, this is a perfect opportunity to network with some of the executives you'll be working with one day.

RAVI: I think my exams are more important.

ARJUN: Your priorities need to be straightened out, Ravi. Pick an internship and come to the event.

RAVI: You know, the more you act like an asshole, the less likely I am to listen to you, Arjun.

PAPA: Enough, Ravi. You know the right thing to do. Don't disappoint us.

RAVI: I'm sure no matter what I do, I probably will.

iMESSAGE 2:03 p.m.

JESSIE: Hey, I'm waiting in the study room. I found something out about the letters. Hurry up! I'm going to burst if I don't tell someone soon.

Ravi read the text message from Jessie as he walked into the library. He grinned at the slew of happy-face and clapping emojis that expressed her excitement. They hadn't been able to look at the next batch of letters for a couple weeks because they'd both been so busy with work. When Ravi told Jessie that he needed to finish a few papers and get a couple of assignments out of the way, she didn't scoff at him or ask him why he was even bothering like he expected her to. Instead, she gave him the space that he needed, and he was finally able to come up for air.

He cut through the lobby, trying to avoid anyone who was looking in his direction, so they didn't follow him to the basement. As he walked, he thought about his last text exchanges with his friends and his family. They didn't understand why he wanted to graduate with honors. And truthfully, Ravi wasn't sure he'd be able to explain it to them, either.

He took the elevator up to the sixth floor and then waited until the lobby cleared out like he always did before he took the second elevator down to the basement. As usual, there was no one there. The closer he walked to Davidson Tower, the quieter it became until the only noise was from the hum of the air unit.

When he approached the far end of the floor, he saw Jessie through the glass, standing in front of her whiteboard. There was that single picture of Divya Das pinned to an otherwise empty space. Before he stepped into the room, he looked over his shoulder at the Davidson Tower doors. He expected to see the shadows inside and light filtered through the stained-glass windows. Except something was different this time.

He was still staring at Davidson Tower when the study-room door opened.

"Hey," Jessie said. Her hair was in a high ponytail, and she wore a T-shirt and sweatshirt over her jeans. It was her typical outfit that she wore whenever she was studying in the library. "Is something wrong?"

Ravi pointed to Davidson Tower and then walked over with Jessie on his heels. He saw what was different when he was a few feet away.

There was a sign in the window. A small white label that read, "Interested in finding out what plans Hartceller University has for Davidson Tower? Scan the QR code for more details!"

They both took out their cell phones at the same time and held their camera lenses over the small QR code.

"Oh my god," Jessie said as she scrolled on her phone. "They're going to gut the whole thing."

Ravi read the article under the pictures of the tower. "It looks like an anonymous donor, an alumnus with a lot of money, wants to take out all the stained glass. All that beautiful architecture is going to be gone." He looked down at Jessie. "I don't know why they'd want to tear apart what made this place so beautiful."

"It's like a kaleidoscope, and they want to ruin it," she said. Then, as if waking from a daydream, she shook her head. "The best thing we can do is focus on what we can control."

"What's that?"

"The letters," Jessie said. "Do you want to get started on the next set?"

His head was filled with images of kaleidoscopes and mosaics, but he nodded. "Yeah, I'm curious what had you sending me a crap ton of emojis earlier today."

Her eyes lit up, and his thoughts scattered at the sight of her sparkle. She looked so happy, so excited. Had he ever felt that way about something before?

"We missed three letters!" she said. "When we were putting them in chronological order, we missed the first three letters that Divya wrote to her Jaan. We didn't start with the first one like we thought."

He felt his heart thump at the thought that there could be more to the story. "Okay, then maybe we should open the first one to find out."

They went back to the study room, and he took his regular position opposite the whiteboard while she sat in front of it. She picked up the weathered piece of paper, one yellowed at the corners with age, more worn than the rest.

"This was stuck to the backside of another letter, which is why we didn't catch it," she said. "But when I was tabbing each stack by date, I felt it and pried it apart. Then I checked the rest of the envelopes and found the other two."

"Okay, but what does it say?" he asked.

Jessie let out a deep breath as if she were preparing herself for bad news. Then she slid her finger between the seams of the folded paper and opened it.

"‘Dear Christian.'"

She froze, her head jerking up.

His pulse raced as he got up and rounded the table. He braced his arms on either side of her, crowding her in, smelling the soft floral scent of her hair. The distraction stretched for one heartbeat, then another, before he was able to focus on the words between her trembling fingertips.

"His name is Christian," he said softly, his words fluttering against her ear. "We have a place to start."

"We should probably do some research on how many Christians were enrolled at the time," Jessie said.

He nodded and, with some reluctance, moved away from her and went back to his seat. "I think there are some digital archives we can access through the library database. I'll start there."

They worked in silence for over an hour, combing through records that the school kept in meticulous order. He was sure that they would hit a dead end, but within an hour, he'd amassed more information than he anticipated.

Ravi pushed his computer away from him and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think we finally have a place to start," he said.

"What did you find?"

"Based on digital archives, and the old yearbooks from 1968 through 1972, there are a total of one hundred eighty-seven students during those four years who were named Christian. A couple of them have died, and quite a few of them are on Facebook. But there are maybe seventy that I couldn't find at all. So far, anyway."

Jessie's shoulders slumped. "That's a lot of people with the same name. How are we going to find the one that Divya Das was communicating with?"

"Maybe something in the letters will help us narrow it down. Why don't we start reading the next few letters and see what we can come up with?"

Jessie nodded. "Ravi, I know this is a long shot, but I feel like we might be able to help give closure to this Indian woman's legacy."

There was something about her use of the word legacy that made him pause. Was that why it was so important for her to help Divya Das? Because of her legacy? From the brief times they talked about their families and their lives, Ravi knew that Jessie's family didn't have a lot of money. Her goal in school was to become qualified for a job that would pay her a lot so she could help take care of her family the way they'd taken care of her. In a lot of ways, she was alone at Hartceller, too. Was Jessie trying to establish a legacy, or was he reading too much into her tone?

"Come on," he finally said. "Let's read the next few letters."

She grinned, took out the book, and then removed the next letter on top of the pile. Using the tip of one of her pale-pink nails, she opened the flap and unfolded the page. They both read in silence, standing close to each other, hearts beating in rhythm.

Dear Christian, I feel like my life has changed since you entered it. Everything that I see as I walk through the campus grounds reminds me of either conversations that we've had or conversations that I want to have with you. There is a word in Hindi that I thought of when you kissed me for the first time. Jaan. Life. You've been giving me a new life.

"Ugh." Ravi hadn't meant to say it out loud, but the sound escaped through his lips. When Jessie shot him a dirty look, he shrugged. "I'm sorry, but that's sappy as hell."

"Let's just keep reading," she said.

I know my parents want me to have an arranged marriage with the son of one of their childhood friends. Raj is a nice fellow. I've known him since we were children and used to run through the mustard fields behind our homes. It's been some time since I've seen him, but I think he's become an accountant. Like his father. In my family, I would not be able to go out with him prior to the wedding. To eat out in a restaurant and then to see a movie on the green. You held my hand, and I feel as if you are taking my heart.

"Okay, that last line was so bad that I threw up in my mouth," Ravi said.

But Jessie didn't snap at him. She continued to stare at the paper in her hands. Ravi watched as her eyes went back and forth, tracing over each line as if she was committing it to memory.

"It's a first date," she said softly. "I think she's talking about their first date together. Come on, Ravi. You have to believe that they're the couple in the legend, right? It just feels, I don't know, too coincidental not to be them."

His pulse ran a little quicker at the thought. Legends were a funny thing. They felt safe, and amorphous. But once legends became more substantiated, they became frightening. Because what if all those legends could happen to Ravi and Jessie? What if money and status and all the differences that existed in their world outside of school could impact their lives, too?

"Tell me about the first date again," he said, his voice hoarse.

"They went to a restaurant," she said. She cleared her throat and focused on the task at hand. "Then watched a movie together on the green. Is she talking about Thursday-night movies on the green in the center of campus?"

"That's what it sounds like," Ravi said. He'd never been himself, because his friends preferred to drink at the frat house, but he'd heard that a lot of students brought food and drinks and lawn chairs.

"I think that's tonight," Jessie said before she checked her watch. "In a couple of hours."

Ravi reached out and took the paper from her fingertips. It felt brittle in his hand, as if the words delicately laid out on even lines would disappear faster than the smoke from his vape pen. "I just wonder how they were able to see a movie on the green without getting caught. I mean, this is within the first few weeks of them meeting each other. As an interracial couple, they had to be worried that someone would see them and tell their parents. We as South Asians sometimes feel cringy now when we're caught by people who may tell someone in our community. In 1971? That had to be a whole different vibe."

Jessie reached across the table and tapped the paper at the very bottom. Her fingertips brushed over his hand, and he felt her touch radiate up his arm. "It says here that there's a place in the science building across from where they set up the projector that had a small balcony where they could stand. I wonder if that's still accessible for students."

"Why, are you interested in taking a date there?" he asked before he could help himself.

He watched her nose wrinkle. "No, but I'm curious to see where it is, to feel closer to Divya while we're reading her letters. I've never been on a date, so I don't think I'll be taking anyone anywhere anytime soon."

His jaw dropped. This beautiful, quirky, infuriating person had never been on a date in her life? Well, the more he thought about it, he guessed that was possible. But not due to lack of opportunity. He was sure it was because Jessie was stubborn. She probably had tunnel vision all through high school, too.

Ravi knew it was a bad idea, but he wanted to be her first. "Go out with me," he said.

"What?"

"Go out with me. Let's go to the same restaurant, and let's go see the movie on the green. We can try to find the balcony that Divya used for her first date. I want to take you out."

Her shock turned into understanding. "That's a great idea."

"Wait, it is?"

She nodded, her ponytail bobbing. "Yeah, definitely. We can both just retrace the steps of the entire date. Maybe it'll give us some insight into their lives."

Just as he thought, Ravi mused. She was stubborn.

"And we can take a break and go out. Together."

There was that confusion again, but he didn't bother giving her any additional explanation. She'd probably talk herself out of it.

"Okay," Jessie finally said. "It's a ... well, it's a date."

"Great," he said, and leaned back in his chair. "Let's finish here, and then maybe we can pack up our things and head straight to dinner. Where did the letter say that they went out to eat?"

"Rothby's. Oh! That's the place we went the first night we found the book. The one with the excellent truffle fries."

Ravi grinned at her excitement. She looked her age when she brightened with happiness. Young and eager to try every new experience college had to offer. Did he ever look as excited and happy as she did right in this moment? Maybe that's why he was so drawn to spend time with her. Because these moments were fleeting. They were special, and he wanted to be a part of them with her. Better yet, he wanted to be the one to give them to her. "I guess we're going to Rothby's," he said, then watched, grinning, as she cheered.