Chapter 18: You are cruel
Robin went to pick up his father. Like Robin's mother, his father too had a smile on his face almost constantly. He could see more relief in his father's face than his mother, after all his father was the breadwinner of the family now.
Of course, Robin himself was earning and contributing but it couldn't be denied that his father had been earning for the family for a long time. Now that he had taken off the burden, he looked more happy than ever after. As Eminem had once said 'money doesn't buy happiness it buys crazy ass happiness'.
"How is your work? Too many projects? "
As Robin drove the car, his father asked like a concerned parent.
"It's going on fine and let's reach home, I need to talk about my work."
"Why? Is there any problem?"
"No.. You will know once we get there. How do you wish to celebrate?" Robin asked as he wanted to divert the topic a bit. It was useless to speak about his plans for the next week. For now his father was home and they needed to have fun.
"I am planning to go to Shillong. It's been years since we have gone there."
"Oh, we can book a resort there like last time."
"Yes, if you can book a resort online then it will be great."
"Sure."
Robin and his father talked about other things and also about the fact the benefactor was still unknown to him. He wanted to say thanks because he himself was in the bank and so he was sure that whoever had helped them, it wasn't done randomly as the mortgage bills were paid off to the T.
Someone had deliberately done this and that person was still unknown. Of course, Robin just smiled at it. He might speak of the truth much later when he would have enough money to show off. Right now, he couldn't show his wealth.
After reaching home, they had their lunch and Robin spent the rest of the afternoon with them talking about his life in a different city. It had been sometime that he had been home and so they had a great time together.
"Mom, dad.. I need to tell you something?"
"Tell us something? About what? You got a new girlfriend?" His mother had sparkles in her eyes as she asked. Like other typical Indian families she was interested if her son would get married any time soon.
"Do I look like someone with a girlfriend?"
"Well, nowadays everything is online. That day I saw in the news that one person got married to a Mexican girl after only dating her online for 2 years. So anything can happen."
"I don't have that kind of luck nor do I want to date someone online and never meet that person. Reality and the virtual world have a huge difference." Robin argued back and cursed the news channels in his mind. Those channels were making people more dumb with fake news, propaganda and all kinds of shit possible.
It was funny because it was their generation who had said that Robin and his gen would turn into an idiot watching and consuming loads of shits from TV, but how the tables had turned over the years.
"Then what do you want to talk about?" His father asked as he knew that the question of his wife was making him uncomfortable.
"Few days ago, I applied for a job and got an interview. Yesterday I got the notification that I can join the job next week."
"A job like a 9 to 5 job?" His mother had her hopes high as she wanted her son to have a regular job.
"Yes, something like that." Robin replied.
"What company is it?"
"You will not know, it's a multinational company based on data mining and compression."
"Ok, do you have to go to a different city?"
"That's what I wanted to talk about. I will have to go to Europe to join."
"What?"
"Are you serious?"
His parents didn't expect such an answer. When Robin spoke of the new job they had already expected that their son would soon leave for a new city. They just didn't expect that the new city wouldn't be in India!
"Yes. It's in Amsterdam."
"Where is Amsterdam?"
For the next few minutes, Robin had to show where Amsterdam was and spoke of the country. His father had a vague idea of the country as the country had recently played in the cricket world cup. But his mother had no idea so he had to explain.
"Is the job legitimate?"
"Of course, it's legitimate. I gave the interview and they have already sent me the documents required for me to get a working visa in Europe."
His mother and father now visibly looked shaken. They had already been happy and now with this new information they were almost ecstatic to the point of laughing in joy. His mother was almost close to tears.
Indian parents were really family oriented!
Then his parents proceeded to grill Robin with random questions for the next two hours. It was one of the tough moments as now he had to explain how he got the job and everything, basically a two hours lying straight through his teeth.
"Do you need any help in your visa application?"
"No dad, I will do fine alone. I will leave on Monday and after getting the visa, I will leave the first flight that would be available."
"Alright, I support you son. If you need any help just ask me. Don't leave this chance, such opportunities come once in a lifetime."
Robin just nodded his head while his father dished out advice one after another. In all of this discussion the whole evening went by. His parents had already started making plans of what to buy and send with their son.
Robin didn't stop in their discussions as it would be useless and it was better to just go with the flow. His mother was very happy and already called her sister to deliver the good news of her son. Of course, brag a bit along the way.
Friday, 11th November
This day was scheduled by his father to have a vacation in Shillong and the sudden good news of Robin made the vacation more enjoyable. Robin had already asked JARVIS to book two rooms for a resort just outside Shillong.
It was a 4 hour drive and Robin took the steering wheel as usual. The journey was pretty fun as they had quite a good time. They reached the resort at around 10 am since they had started the journey quite early in the morning.
Robin had booked a separate room for himself as he wanted Gastly to have fun around and also he liked his privacy. The place where the resort was named Cheerapunji and was proclaimed as the one of the wettest places on planet Earth. A place which receives quite a bit of rainfall all the year round. The last time they came, it was raining but this time it was clear skies.
So the experience this time was different. After having mild food, the family of three went out to have fun and visit some of the local points of interest like the limestone caves and the waterfalls.
Meanwhile Gastly was having real fun. It had been able to move around a lot after coming to this world so seeing such a beautiful space had invoked the adventurous nature of it. Especially seeing the dark limestone cave. It didn't want to leave such a heaven. Of course, Robin knew nothing of it as Gastly was invisible always.
It was later at night when JARVIS translated Gastly did Robin burst out laughing.
"Sorry Gastly, we can't be here as tomorrow we will leave. Maybe in a new place you will find a place that you will like."
Robin and his parents had fun outside as they spent their time laughing, smiles on their faces almost all the time, trying local cuisine and even having a small makeshift picnic in one of the open fields that they had come across along the small roads that they had travelled.
All in all, it was a wonderful journey.
Saturday, 12th November
They returned back by afternoon after a long drive again. Robin had to basically gaslight the ghost pokemon to bring him away. It almost had tears in its eyes as it went back to the car. They returned back by afternoon.
It was time for work as his mother had already made a list of what to buy for Robin. His mother was concerned that the things in Europe would cost him more. Robin tried to assure her that everything was fine and she didn't need to worry but she wasn't ready to listen.
So he was dragged to the market as she went on a spending spree. Going to buy clothes and other thing with a woman was always a torture and his mother definitely proved that.
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