Chapter 81

It was an unexpected call from Chari, requesting her to join them for dinner and when she showed up everything seemed fine and the dinner went well. When she got an opportunity to talk to Pryag alone she encouraged him to talk to his parents about it, and about ten at night, Pryag broke the news to his parents and she could see the shock in their faces. When Chari’s wife broke into tears, Diya explained to her that it is not cancerous and he has a very high chance of completely getting back to normal which seemed to bring the situation under control and the discussions and questions continued until everyone felt exhausted and it was already two the next day.

She wanted to drive back home, but she was too tired and exhausted so stayed in the guest bedroom at their house and she felt sorry for them, having to go through this, the agony and pain. She heard some noise and tried to ignore it and the more she tried the louder it was. She felt as if someone was hitting her on the head, a pounding feeling, desperately trying to escape from it and all of a sudden it changed into a gentle stroke on her head and she saw someone, somebody, in bright light. Her senses kicked in and she jumped from her bed not knowing where she was, sending the cup of coffee to the roof and scaring Chari’s wife.

When she got a grip, she realized that it was six in the morning remembered last night’s discussions. She quickly apologized to Chari’s wife and rushed to her aid in cleaning up the mess, then rushed to the bathroom freshened herself up and was ready to leave. She knew she had to be somewhere at nine and wondered hoped she could make it on time. She got into the car and switched on the radio and the music started playing, it was about rain and tears, and the song was not too great but her mind went back to the time, and remembered the rain and the ride she had in his car, even the thought of calling him crossed her mind, picked up her cell phone, call in “Akshar” and her cell phone dialed for her, but the call didn’t go through.

Chapter 80

She realized how much she had needed the coffee to relieve the stress and enjoyed every sip of it. The garlic sticks that accompanied the coffee were equally refreshing and fresh, she guessed that it must be from the nearby bakery, a family run business; she couldn’t remember the name though. When the coffee cup touched a saucer on the table, it made a noise that echoed through out the room and she just realized how silent everyone had been in the room for the past half hour.

Chari and his wife seemed a little restless and were waiting either her or Pryag to break the silence. Pryag tried to ignore his surroundings by burying his head inside a magazine. Diya broke the silence by complementing Chari’s wife on the coffee, but the conversation went nowhere and ended with a smile as an acknowledgment. Her cell phone rang and she excused herself and stepped out of the room for some privacy.

After fifteen minutes when she came back into the room, Pryag was gone and Chari and his wife still seemed restless and she realized that there is nothing to talk about if Pryag was not there, since she wanted him to be the one to tell his parents about the situation and she just wanted to be there for moral support. Somehow she felt out of place used the phone call as an excuse to get out of there.

Chapter 79

Route 97 was starting to pickup traffic and the sun was bright and shinny and there were no signs indicating that it poured last night. The sun had dried up even the last traces of droplets that were left over by yesterdays thunder storm. She looked at the digital display on her dash board and it showed it was almost eleven thirty. She turned around and looked at Pryag, he had closed his eyes and had stretched his legs, she was not sure if he was sleeping or just resting, either way she didn’t want to disturb him.

She realized that she must have had a good nights sleep, and she thanked Akshar and her lips adorned a smile. She wondered how they had accidentally met and how supportive he had been, but the smile faded when she remembered how vulnerable she had been and wept in his arms, something she didn’t want to remember. She distracted herself and thought about Chari and how he was going to react, how upset he is going to be.

She had not realized how long she has been thinking about these, nor how good the traffic had been and she was already in the corner of the street and Pryag still had his eyes closed. She pulled over onto the drive way and Chari’s wife came over and opened the door. She could tell by looking at her that she was not happy. She started to worry how she was going to react when Pryag breaks the news to her. She parked the car and as if he had sensed her emotion he woke up, smiled and they both stepped out of the car. Chari’s wife’s face turned pale looking at her son, she knew something was not right.