IT WASN'T THAT SIMPLE

CHAPTER FORTEEN

Punit and Ayesha were clueless about Sid's whereabouts. Throughout the day they have tried to get in touch with him but failed. Never in his wildest dreams did Punit expect Sid to just walkout from his life. Punit, Ayesha and Tarun contacted all of their common friends but nobody knew where Sid was. They even tried to get hold of Sanjh's contact but couldn't. As a last resort, they messaged her via Instagram but there was no respond from her side. With every failed attempt, Punit's life was becoming more miserable. Ayesha was visibly upset and annoyed. Twice Punit had noticed tears rolling down her cheeks. She was keeping her conversations minimal to him and he was experienced enough to understand that it wasn't a good news. But he got the biggest shock from his home. He called his parents to know if Sid had contacted them or not. Sid didn't contact them but it made Punit's mother curious about what was going on. Initially he tried to hide it from her but Ayesha told her everything and that made the hell broke loose. Mrs. Rijwani served his son a verbal thrashing that would be near to impossible for him to forget for the rest of his life. The last statement that he heard before disconnecting the call was her mother yelling to his father that they should truely reconsider the decision of Punit's marriage because he still didn't know when and how to talk.

Punit walked to the balcony and lighted a cigarette. He had ran out of ideas. He had reached out to all the people in his contact list who might have any knowledge about Sid's whereabouts but in vain. As a desperate measure, he once thought of calling Abhimanyu but he wasn't sure about the consequences. After all, Sid wasn't lost, he left. He didn't want to risk that information to Abhimanyu and make Sid's life more complicated.

As he lighted the cigarette, his phone buzzed and flashed the name of Sid.

"DUDE! Where the hell are you?"

Ayesha heard it from inside and scurried to the balcony.

"Bengaluru," answered Sid. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have walked out. I didn't think about the consequences."

"You should have really thought about it. My mom and Ayesha would have buried me alive if you wouldn't have called."

Ayesha snatched away the phone from Punit and put the speaker on. "How are you? Are you ok?" She asked. Her voice didn't hide her angst.

"I am completely fine but please let me say what I have to say."

Punit was about to say something but one glare from Ayesha made it clear to him that he should keep quiet. "Go ahead." She voiced.

"Ah...look...I am sorry. I should have acted more maturely. I thought that it was best for all of us that I move out form your lives but I admit that it wasn't the right decision. I didn't fully gauge the consequences of my action. I didn't realize that it wasn't just you, your family cares a lot for me too."

"I am pretty sure that my mom loves you more than me." Informed Punit.

"I think she does. She called me and made me realized that."

"You spoke to her?" Ayesha was startled. "We have been trying your number throughout the day but it was switched off."