High School Romance Revisited

Chapter 40 - The Bygone

It was half-past four in the morning. Chitra's aunts and the other ladies performed a morning ceremony called dadhi mangal where Chitra was fed curd, flattened rice and sweets. They all teased her that it was the only meal she was allowed, as she would be fasting for the entire day. Her big day had finally arrived. Once the ceremony was over her mother and aunts went to fetch water from the Ganges, which would be required later for the other wedding customs.

Sanjana and Elora were half sleepy and Chitra too decided to go back to bed to catch some sleep before the entire fiasco began. I was on the other side wide-awake.

Sitting on the high back chair at Chitra's drawing-room I kept staring at the huge antique clock situated in the corner. Time was ticking. There were so many unanswered questions that kept clogging my head. I knew the reunion night was not that far and I should control myself till then but somehow my heart was refusing to abide by the instructions.

Lately, there were so many revelations thrown my way that I was not being able to grasp all the information properly. It kept entangling more and more. Though there was one last chance, if Karan could find out the name of that ring's owner, I guess we would be one step closer in solving the puzzle.

I didn't know I had the powers of telepathy until suddenly my phone rang flashing Karan's name on the screen. Without wasting another second I picked up the call.

"Deepa? Where's Rai?" he asked. His voice was deep and shaky.

"Rai went with Chitra's mother for fetching water from the Ganges. What happened Karan? Why are you panting?"

"Listen to me Deepa, please do not panic. This is complete shit. I am sure we are being framed, something is definitely wrong," Karan spoke without a pause.

"Karan, please don't confuse me. Just say it, what's going on?"

"I have found out the name."

"And?" my heart again started jumping. I was so close, now I'll know who's the main culprit.

Karan was still not saying anything. He remained silent. "Karan please do not keep me hanging here. Please, who is it?"

"The ring belongs to Rai," Karan said slowly.

There was absolute silence. I froze. My voice got stuck in my throat as my grip on the mobile phone stiffened.

"Deepa? Deepa? Please don't panic. We have to talk to Rai!" Karan kept yelling from the other side. "I am going to find out Jason and make him spill it all but please do not harbour any kind of doubt in your mind."

"Karan, I'll call you back." I disconnected the call without answering his plea not to cut the call.

Even with the twenty-two degrees showing on my phone screen I suddenly felt the temperature around me going down. My body felt numb, I was unable to move. The ring belonged to Rai? How was this even possible? Or maybe Karan was right, somebody was trying to frame her?

Rai?

No! Impossible!

My one relationship broke into pieces because of external interference, now I will not let my friendship face the same situation. I grabbed my keys from my bag and rushed out.

Rai wasn't coming back before the Haldi ceremony in the morning. She was going home returning from the ghat of Ganges. So I had to reach her home before she arrived. 

The lights on the street were slowly going off as the faint sunlight started illuminating the sky. I drove on high speed though Rai's house was not too far from Chitra's. My body was acting restlessly while my blood pressure too felt on the increased level. I knew I was not going to calm down without speaking to her.