BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Completed)

Chapter 23

Bidding a hasty goodbye to Sidharth, she rushed to the car waiting to drop her, leaving him perplexed. Soon as she reached home, Shehnaaz sprang into Kartik’s arms.

“Mumma…” She breathed “lets go Carruuu, I want to see her” her body shook, while she tried talking amongst sobs.

“Shehnaaz calm down. Is this the first time we are facing this? I thought you’re a tough one” Kartik tried to pump her up but his heart broke equally.

From the time they had met, Shehnaaz’s mother had been mute and when she spoke, it was mostly incoherent.

But Shehnaaz and her mother were the only family he had now and he willingly joined in taking care of her mother.

She too had grown fond of him after a while and he knew that because of the gentle pats on the head, he got from her occasionally.

Even mentally deranged, she was a loving mother after all.

When they lived in Father Goodino’s shelter, her behavior had always been docile, but after they started working and had no one to take care of her, they had admitted her to Happy Home nursing home in Pune on Father’s suggestion. Since then, there were a few instances when they had been called there, when her mother had got panic attacks and nothing but Shehnaaz’s presence would calm her down. 

“Tujhe aunty ke liye strong rehna hai na? aise rote rote jayega mera baby?” Kartik baby talked, trying to calm her down and it seemed to work.

Her sobbing had slowed down and after a while she was totally composed.

They packed a few essentials and were about to head out when a guy dressed in the Jubilee Hotel uniform came with a delivery.

“Ahhh the lover boy sends…well a lot of love. How romantic” Kartik gushed as he received the huge bouquet of exotic flowers, a basket of eatables, which had fresh fruits, nuts, a few protein bars and a crate of mineral water.

Even though her nerves were fired, Sidharth’s sweet gesture brought a sweet blushing smile to her face.

Kartik’s love comment hadn’t gone unnoticed even. Her liking for him had increased ten folds from the time they had met, but Love? She was still too scared of the L word.

And she had decided not to acknowledge her growing feelings for him at least until he knew the complete truth about her.

Before Kartik could read the small note tucked in the center of the bouquet, she grabbed it reading the contents.

“I want all the things minus the flowers loaded into the car. Keep eating and stay hydrated. It would be great if you finish every single item by the time you return. Take care and be back safe baby. Miss u already”

It was his handwriting, so definitely this wasn’t an assistant driven activity.

He had personally arranged this bounty.

She was so touched, her vision blurred due to the tears that pooled in her eyes.

Kartik kept oohing and aahing as he examined the contents one by one, but she wasn’t even bothered.

All she could think of was the way he was taking away her heart piece by piece with his affection and care.

She wanted to jump and dance with the joy she felt but the guilt of lying to him soon overpowered everything and her face fell.

Kartik’s guess was her mother’s thoughts were back in her mind after a moment of lapse.

“Don’t worry my love, everything will be ok. Lets go” And they left for Pune. With all the edible love Sidharth had sent.