BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Completed)

Chapter 39

Soon as they entered the plane, Sidharth turned to the cockpit to speak to the pilots and aligned a landing at the Pune airport.

Mishka was hovering around Shehnaaz worried upon seeing the dead expression on her face.

“Is she sick? Should I get her something? we have all the basic meds” Mishka said, looking at Shehnaaz, who sat resting her head on the seat, with her eyes closed shut.

“Thank you Mishka” Sidharth dismissed her politely and took his seat.

“Baby don’t worry, stay calm, every thing must be fine.” He tried to console her fully knowing his words were not having any effect as he saw silent tears seep through the corner or her eyes.

Once they were mid-air, Sidharth had somehow coaxed her to bed and sat beside her patting her head gently until she drifted to sleep.

It seared his gut to see her broken. After her call with Kartik, Sidharth had stepped away and called him to get a grasp of the actual situation.

And to him, Kartik had broken the real but heart shattering news. Shehnaaz’s mother had suffered a cardiac arrest sometime in the middle of the night and never woken up to see the day.

He had assured Shehnaaz that he will meet her mother and also ask for her hand to marry him, but now it was all just a vague dream.

His mind took him to the agony he felt when he lost his bade papa and he looked at her face. The news was definitely going to shake her up.

After tending to Shehnaaz for a while, Sidharth tried to divert his attention with some work, but after staring at the same mail for half an hour he gave up.

It has warmed him to his soul when just moments before she had accepted his proposal.

She hadn’t even bothered that he didn’t even have a ring, just his words were enough to make her happy.

And now the news of her mothers death felt like life was again hell bent on screwing even a minuscule amount of happiness that he intended to create for himself. 

When they finally reached The Happy Home, Shehnaaz sat frozen in her seat, with her sunken eyes staring at the facility gate.

“Baby we are here” he tried shaking her from her daze.

Sidharth had assured all the way during their journey from Pune airport to here, that he had spoken to Kartik and her mother was fine.

They both were trying to save her from the sudden shock. But her gut feeling told her that this was probably the last time she will see her mother and she was purposely stalling her feet.

“Shehnaaz, cmon, please darling” his hand tugged hers gently as he stood with the door open, awaiting her to alight the car.

As they walked inside the sterile environment and the typical smell of disinfectant hit her, her body felt gripped with a cold fear.

She broke into sweat and felt so faint, she had to hold on to Sidharth’s arm to support her wobbly feat.

“Love, listen to me” he stopped her in the middle of the passage and made her turn to him.

Cradling her face very gently in his palms, he looked at her with eyes full of empathy.

“Darling life does not always play how we want it to, but we have to accept whatever we are dealt with. You have to be strong and face it, if you don’t want to be defeated” his thumb swiped the tear that fell out of her eyes.

And the known anguish in his voice tore her heart away.

“She’s gone isn’t she?” Shehnaaz had barely uttered the words, when she his jaw tighten and with a wail, she ran to her mothers room.