BEYOND THE CLOUDS (Completed)

Chapter 56

“Hel..Hello Rana” her shaky, fear laced voice had woken up Rana from his sleep.

“Rana is.. is Sidharth fine?” she asked, crossing her fingers in the anticipation of a relief from her scary nightmare.

“Sidharth?” he scratched his head, the ruffling sheets could be heard from his side as he rose from the bed, confused at her question.

But then he remembered Sidharth’s words. He had specifically asked Rana to keep mum about his surprise visit to India.

“is Sidharth okay?” she asked again “I am sorry to disturb you at this hour Rana, but I had a very bad dream, about him. Please tell me everything is fine” clutching her phone to her ear tighter, she explained her state.

“Ummm, yes, Sidharth is absolutely fine. Don’t worry” his tone was relaxed now, knowing it had been a dream that had got her worried and Sidharth too would be home any moment now.

“Mam pls relax, it was just a dream” with an assurance, a smile crept up on Rana’s face, as his brain played out the joyful reunion dat was to follow.

Since the time Sidharth had gone, she had found a friend in Jonita and often joined her in the kitchen for a cup of coffee or a snack.

She often wanted to ask what had caused Jonita to behave so coldly earlier and what had made her warm up to her all of a sudden, but always held back for some reason.

After finishing her morning coffee with her in the kitchen, Shehnaaz moved to her studio.

Her gazed moved around to the line up of the canvasses. Shehnaaz had used her free time to recreate small happy moments they had lived together.

Their first date in the salt water grill, their trip to Maldives and many such cozy moments staring back at her made her heart cry.

It had been closed to two weeks that he was gone and spending every moment alone felt like a laborious task for Shehnaaz.

She missed him more each second.

Wrapping up her depressed thoughts, she flopped back on the couch to make her customary call to Rana.

It was 11.30 am in India, that means it was 8.30 am in Egypt, she calculated. Sidharth must be done with his breakfast and probably on the way to work.

“Hi Rana, is Sidharth ready for work?” her usual question surprised Rana. Sidharth was in Mumbai then why this call? He wondered.

“Excuse me? Sidharth isn’t home?” he asked, still flummoxed.

“I am sorry? Are you asking me or telling me? I.. I don’t quite understand” Shehnaaz’s brows knitted with equal confusion. Rana couldn’t really decipher the situation and finally decided to over-rule Sidharth’s condition of secrecy

“Sidharth has left for Mumbai last night, I am sorry but he asked me not to tell you that’s why I didn’t divulge anything in our last call” his reply gave rise to her panic.

“Rana Sidharth isn’t home, I thought he is in Cairo” her heart dropped as her mind travelled to the nightmare.

Was it some sign? Was Sidharth in some
danger? She quickly shut her thoughts and probed further.

“Rana where is Sidharth?” her antsy tone alerted Rana too.

“Listen Mam, please don’t panic. Let me make a few calls and figure out. Stay cool. There seems to be some confusion” an equally frazzled Rana empathized with her and disconnected.

But her phone had already slipped out of her hand.

Rana said he had left Cairo to reach Mumbai last night. But he wasn’t home yet. Where was he then? Even though she was trying hard to shun the thoughts that Sidharth might be in some danger, her mind was lurching to the nightmare.