Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Forty Nine

"The Germany flight that was supposed to land in Delhi at six in the morning crashed mid-air about half an hour back" Gauri heard the woman's voice inside her head, crystal clear, even minutes after she'd ended the call. "No, no this cannot happen!" Gauri muttered to herself. There was no point in sitting here in the dark and pondering the amount of truth in what the woman had just told her. She had to do something. Anything.

Gauri picked up her phone to see that the screen was still flashing with some unknown number. Canceling it, she dialed Omkara's number; it was switched off. Not knowing what else to do, she called up Shivaay's number, which was busy. Helplessness and desperation began to overwhelm her. She saw a number of messages on her phone, asking for confirmation if Omkara was truly on that flight that had crashed.

Gauri rushed to the hall and switched on the TV to turn the news channel on. Sure enough, the channel was running the news that the flight had crashed with 'no survivors on board'. Gauri's heart sank, unable to believe the horrible news. She increased the volume of the channel and heard the news anchor reading out that the flight had crashed due to the communication problems from the ATC along with cloud turbulence, killing all the 156 people aboard with no survivors. Her heart almost stopped beating at that piece of news. It was indeed the same flight that Omkara had boarded last evening. Gauri, who had sunk into the sofa, tried calling his number again, which wasn't switched on.

In the meantime, amidst all the other calls she was getting, she saw Shivaay calling her up. "Bade Bhaiyya, kya hai yeh sab?" she asked in shock, almost unable to breathe. "Gauri, calm down. I'm sure ke kuch nahi hua. There's definitely some misunderstanding. I'm trying to find out what happened, and where Om is, okay? Kuch nahi hua hai, Om ko. You heard me?" Gauri numbly nodded and ran into the room to change her clothes, informing him that she was on her way to the Oberoi Mansion. "Gauri, it's midnight and you probably have the press outside your building." Gauri quickly peeped outside the window, and Shivaay was right; there were three vans stationed outside the building, and the security guard was asking the crowd with the cameras to leave from the gate. "Don't worry, I'll leave from the back gate. I'm coming." She said hurriedly and disconnected the call.

Too numb to think straight, Gauri almost ran outside the house, but then remembered she'd forgotten her keys, and came running back in. In a hurry to pick the keys from the coffee table, Gauri nervously fumbled around and ended up knocking the glass of water all over it. The card that she'd painted earlier this evening ended up soaking wet, as the paint of it smudged around, leaving a faint trace of the 'I love you' in the middle of the huge smudge that was once a heart.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Gauri murmured as tears welled up in her eyes as she reached out for a rag to wipe the water and dab the card dry, which only smudged it more, causing a tear in the wet paper. Gauri fell on her knees to the floor as she gasped, staring at it in horror. Was this some kind of a foreshadowing?; her mind hoped it wasn't. Her stupid heart started palpitating for no good reason. Omkara was fine, he had to be fine, she repeatedly told herself and then dashed out of the house after picking her purse and her keys.

Quickly slipping out of the back gate, Gauri stealthily escaped from the media crew and the paparazzi as she covered her face with the dupatta. She had no time to think straight and her only focus right now was to get to the Oberoi Mansion. Her phone rang yet again, and she noticed it was Shivaay. "Bhaiyya. I'm on my way. Give me fifteen minutes." She said to him in one breath. "Gauri please wait over there; I'm sending the car," he said to her in a stern tone, but she shook her head, arguing, "No, I'll come over." She didn't want to wait for another half an hour. Gauri quickly crossed the road and hoped there was a passing autorickshaw which she could board. Unfortunately for her, there were none. Deciding to keep walking until she found one, Gauri started on foot.