Love at Book Store

Chapter 17

Apo POV

" Ohhh - ohhh , my dear son ", mum , who was sitting on the sofa , started crying . Autie Xie was sobbing beside her .

" Where is he ? Lets go ", I said to dad getting up .

" No need Apo , they are bringing him here "

" where did they found him ?"

" He - he ", dad hesitated and looked towards mum

" He was in a car trunk,  with his hand and legs tied and mouth was covered with clothes "

Listening to this my heart became heavy . Mum eyes became big and cried more and Auntie Xie was shocked and sobbed more .

Not only us but everyone in the house was soo attached to Gulf . And moreover , Auntie Xie was sensitive towards him .

Gulf was respectful and loving kid ,  towards everyone . Everyone in the house were fond of him . Auntie Xie was with Gulf since he was born .

Gulf never had a scratch in his body since the day he was born . Even if he had , everyone go crazy and start panicking. But now he got hurt soo harsly , so obviously we couldnt imagine what they must be feeling .

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After some time , the inspector bought Gulf . As soon as he walked in everyone went towards him . Mum hugged him crying .

Gulf was in his college uniform , but everything was messy  . He was a first year student in Enginnering faculty . I can see the red marks on his ankle of his hand and leg , which was from the tied rope . There was bruises on his mouth , but the smile on his face had not left even in this suitation .

" Iam fine ," He said smiling towards everyone .

From the inspector we got to know that they saw a CCTV footage where they found that a man covering his face was dragging someone , who was unconscious to a car trunk.  So they went to search that area and found Gulf . Luckily , they had not moved elsewhere . The person was nowhere to found , may be he ran away after seeing police rescuing Gulf .

" You must be exhausted , Gulfie . Go and take rest we will talk later ", I said patting Gulf head .

Gulf smiled and went upstair with mum .

Finally , I could see the relief on my father face .

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It was evening , everyone had gathered at the dinning table . I could see Gulf had bandaged his ankle of both hand and leg . And had put some ointment on his face .

" Are you okay , Gulf ?", Dad asked

" Yess Dad , Iam fine . Please dont blame yourself ", Gulf smiled

Even though he is younger than me in age , he was more smart than many of us .  He could sense everything . He knew that Dad was blaming himself for this incident so he said him not to blame himself .

" Iam sorry , son . I couldnt protect you ", Dad said looking down on his plate

" Plesse dont be sorry Dad . Look Iam fine now ", Gulf said smiling again

" But Gulf , from next time be careful . Dont go to unknown places ", Mum said

" Yes mum , I will not "

" and you dont have anything to say to me ,Apo ?", Gulf said looking towards me

" Be careful , Gulfie . You should listen to Mum and Dad ", I said

We ate our dinner and went to our room , to take rest . Everyone were tired since 2 days .

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At evening Uncle had called me and told me that Mile went to store to look for me . I was unable to reach him since I came back here so Uncle had to explained everything to him .

I went to my room , closed the door and went towards the bed . The bed was at the opposite of the door - at the centre of the room and at the side of the bed there was wardrobe. There was bathroom between the bed and wardrobe.  There was nothing much in my room because I had moved many things to my current new room . The book shelf was few inches away from the door .

I went to my bed and took out my phone from the charging . I dialed Mile number and called him ...

Mile picked up the call and there was long silent between us . We couldnt talked , only listen to each other breath. 

" Apo " , Mile said . I was waiting to hear his voice for soo long . I closed my eyes and felt his breath .

" Apo , is everything okay ?", he asked again . I can feel anxiousness in his voice but I dont want to say anything right now . I just wanna hear my name from him . I was longing to hear his voice .

I opened my eyes
" Everything is fine , Mile . We found Gulf . He came back home today ", I paused ," Iam sorry I was unable to contact you after reaching home "

There was long silence before Mile speak again

" Are you alright , Apo ?"

The word that noone asked me till I reached home . I was elder son so I was comforting everyone in the house but noone asked me about my condition . Noone asked if I was okay ? If I was feeling alright ? Everyone was soo invested in Gulf missing that noone bother to asked me about my condition too . If  mother and father lost his son then I also lost my brother . The brother who was soo close to me .

After hearing Mile , my eyes became teary , finally I broke out . I cried on the phone . Mile was silently listening to me . He didnt tell me anything and listened to my sobbing voice .

" I was afraid , Mile . I was afraid  ", I paused ," What if something happened to him ? What if he had not returned ? I was trembling inside ", I said with my broken voice

" I know , Apo . This was difficult for you too . Iam proud of you , you came strong out of it ", Mile said softly .

His voice and breathe already became a source of comfort for me . I dont know when he became my comfortness .

" Apo ! ", Mile said

" Ye.... Yess Mile "

" When are you coming back ?"

" Mile , I dont think I can return"