Prithvi...(Vol. 6)

Chapter 155

Sumer Singh kept his phone on the table. No word or number games or quizzes or news items were helping him be distracted from his frantic thoughts. And it was the queen's behaviour that was bothering him more than the alarming things that Prithvi was doing.

Why had Priyamvada changed her mind? What was brewing in her head?

He didn't have enough brain cells to come to the right conclusion. The only person capable of understanding Priyamvada's mind games was her son. Prithvi would know for sure. He always did.

Five years ago, it had been excruciating to see him realise just how unbelievably manipulative and cold hearted his mother was, Sumer Singh recalled desolately.

An intense nostalgia overcame him as he thought of the young lad whom he had tried to bring up with as much love as possible. He had been so worried that Prithvi's hot temper, acidic retorts and sarcastic comments would one day land him in serious trouble. If only he'd known back then that a time would come when he would pray to get back that hot-headed, blunt, and aggressive boy...

It wasn't that Prithvi's emotions and thoughts had been very evident even at that time. But he'd never hidden his opinions or displeasure or anger, regardless of who was involved. No one had been safe from the scalding honesty of Prithvi's words, and so many people had also borne the brunt of his temper, which was the only way he'd allowed the pain he'd endured since infancy to be expressed. He'd smiled and laughed rarely, but when he did, it had come purely from the heart. And there had an adorable mischievousness about him that had endeared him to all those lucky enough to experience it...

Now he didn't remember the last time Prithvi had expressed any real emotions. He'd stopped laughing, but he did smile very often. However, those smiles were just a way for him to lighten the hearts of people around him. They didn't come from his heart anymore, and the naughtiness in him had died out fully. Everyone who had met Prithvi in the last few years believed he was a naturally calm and tranquil person who just accepted everything in his life peacefully. At an innermost level...yes, Prithvi had become astonishingly mature and calm compared to his previous self, and that transformation was positive and permanent. But what the others assumed was a casual, relaxed attitude towards life in general was actually a cold indifference, which had sprung out of hatefulness for his existence itself, Sumer Singh mulled sorrowfully. He was afraid that, far from being extinguished, the anger and pain that had exploded in Prithvi's life – first because of Nandini, and then because of Priyamvada - had only increased with time and were raging quietly underneath a thick layer of dispassion.

The quietness and tranquillity that everyone saw in Prithvi seemed akin to the dense beautiful greenery that concealed a volcano, Sumer Singh reflected with a sigh. He had initially spent a long time waiting for it to erupt, but sometime over the last few years, he had started to be seriously afraid that it would never erupt at all, and the darkness would continue to fester silently in Prithvi forever, slowly killing whatever little desire for life was left in the boy...

Prithvi's life would have turned out so differently if his father had been alive today, Sumer Singh thought wistfully. Or if his mother was not Priyamvada...

***********************

Nandini gazed up again at the pale-yellow house with rose-coloured tiles. It was very close now...

Prithvi continued to look out for anything crawling on the grounds or hanging from the branches of the trees until they reached the gate. As he started to open it, he spotted Sumer Singh and paused momentarily.

Then, with a subdued expression, he pulled open the gate and stood back to let her go first.

Nandini hesitated for a moment. All of a sudden, she felt as though they were surrounded by invisible beings who were watching her closely. A quiver went through her at the imagery, and then she immediately felt angry with herself for imagining outlandish things.