Judaaiyaan

11

Everything happened too fast. Mishti didn't know how she ended up there but after a month at her father's house, she was getting ready for her sister's funeral. Everything had been planned out. They picked a day and just like she told Vijaypath, she didn't have the heart to break with Ritwik. She didn't want him to suffer the pain of losing a woman he loved twice. Their last few days together had been unforgettable and just as memorable, so she knew he had a hole in his soul right now. Nandini had also been contacted and came to Mumbai. The day Kunal let the world know he had lost his beloved daughter. And Vijaypath broke the news to Ritwik.

"Dad?" Ritwik asked surprised as his father entered his old office at the Noon Industries headquarters. "Aap yahan kya kar rahe ho? Did you want to see whether I'm destroying your company?"

Vijaypath looked at his son's obvious joy and lightness. It had been a while since he had seen Ritwik so carefree and seemingly happy. And before he opened his mouth to say anything a tear rolled down his face.

"What happened Papa?" Ritwik immediately changed his features and jumped from his chair to reach his father across the spacious office. "Is it Rishabh?" he asked when his father still couldn't speak. It had to be something serious because his father rarely cried. Vijaypath had always been a tough man, especially in front of his children. This is because he wanted Ritwik and Rishabh to be strong men, as tough.

His father only shook his head and for a moment it was impossible to look into his son's eyes.

"Is it about the results of the medical appointment you attended earlier this week?" Ritwik thought the worst thing he could think of, but he was again met with his father's negation. Ritwik didn't know what else to think. The only reason he could understand his father's tears was the family they had left. Vijaypath cried when they lost Mamta and a few years earlier when he lost his only sister. Ritwik didn't remember another time when he had seen tears in his father's eyes. There were a handful of times his father cried joyfully. However, it was clear from his features that he hadn't come to see Ritwik in the middle of the day to be the source of good news.

But if it wasn't him or Rishabh what else could affect Vijaypath like that? The only thing that still mattered to his old man was his brother... and himself and then it finally hit him like a brick wall.

Ritwik felt his knees buckle as he sat in one of the visitors' chairs. "Pragati..." he said in a whisper, hoping his father would shake his head yet a third time. Ritwik was heartbroken to realize that Vijaypath only looked away again.

"Where is she?" Ritwik asked a couple of minutes later. His hands cupped his head while he looked at the floor and Vijaypath was sitting in a chair by his side.

"At Lilavati Hospital," he replied simply.

"What happened?" The young man's voice was lower and lower each time he spoke. He didn't need his father to tell him how she was. He knew what had happened. He just needed to know what caused his fiancée's death.

"Her car was hit by a truck," Vijaypath said, feeling his whole body shaking. It was a relief to finally let his son know about the horrible things that happened to Pragati. However, the relief the truth brought wasn't nearly as strong as the devastation that preceded it.

"She was there with me this morning... we had... she gave me..." Ritwik tried to articulate sentences but gave up when he felt his father's arms enveloping him and then it was only sobs, from both Noon men. The damage was done.

The wig she wore under her hat, and the overly large sunglasses, made it easier for Mishti to blend in among the people attending Pragati's service. She couldn't be in the first rows. It was comforting to have her mother by her side, holding her arm and feeling the same pain she had inside. But Mishti had more than the overwhelming pain of losing her sister shattering her heart into microscopic pieces.