Destiny's Game

Ch. 5 Delhi

Sanjay Khurrana's POV: 

I stepped out of the car as a gust of wind flew in my direction. It was windy here, I thought, shivering all the while. Delhi. It was the place that I had never thought I would step in after my father's death. Although, it was inevitable, I wished I was there to do something to save him. This place... it brought back so many memories, good and bad: the memories I cherished and the memories that I would love to be buried away. 

Taking a deep breath in, I fished my phone out of my pocket and called my wife to tell her about my arrival in Delhi. She sounded disappointed that I was away, that too on my own for a week or two. Shalini ended the call and I stared at the enormous building labelled 'Khurrana Enterprises' in big bold letters, that towered in front of me. This was what my father, Santosh Khurrana had started and now me and my younger sister took care of. I shoved my phone in and walked through the full-height turnstile with my PA hot on my heels. 

I gained a lot a attention from the employers who wished me and I nodded back them with equal respect. Muttering ensued between them and by the look of their faces, I knew they were all surprised. Why wouldn't they be, when I never came here? It was my son who visited sometimes to make sure everything was in order whenever he went to a business trip to a foreign country but that was all. I took the private elevator and reached the office that once used to be my father's. It was still the same, sleek mahogany wood desk with a golden plaque with black borders etched with his name and a black chair which spun around. I used to come here with him to learn about the inner-workings of the company as my dad always wanted me to take control of everything but I ended up giving my siblings equal rights on the company and since then all three of us had worked together to build our father's dream into a reality. 

However, before that could even take place, my younger brother and his wife died in a car accident, leaving a four month old Aria in Ritu's arms. Ritu and I worked hard and endured sleepless nights, just to remove ourselves from the grief and focus our energy onto something in which the whole family could benefit from, especially our children: Abhimanyu, Rishabh, Preeti and Aria. They were and are our entire life and we can't let anything happen to them. 

I dragged my finger across the plaque and smiled sadly. I hope he is proud. I placed it back on the table and sat on his chair a little hesitantly. It felt nice, as if he was here with me. Taking another deep breath, I pulled the drawers to find a family picture of all of us. I was the tallest with Ritu next to me and my mother holding my little brother, Sandeep while sitting next my father. The picture was of when my mother won an award for one of her roles and we were all so happy. Ritu and I had hosted a little celebration with sweets and wished our mother congratulations. I smiled again- this time happily and shoved the frame back in and closed the drawer. 

Time to focus on work. 

                                                                                           ****

I glanced at the watch to see it was nearly time for dinner. Closing the laptop, I settled inside of my car after getting out of the building. Uday who was my driver and bodyguard steered the wheel and moved the car onto the main road. As we drove past other buildings, I couldn't help but remember all the good times in Delhi. My childhood, my schooling and...and Deepak. Deepak was my best friend. We spent most of our time together laughing, bunking lessons, playing pranks on teachers and fooling the younger year groups around. And summers were the best. We would go to a small farm in the outskirts where there would be dozens of mango trees with fresh, ripe mangoes. We mostly stole them to give them to our sisters but sometimes we had them for ourselves. Deepak would climb the tree and throw mangos down to me and I would catch them and stuff them in a bag. Once, I remember, we were caught by the owner and he chased us around the field and would demand his mangoes back but we always refused and ran away before he could catch us. But soon we stopped when both our mothers found out about it and gave us a lecture which was an hour long.