Life is... Beautiful?

Chapter 11: Missing

Paru came back home, telling you how Abhi was more than happy to teach her magic. You were happy for her, but knew that Suresh, and probably Rakesh and Ajay, would not take it well. You hadn't seen them in the past couple of days, and were worried that they would take some rash decisions. 

As you were passing the office, you saw Ajay talking to Lakshmi, who you hadn't met in a while. Stopping the driver, you got out, wanting to go say hi. 

"It's no trouble, I can drop you," Ajay was saying. 

Lakshmi refused politely. "That's fine, I can go by myself." Ajay kept insisting, and Lakshmi seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"Hi Lakshmi!" You intervened. "How are you, I haven't seen you in a while," you gave her a hug, smiling at her and Ajay. 

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"Good, good. Hey listen, I was about to go shopping for a new outfit for Vinayaka Chavithi, if you're free, can you come with me? I could really use your help."

Relieved, Lakshmi replied, "Yeah, definitely." She looked at Ajay. "Thanks for the offer though Ajay, I'll see you tomorrow." You both waved goodbye and got into your car.

As the car moved and Ajay was out of sight, you turned to Lakshmi. "Hey, I don't know if I interpreted this incorrectly, but I just want to let you know - if you're ever uncomfortable while you're in Gold-phase, or anywhere really, you can let me know and I can come get you."

Lakshmi smiled at you. "Thank you y/n, I really didn't want to go with Ajay. He doesn't seem like a bad person, but you know, I just don't know him as well."

"Yeah, I totally understand. If you ever need to give him an excuse or anything, you can just say you have plans with y/n and just text or call me, I'll come find you," you offered. "Do you want to go out somewhere or just go home?"

"Do you mind taking me home?" Lakshmi asked.

"Yeah, of course." You instructed the driver to go to her house. Once you arrived, you both got out of the car, and you reassured her that she could depend on you any time. 

"Hey Lakshmi!" Nagaraj came, out of breath. He looked surprised to see you. "Oh, hi y/n." He looked at both of you, catching his breath. "Chinni is missing," he said. 

"What?" The two of you sprang into action, joining them on their attempt to find Chinni, Srinu's youngest sister. The poor girl was barely 10 years old. You called Paru to see if Chinni had come to Gold-phase, while Lakshmi and you got onto Nagaraj's bike to help look for her. Eventually, you guys found her upset and lost, hair and uniform slightly disheveled, with bleeding scrapes on her arms in some random gully. 

"Chinni, what happened? How did you get hurt?" Everyone was bombarding her with questions as she held back her tears. Once you all got to Srinu's house, Padhu's mom started yelling at her, the poor girl, as her other aunt removed the evil eye. 

You nearly wanted to yell back when Padhu's mom said that Chinni ruined the expensive sofa, but held back the entire time, just because she was your friend's mom. Once she was done, everyone but Srinu, Satya, Chinni, and their aunt and uncle left the room, waiting outside. You all were so relieved that Chinni was safe, and honestly, you couldn't really blame her. If some guy had stolen your only picture of your family, you would've kicked them him in the balls. At least she held back and hit his torso. 

You guys went to the lake, giving Srinu and his sisters some privacy. Once Chinni was almost done crying, you all joined them, giving Chinni hugs and kisses and chocolate to cheer her up. 

"Our Chinni is pure gold, such a good girl," you were saying, poking her sides to make her laugh as you kissed her cheek. Srinu pulled you aside, making you look at him questioningly.

"Hey y/n, you're doing medicine, right?" You nodded affirmatively. "Would you mind helping Satya? She's struggling a bit in school, and she wants to go into medicine as well," he asked. 

"Oh yeah, just let me know when she is free and we can find a time for me to help," you said, looking at Satya, who was still with Chinni and the others. 

"Really? Thank you so much, y/n. It really means a lot to me," Srinu said sincerely.

You waved him off. "Of course, I was a student before too. I'm more than happy to help." You smiled at each other, only to hear a disturbance on the other side of the lake.

"Hey, those Gold-phase guys are trying to occupy our lake! Let's go stop them!" Nagaraj yelled. You all went to go see what was happening. You were worried for what might take place later.