Silver Linings

Surprises

The morning after the wedding, Payal had gotten up very early, she had decided she wasn't going to give her mother in law even the smallest of reasons to taunt or ridicule her. She hurriedly took a bath and went to the kitchen, to her surprise, she found HariPrakash putting away a coffee cup. Who was up so early? She thought to herself.

She quickly busied herself with breakfast preparations. She was setting the breakfast table when she heard Anjali and Shyam approaching. She schooled her expressions and smiled warmly at Anjali, and ignored Shyam. OmPrakash informed Anjali that Arnav had left for the office early in the morning. Anjali sighed, shaking her head... She quickly gave him a call, reprimanding him.

By this time everyone else had assembled at the dining hall, Akash came and stood next to Payal, "Di.. Bhai kahan hai?" (Di, where is Bahi?) he asked looking around and Anjali shook her head "Tumhare Bhai ke baare mein tum pucho hi mat!! Aaj bhi office chale gaye hai... Nashta bhi nai kiya..." (Do not ask me about your Bhai... He has gone to the office! Without even having his Breakfast) She sat on her chair with a scoff and Shyam sat next to her and spoke in his extra sweet tone "Rani Sahiba... Aapko Saale Saab ke baare mei pata hai na... Tho kyun tension le rahi ho... Ab aap maa banne wali hai... Aap tho hamesha khush rehna chahiye... Haina Naaniji?" (Rani Sahiba, you know your brother well, so why are you getting tensed? You are about to be a mother now, you have to always be happy, right Naaniji?) He turned to the matriach of the family who was smiling proudly at her grand son in law and nodded her head.

Akash and Payal exchanged worried looks as this scene unfolded. Akash looked visibly repulsed while Payal hid her emotions a little better, she held her husband's hands discreetly to remind him to calm down. Akash felt disappointed that Arnav wasn't at home... He had so much to discuss with him...

Maybe he should go to the office as well. The moment he suggested it, he was shut down by the ladies saying that he wasn't to leave the house unless there was a life threatening emergency, and he sat down for breakfast feeling deflated.

He would speak to Bhai when he gets back from work, he glanced at his watch... It would be a long wait, but he had no choice. Now his family had to prepare for the Muh Dikhai function.

***

After lunch was over, Khushi had busied herself in cleaning up all the utensils, while Garima helped Sashi back into bed. "Khusi aaj subah se shant hai.. Pata nahi kya hogaya hai usko... Shayad.." (Khushi has been silent since morning... Don't know what happened to her... Maybe..) She continued speaking while Sashi watched on helplessly, he wished he could atleast signal that something indeed was wrong...

Madhumati entered the room and told Garima that they needed to go to the market to get somethings. "Kal Payalia ko lene wahan jaana hai na... Khali haat nai jaa sakte... Chalo, Khushi ko bhi saat leke jaate hai" (Tomorrow we have to go there to bring Payal back home... We can't go empty handed right.. Come, lets take Khushi along with us). Khushi convinced them that she wasn't in the mood to go anywhere and that they should leave soon, so that they would have enough time to do some shopping before it gets dark.

As soon as they left, Khushi rushed to her room and dumped some of her clothes in a duffle bag, she couldn't carry much as she wouldn't be able to manage more than one bag. She had some money with her... That should be enough for her to get out of town... She then sat down at her table and after praying to her favorite goddess, she took out a paper and started to write the farewell adressed to her family.

She silently walked into Sashi's room and placed the letter on the table next to him. She braved a look at her father, he had already fallen asleep due to the medicine he had taken. She touched his feet "Hume maaf kardijiye Babuji..." (Forgive me Babuji) She said choaking on her tears, she rushed out of the room.

Khushi stealthily walked out of the house and successfully avoided being seen by any of her neighbours. Once she reached the end of her street, she flagged down a rickshaw and gave him the address for her destination.

In the 20 or so minute ride to her destination, Khushi had continuous tears flowing down her cheeks. She kept recollecting the happy times she spent with her family, and the Raizadas. It broke her heart that she wouldn't be seeing any of them again.

As Khushi exited the rickshaw and walked towards her destination, she felt a familiar unease.. Just like the time when she had decided to go back to lucknow... Her heart was screaming at her that it was the wrong decision. She ignored it and trudged forward.

What if I had lost you??
Agar tumhe kuch hojati tho?? (If something had happened to you then??)
Ofcourse fark padta hai dammit!(Of course it makes a difference dammit!)
kyun ki mei...(because I..)

The sound of his voice echoed in her ears and her feet felt heavy.. They wouldn't move.. She sat down on the pavement and started to cry.. She had no idea what to do now...

***

It was late in the evening, Arnav leaned back into his chair, closing his eyes he pressed his thumbs against his temples, he could feel a tension headache starting to form. He had left the house before anyone else was even awake, he had so much to do and he didn't want to get all caught up with the post marriage rituals that would be taking place at home. Another, perhaps the more important, reason for him not wanting to be at home was - Shyam.

He knew Di would be upset at not finding him at home, and just as he had anticipated she had called him up as soon as she found out. "Di, you know how I feel about all these rituals, and I have lots of work pending , I will be home for Dinner, promise" He hoped she buys into his excuse, he didn't really have any office related work per se... but she didn't need to know that. He listened as she scolded him a little, before hanging up. He wasn't surprised when their house driver had showed up twice, once with his breakfast and then with his lunch as well.

He had managed to get some stuff done through the course of the day, first he had gone to the hospital to visit their Driver, Arnav had been flabbergasted when the driver informed him that the brakes had failed, they have all their vehicles checked regularly, there was no way this brake failing was 'accidental' so he immediately called the police in charge of the case and relayed what his driver told him, and urged the officer to do a full investigation on the car.

His next stop was his office, he had called in Aman - his Man Friday, and asked him to get the contact information for the best private detectives in Delhi. Aman, who was ever so efficient, had gotten him the details and already set up a meeting with two of them after lunch hours. Arnav had never felt more grateful for having Aman in his life. The meeting had gone on for a few hours, and he had just gotten done with it, hence his tension headache. 

His phone rang, he was expecting his sister's call, checking in on him, so he just answered the call on his bluetooth

"Hello"
Silence
"Hello.."
Silence

He groaned, deciding it must be a crank call he was about to cut the call, when something sparked in his mind and he sat up straight

"Khushi?"

He heard a muffled sob, he jolted out of his seat, "Tum ro rahi ho?" (Are you crying)