Shards of Love

Chapter 6: He can Give

January - March 2020

Arnav came to his hometown and somehow settled into the new life of "taking a break". He had never done that his entire life and it proved to be difficult and stressful instead of peaceful. Reasons varied from his mother thinking quitting such a precious job was a bad idea; Arnav, being a constantly productive and creative person had zero knowledge on his to take a break mentally; he was of marriageable age and already his mother was forcing her responsibility to get him married off was becoming a daily dose of pressure.

Though he hadn't much of a plan in his head for his next steps, he knew one thing for sure. He was not going to rely on his mother for his monetary needs. He was the man of the household, even when he was a boy.

He mailed his company to chase them for his final settlement and it came through to his account after two weeks of his quitting. He didn't ask for money or spend on anything till that. Then he worked on getting the PF amount to his account so that until all this life crisis clear out, he can comfortably spend for his needs.

He felt he needed to take a small trip. But with whom? He had lost people he thought and believed to be his close ones. He had so many friends and he had the character flaw of trusting if they gave him a single event of mutual joy. Life proved very difficult to him as time went by and he was forced into reality where friendships are actually mutually beneficial relationships and nobody is ready to help you out in an actual hour of need. But he was naive enough to be there for anybody who asked for help.

He called Shivu, his buddy from training, who had the clear vision of not giving false promises and just went with the flow of life. He got deputed to Bangalore while Arnav went to Chennai. They had stayed in touch all along and he had went to Bangalore to visit Shivu and Bhumi and they had a spectacular weekend together. Shivu was the first guy who visited him in his hometown and stayed with him over the weekend in his not-so-sophisticated grandmother's place. It was a big deal for Arnav because like all his friends, Shivu was from a family of wealth. So that didn't surprise him. But the guy had values. Now that was rare.

"Hey man. What are you upto?" Arnav asked sounding casual.

Shivu was still in Bangalore but had switched to another company and was now living alone basically because with his current salary he could afford a new room, a 1BHK near his office in Maanyata Tech park.

"I'm doing good da. How are you?" Shiva replied always the super calm voice that reveals nothing to the audience.

"I didn't mention something to you."

"You have become a father and you want me to help raise the baby?"

But, the sarcastic humour sense is one thing mostly all boys have in common.

"No, My girlfriend is ready to elope with me and I need your help with that", Arnav countered.

"Hey superb da. What do you need? I'm ready to feel a little 'Nadodigal' vibe. Work is monotonously boring and I'm looking for some action on the side."

"And I'm not going to feed into that boredom of yours. By the way, in that movie, those stupid lovers would split up", Arnav told Shivu.

"Yeah, and they get kidnapped and beaten up by the same friends right?" Shivu was teasing.

"Well..."

"Haha, anyways. Tell me, what is it?"

"Nothing big. I have quit my job and am now at home"

"What!"

"Yes, you heard me"

"When did this all happen?"