Beyond the Beats

Chapter 50. Can never predict

After hearing about Dhara Di, Dad took an emergency leave from work and came home early in the morning. He was very scared, and after seeing him panic, I couldn't stop blaming myself for taking my sister's phone to use.

Only if I hadn't borrowed it, she could have at least called someone for help. To avoid facing such situations again, I returned Dhara Di's mobile to her. She forced me to keep it, but I convinced her that I had a lot of friends, and Akshay was also there, so I could easily use his phone both in college and in dance studio.

My sister was not happy with my decision, but her life was more important than me having a phone. After Dad's return, all attention was on him and my sister, but I didn't leave any chance to observe my mother.

After yesterday's events, I didn't ask her anything and acted like I forgot everything. My break was soon going to be over, so I spent most of my time at Arushi's place to complete my pending assignments. This way, Mom didn't suspect me suspecting her, and when she started going to work again, I took that opportunity and decided to raid my house.

Dhara Di was sleeping, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to complete my task within her sleeping period, so I was prepared with a bunch of lies in case she woke up.

I searched through everything, and I was shocked at what I found. In my mother's very old sarees, I found a gold chain and two pairs of earrings. I recognised them being ours only, but I was confused about Mom keeping her jewellery in these old sarees. Moreover, where were the remaining pieces of jewellery?

My family was struggling financially, but we had saved these golden assets for very serious emergency situations only.

I searched through everyone's stuff, and in my father's old shoes, I found a few cheques neatly folded and kept in a plastic wrapping. I read the details of the cheques and all of them belonged to Viraje Aunty.

There were three cheques with time intervals of two months, and one of them had even expired. I pondered about why Mom got these, and why she didn't use them. The amount column was blank, meaning Mom got the blank cheques from Hriaan's mother.

But why? If she was taking help from Viraje Aunty, why didn't she tell me?

"Bhoomi, what are you doing?" Dhara Di asked as she woke up and rubbed her eyes.

I stuffed those cheques back in the shoes and told my sister that I was just cleaning up our stuff. She didn't ask further and told me to switch on the TV as she was feeling bored.

After cleaning up the mess, I watched TV with Dhara Di, and Mom returned with Srishti from her school. Mom roamed her eyes around the house, and I knew she doubted if things were misplaced. I kept my act up, and she didn't ask anything.

In the night, when everyone had fallen asleep, I kept myself awake. The silence was unnerving, but I had to sacrifice my sleep. It must have been around 2 am when I felt Mom shift beside me. I shut my eyes close and let her do what she was doing.

I slowly opened my eyes a bit and noticed Mom opening our cupboard and taking Dad's old shoes out. She glanced in my direction and roamed her gaze on other family members. Slowly, she took out the cheques from the shoes and kept staring at them.

I observed her in the dark, and for a long time, she was just sitting like that, looking at those cheques as if they would disappear any moment. Suddenly, I heard a low sob, and Mom wiped under her eyes.

Is she crying?

My mother sat in silence for another half an hour before she put the cheques back and sighed. She wiped her face with her palms and came back to sleep beside me. Once she laid her back on the mattress, she didn't move even an inch. I checked on her and sighed in relief on seeing her breath.