Silent Echoes, Hidden Bonds

1'

"Tussi jaa rahe ho... Tussi mat jao..." Kavin dramatically called out.

Ayushmaan rolled his eyes at his friend. "Bas kar yaar, bohot ho gaya ab."

Kavin flashed him a sheepish smile. "But seriously, why are you leaving? You don't even go home for Diwali break, and now you're going in the middle of the semester?"

Ayushmaan stiffened for a moment but quickly masked it. However, Kavin noticed.

"Ayu, what's going on? Ever since you came back from the principal's office, you've been acting strange." Kavin was starting to get worried. His attempts to cheer up his friend were being met with silence, and it was frustrating him.

"Come on, man, tell me what happened."

Ayushmaan didn't even glance at him as he continued packing.

"Dad's no more."

Kavin's eyes widened in shock. Ayushmaan packed as if he'd just stated the most ordinary fact. "What?" Kavin gasped.

Ayushmaan showed no emotion. Four years of friendship, and yet Kavin had never heard Ayushmaan talk much about his family. He knew there were some issues, but Ayushmaan never shared the details.

Without saying much, Ayushmaan grabbed only a few essentials and started to head out. Kavin grabbed his wrist and looked into his eyes, concerned.

"Tu theek hai?"

Ayushmaan's expression remained blank. "Pata nahi."

He had been only four when his parents sent him to boarding school. Most of his memories with them were vague and distant. As he grew older, he stopped going home during breaks altogether. It never felt like home—just a place to visit out of obligation.

When he was 10, Ayushmaan understood the difference between a home and a house. He learned this lesson when he visited Kavin's family. The way Kavin's mother hugged her son with teary eyes had stung Ayushmaan deeply. He felt jealous, even resentful. After that, he refused to return to his own house. The warden had to call his parents, who surprisingly agreed without much concern. From then on, Ayushmaan spent his holidays in the hostel or at his friends' homes.

When the principal informed him of his father's accident, Ayushmaan didn't know how to react. It was the same two years ago when his mother passed away. He attended the rituals but came back to the hostel immediately afterward.

Now, sitting in the car, Ayushmaan stared out of the window, lost in his thoughts. Was he really so cold and unfeeling? Before he could make sense of his emotions, sleep overtook him.

A knock on the car window woke him up. The butler helped him with his suitcase and led him inside the mansion. The Goenka estate was filled with guests, and the media swarmed the living room. His father's death had created a stir in the business world.

His eyes caught sight of his grandmother, Suhasini Goenka, talking to the press. At seventy, she was still a formidable presence, her words carrying weight. Ayushmaan tried to detect any sign of sadness in her face but found none. Was she hiding her emotions, or did she truly not care?

Their eyes met for a brief second, and Ayushmaan quickly turned away, heading upstairs to his room. He had no desire to talk to anyone right now.

A sudden sound startled him. It was the cry of a child. Curious, Ayushmaan got out of bed and followed the noise to the room next door, where a little boy was yelling at his nanny.

"Muche nehi khana... muche silf papa chaiye... You tol me he'll come!" The boy cried, heartbroken.

Preeti, the nanny, felt a pang in her heart. How could she explain to a three-year-old that his father was never coming back? Preeti had taken care of Anshu since he was a baby and loved him dearly. Her frustration with the Goenka family's lack of affection for the boy only deepened.