Can Their Friendship Last Forever? [On Hold]

CHAPTER 8

Present day, Wednesday, 12/12/2012 ... in London

"Udhay Chopra," Udhay introduced himself formally as he stretched out his hand to Ajay for a handshake.

"Ajay Kumar," replied Ajay, shaking hands with Udhay. Isha frowned, feeling awkward observing the formality between Ajay and Udhay.

"A pleasure to meet you again, Ajay and Isha," said Udhay.

"Yes, of course!" remarked Ajay, followed by a long moment of foreboding silence. Isha just flashed a smile.

Finally, Ajay broke the silence, asking, "So you're the organizer of the concert on Saturday?"

"Yeah," Udhay paused before speaking again, "I've been reading about you on the news. You've become a great music director now. It's been three years... but you kept your word and never contacted Priya."

"Whenever a problem crops up in life, we have to be ready to make some adjustments."

"What you and Priya did was not just an adjustment, but a sacrifice."

Ajay remained silent. The only question blaring in his mind was: Where is Priya now?

"Alright, shall we go? We'll grab some breakfast before going home," suggested Udhay.

"Sure," answered Ajay. Why wasn't Udhay taking us to his home right away? Priya was a great cook. She was great in everything; there wasn't a thing she was not good at. That's why the best word to describe her had always been 'perfect'. But Udhay wasn't even saying a word about Priya since we had met.

***

Ajay, Isha and Udhay were seated at a table in a restaurant later that morning. As they waited for the food to arrive, there was an awkward silence.

Udhay broke the silence, saying, "Priya is not the same as before."

Ajay and Isha frowned a bit.

"She's a mother now," uttered Udhay with a slow smile.

"Oh," said Ajay and Isha in unison, sharing smiles of surprise.

"Congrats, Udhay! So what is the name of your bundle of joy?" asked Ajay.

"Arun," replied Udhay.

There was a long silence before Isha asked, "How old is Arun now?"

"Six months," answered Udhay.

"Oh, Priya must be busy looking after him at home, right?" inquired Isha.

Udhay smiled but didn't respond.

Ajay frowned. Was Priya not okay?

"Won't you ask where or how Priya is, Ajay?" questioned Udhay.

Ajay froze for a moment before explaining, "I don't want another misunderstanding to arise out of my concern for her."

Isha frowned a bit.

Udhay smiled a bit before saying, "There is no chance for any such misunderstanding to arise again."

Ajay frowned but remained silent. There was pain behind Udhay's voice, an obvious pain. Something was wrong with Priya and Udhay was slowly getting to the point of explaining it.

"I never asked you to leave her that day but you left and never returned till Priya and I had departed for London after our wedding. I misunderstood your friendship; any common man would have misunderstood it. But I only expected the two of you would re-evaluate your friendship. I never wanted you to separate like you did. Priya and I were very happy after our marriage. Though we had some problems like she had a miscarriage but things were going fine. We were very happy with each other; we didn't have any kind of problems or misunderstandings. But by the time I realized that I would have to take the first step to rekindle your friendship, it was too late."