LOST

24. AADITYA

~ Aaditya ~

"Are you sure you want to do this now?" I asked Sapna who was fiddling with her hands as she stared at the phone placed lonely on the centre table.

She took a single deep breath and nodded. "Let's do this."

It had been two days since the day at the beach and she was remembering stuff rapidly, which gave me the sense of happiness that couldn't be described through words. Every time she saw something, she told me about it along with every detail. I couldn't yet tell if she was hiding what I wanted to hear or if she really hadn't seen it. Yesterday, I even called Mahek to make sure I wasn't delusional when I had read that sticky note in her room. She affirmed and I was satisfied. She even praised me for my efforts with Sapna and told me that her progress was remarkable.

I was really surprised at how uncomplicated and resolved Sapna had been in taking things. I had imagined her to freak out in disbelief and shudder at every memory she was having, wondering if it really was true. Instead, she embraced each one of it like it was special to her. Like she had known all along that she was missing something. The best thing was that she never took guesses and that helped her keep a distance from disappointment. She wouldn't prepare for whatever was coming her way. But even then, she was a winner.

I admired her. I adored her, too.

It was in the morning that she made the decision of switching her phone on. As expected there were several calls and messages from her family that showed concern and worry. I snorted when she read the texts aloud. One of them was from Rishi. It said that Sapna was right in whatever she was doing though he didn't know what she was up to, that he supported her and was the least bit worried since I was with her, but was disappointed because she didn't tell him for he would have followed her anywhere and would never leave her side.

No wonder the text infuriated me and I couldn't read Sapna's face to tell if she was flattered with his sugarcoated words. I hoped she wasn't.

There were some calls from the guy she was working for currently. And a text. When Sapna read it, she was unhappy. She showed the text to me – it said that she was fired. I tried to comfort her but she quickly shook her head, telling me it was okay and that she didn't like the project very much anyway.

Then, she came up with the choice of calling her Ma, as she believed that her mother would understand. I wanted to tell her differently but let it pass thinking that it would have me lose some points that I had hardly earned in her good books.

Lata Aunty picked up almost immediately. "Sapna! Are you okay? Where are you? Why didn't you tell us? Is Aaditya with you?"

Fuck.

The last question? I wasn't expecting that so early.

"Ma, relax. I am fine. Just calm down, okay?"

Lata Aunty seemed to obey because she was taking deep breaths. "I'm putting you on speaker. Papa and Vikram are here too."

Sapna let out a disapproving sigh but her words didn't show it. "Okay."

"Now." Lata Aunty paused and cleared her throat. "Sapna, what you have done is a disgraceful scandal. I never expected you to go wild and break rules. I raised you to be an elegant, sincere, responsible and a splendid lady. And you've turned into a shameless, loathsome, unworthy girl. Your actions are nefarious, intolerable and unforgivable."

I snorted in derision. Was the woman practically sitting with a thesaurus in hand?

"Do you realize how much you've hurt us? Do you think living with a strange, vile boy for so many days is the right thing to do? It's dangerous, Sapna. That boy has filled your mind with stories just to entice you. It's all because of him. I know. The day he entered my house, I saw his intentions. But I trusted you, honey. I never expected you to fall into his trap. How could you –"