aurore - an unusual love story √

part six

Sonara walked slowly down the corridor to the supervisor's little room. Uncle Reddy sat behind a table.

" Reddy chacha? "

Uday Reddy looked up and gestured her to come and sit. The man looked utterly exhausted and drained.

Sonara sat before him while he kept  writing something.
He took sometime to finish, and then looked up.

" So the factory finally locks out Sonara. You won't believe how hard I tried to keep this going but the owner doesn't want to carry on this business any longer. And you might realise it's not for myself. I'm getting a job in one of their biscuit factories. But I'm having a tough time trying to sink in that almost five hundred workers are losing jobs, and the owners are not ready to appoint a single in any of their other factories... " , Reddy spoke very slowly giving gaps between words. The gentle calm man always spoke this way but today he was much more evidently disturbed.

Sonara stared at the ground and kept quiet. She couldn't possibly show anyone how her heart was churning,  loosing job after eight months again.

Sonara was eight months pregnant when she got this job. Reddy chacha had made things as much comfortable as he could, along with Bibha chachi. She couldn't ever forget how she was indebted to a very few good people in  life as these...

" You don't have to explain chacha. You were like god to us. " , she spoke after sometime trying hard not to choke.

To her concern, chacha took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Sonara was astonished. The man was crying for them. Who did that? She slowly patted his hand. He looked up,

" How's Humaira? And her legs? "

" Doctor says it'll take time. But it will heal on it's own with exercise. Just did a photograph of the bones yesterday. " , Sonara said after a pause.

" Hope your baby remains safe and fine. Her mother has seen the toughest times on earth. Hope god pays off. "

He then took out a diary from below, wrote something from the phone and tore off the page to give it to Sonara.

" Sonara, this soap factory is supervised by my friend. The owner visits every now and then. It's a running company so they recruit a lot. The job is a bit tough I know, but if they somehow recruit you, you can learn I know. Here's the address and phone number. The pay is good and they even give dwellings to the workers, in some chawl they own I think. Tell my name, it'll be of great help. Also I might call Chhetri and tell him about you already. "

Sonara took the paper, and immediately fell on his feet.

" Sonara... "

Reddy picked up an immensely sobbing Sonara from his feet.

" Stop crying, aren't you my strong girl? Don't, don't cry, everything will be fine. Everything will fall in place. You are one hell of a woman. And me and Bibha are always there for you. You know that, we'll look after you just as we do now, as long as we can... "

But today his words didn't pacify Sonara. She sobbed like a child, and then wailed, but couldn't say a word. It seemed she had lost her world completely at a go.

--

Jai sat with his shades on at the lounge of the flying club.

The huge glass walls before showed the helipad from where planes took off and landed.

The pilot building foundation, Jai's paradise.

Flying took a special spot in his heart. Though strongly he never wanted to pursue the line of seeing himself as a pilot, but somewhere ...a bird brewed inside his heart. To blame no one, Raghav Raichand himself had insisted he take up science than commerce in plus two, knowing his special interest.
Jai himself didn't want to break the family tradition. Too mainstream though, but he couldn't help.

Because, being a commercial pilot was not his goal either...

He wanted to rather fly for himself, and then train others to fly either for themselves or as a commercial pilots, that being their choice.

Usually Jai never sat this way in the lounge. He would spend flying even if he visited for an hour. But since the last five days, he had been visiting this place from morning till evening , only sitting and watching planes take off and land.

The issue was, flying a plane needed huge concentration.

And he had been lacking that recently.

Since that devastating night....

Hands closed his eyes from behind and he knew they were of two different persons.

" Bhoomi, Som, got you. " , he said blindfolded.

Both of them thrashed on either side and Bhoomi didn't take a second to breathe.

" I returned last night and have been calling you like a desperate ass and I don't know how many times I messaged you since the last five days and why the hell didn't you answer either? " , she ended with a punch on his thigh making him wince and cry out 'Ouchhh!' .

" Leave alone you, this pig has not even answered my calls for five days. ", shrugged Som.

" Excuse me! What did you mean by 'leave alone you' ? Why do you always have to prove that you are more important to him than me? " , Bhoomi glared at Som.

Dampened by the sudden attack, Som adjusted his spectacles.
" I didn't mean that, I just.... " , he murmured.

Bhoomi ignored and continued looking at Jai,
" I was almost going to visit you at home when Som called me back saying that he probably knows where you are. Thanks to my stars otherwise I would have to face your gourd faced sister maybe and your baselessly anxious mother for sure. " , Bhoomi made a straight face.
" I don't understand what grudges they bear against me. "

Som smirked, relating to her and  said, " Maybe you too don't match the 'Raichands' standards' . " , he said mocking.

Bhoomi stared at him coldly for some seconds.

" What did you just say? I don't match the Raichands' standards? I? My father, Samar Shetty owns an airlines. Do you even know what that means? I don't meet their standards !...Or is it the opposite? Shouldn't I or my family be acting snobbish that way?

But of course, how can a confectioner's son know anything of standards! " , Bhoomi just went through a blast.

" Will you both just shut up? " , Jai almost shouted making few heads turn.

He did so because he knew how bad Bhoomi was in getting Som's jokes and how she kept hurting him in the process now and then.

" But he's insulting me Jai! " , Bhoomi twisted her lips.

" No one is doing nothing. You both are worthless with humour, and end up hurting each other. We three belong to the same, business class. Yes, if really dissected, some might find tiny differences in standards. Som himself stands out, he being a journalist in few days. But at the end of the day what ties us is friendship. Are you KG kids that I'm lecturing you this way? No right? So just stop talking bullshit you both. " , Jai spoke in a breath.

" At the end of the day, no class, no standard, nothing matters.
What matters is.....how much we have known, how life actually looks like... " , he trailed away.

Som cringed his brow a bit and tried judging his friend's words that sounded so French coming from him.

Bhoomi looked at Som still frowning , while he shifted his gaze from Jai to her, and looked away instantly, evidently displeased with her previous words.

"I'm sorry Som. Soweee!! " , Bhoomi immediately made a puppy face and got up to go and grab his ears from the back, tickling them. He slowly pushed her away murmuring, " It's okay... "

" But why didn't you answer us Jai? " , they asked in unison, and then giggled looking at each other..

Staring at the planes taking off through the huge glass window in front, Jai kept quiet for a long time.

And then answered,

" Life.

Life happened. "

----

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Kaushi <3