Southern Avenue

Chapter #10

Chapter #10 

The next few days were too busy for Sharanya. She was caught up in the web of her work, and spending time with her mother, as a result of which she couldn't visit Ranjivay or even contact him. Work was taking a toll on her, and since that and her mom were the only things which held importance to her in those moments, regrettably the encounter with him had taken a backseat in her life.

It was one of those mornings when she was busy with work. Her office was of only two rooms that she had on rent, close to home where she could rush back to her mother whenever she needed to. Most clients wanted to meet her in their own office and her own small group of staff were comfortable in the larger room while she had taken the smaller room and made it into her own cabin.

The sudden call from home, had her frightened when her mother's nurse informed that her mother needed to be hospitalised as soon as possible. Sharanya had almost had a breakdown, but she knew that her mother needed her more and that her overbearing brain had to wait.

She wished she could have called Ranvijay; that she had been thinking about for the whole week, but suddenly her mother had to be hospitalized and everything in her life had taken a backseat to her mother.

While she sat alone in the waiting room in the hospital, numerous thoughts ran through her mind. Most of them were frightful. Realizing that needed someone around or just someone to distract her, she wondered whom to call.

She didn't know whom she could.

While fishing through her contacts on the phone; the words of her Nanaji and Naniji's letter came to her mind and she dialled his number. It was an in-the-moment thing that she did. As the phone rang, she contemplated disconnecting the call. Before she could have done that, a man's voice answered the call.

"Hello? Shekhawat speaking," There came the hoarse professional voice while she breathed and looked at the gloomy hallway of the hospital. His voice sounded slightly different over the phone, she noted.

"Ranjivay? Sharanya Devyani this side." She answered, sitting down on a chair. She hadn't realized that due to her nerves she had stood up while making the call.

Ranjivay quickly grasped her voice. She didn't have to say who she was. He caught the tone of her voice anyway. She was what occupied his mind in the last few days. He didn't know her very well, but her life had intrigued him.

"Yes, Sharanya?"

"Are you free?" She hesitantly asked. She wasn't used to asking someone to be with her; the usual norm was to take upon things and to handle them alone.

Ranjivay glanced at the completed stack of files on this table and went back to her call, "Yes, seems like so. Why?"

"Could... could you just come to MRG Hospital? Mom was so weak suddenly, I had to bring her here..." She was to speak more, but he didn't let her. He just cut her off midway before she could complete her narrative.

First time in his whole life, someone wanted a favour from him which didn't include the money he had. Moreover, for his Hridya maa he would have flown across continents if he had known from beforehand how weak she had become.

"I'll be there in one hour. I have just a file to recheck." He answered and quickly viewed his files in a rush.

"Okay." She nodded to herself.

Suddenly she felt happy; someone cared to come to her even though he was busy. In her life there barely had been people who had cared for her and her mother that way, save for Nanaji and Naniji and the knowledge that someone else was there, made her feel good in a different sort of way.

Sharanya had been waiting for a bit more than an hour when the doctor had told her that her mother was stable for the time being. But being chronic, she had to stay in the hospital for around ten days. Her stable mother staying in the hospital for ten days didn't sit well with her but she didn't argue with the doctor or ask him the reason about why he wanted her mother for ten days. She could always call and ask about that later. Dr Abdul Rahman had been with them for more than a year now.

There she stood, tapping her foot and nibbling on her little finger on the corridor close to her mother's room, that was when a hand tapped her shoulder lightly, and she turned around to see that Ranjivay was standing there behind her in his office get-up. He was dressed in a dark grey suit and trousers, paired up with a white shirt and dark green tie.

"I'm so sorry to call you this suddenly. You must have been busy." Sharanya apologized and looked at him, a frown marring her face.

"No need for that. How's Hridya maa?" He asked peeking through her shoulder to look at the doctor who was now leaving.

"She is stable." She answered smiling.

"Can I meet her?" He asked, looking at her.

It had been years since he'd last seen her. The last time was when his Grandma passed away. Suddenly the urge to meet her became a nagging feeling inside him. He had had no idea how she had been doing it for the past few years. There was also the frightening feeling of loss, knowing that she wasn't in good health and there was limited time left in her lifespan.

"After an hour, you can," Sharanya answered back and looked at him, who hopefully looked at her mother's hospital room.

"Let's grab a coffee," Ranjivay said, looking at Sharanya's stressed face.

"Cool." She nodded. She needed a stress buster which could reduce the stress and a new friend would certainly be a good option. That was certainly why she had called him in the first place.