Heart-strings

Chapter 21

It had been a week since I last talked to Veena Maa so I rung her up at 8'o clock. "Hello", she answered the call on first ring as if she already knew that I would call her. "Maa", I uttered. "Nandini, how are you, my daughter?", she asked. "I'm fine. What about you and Aarohi? ", I questioned. "We are doing fine here. It's been so many months since I last saw you. Well, let it be, tell me how's Mumbai? Have you settled well?", she had asked me the same question for a billionth time now and I got very well familiar with it but her concern was not wrong, I was her daughter and this was the first time, I started living away from her, it was obvious of her to be worried. "Mom, I am well acquainted with Mumbai now. It's been months since I am here. Even the lamp posts of this city recognize me", I exaggerated and she giggled. "Anyways, how is your workshop going on? And what about your auditions? Did everything go well?", she asked and it took me only a millisecond to fall silent. I had no words, literally. I was clueless how to answer her. After all, I failed and she would be depressed to know that I end up nowhere. "Nandini?", her voice echoed in my ears after a few seconds. "Huh, Maa...actually", I paused. "Yes, speak!", she said in a soft voice. "I lost the auditions", silence coexisted on the line. Maa said breaking the silence between us, "Right, you lost the auditions. So what? You have a long race to run, child. Glue your broken pieces and start again", she consoled maybe because she heard the disappointment in my voice. "Yes, once I go back to Mumbai. I will restart", I replied. "When will you go back?", she asked. I answered back, "Day after tomorrow". "Okay and how is Darshan? Aarohi made me hear his new song. Tell him that he has done an incredible job and give him my blessings", she said. "Uh, nothing for me?", I teased her. "My entire wishes and blessings are for my children, be it you, Aarohi or Darshan", she said. I was about to speak when mom said, "I will talk to you later. Bye!", the tone of her voice changed all of a sudden. "Why? What happened?", I asked her surprised. "Noth...nothing...just nothing. I have some work to do. Bye", she disconnected the line. My phone screen flashed on, Darshan left me 5 messages on What's app. His message read, "At what time shall I come to the airport?". It brought a smile on my face, although we had 48 hours left, the way he asked me, I could sense his happiness and excitement just through that message. The distances between us were going to be over and now we would be together after 14 days, 14 long and endless days. "You won't be able to come", I replied him. "Why?", he replied instantly. "Because I will reach early in the morning and you can't wake up that early", I attached the message with a tears of joy emoticon. "I will show up at 9 o' clock. Is that fine?", he asked. "It is fine", I answered.

He gave me a voice call and the deafening ringtone echoed in the room forcing everyone to look at me. I smiled hesitatingly at them and walked out of the room. I answered his call and dragged my feet on the sparkling white color tiled floor of the corridor. "Did you learn being this late from me?", he teased. "Of course, I did learn it from you", we both chuckled. "Well, Mom has sent blessings for you. She appreciated your work", I mediated between him and mom. "Ah, thank her for that, okay? Tell her that I love her more than I love you", he would not leave a single chance to crack me up with his lameness. "Okay, sir. Anything else?", I said. "No, Nandini Malhotra, I don't expect so much from you", he said and I shut my mouth, after all, teasing was not only his specialty, I knew it too. "What happened? Nandini, are you there on the line? Hello?", he asked again and again while I zipped my mouth. "What happened? Geez!", he shouted. "You damaged my ears, stupid", I spoke up. "Are you insane? I was so worried. I thought something happened. Does this look like a prank to you? You are all alone. No one is there to take care of you and you feel like joking around. Seriously!", he screeched. "Don't over-react. What would even happen to me? I am not a child after all. I can take care of myself", I replied in anger. "Even the slightest thing which happens with you matters the most to me so better take care of yourself", he just ordered. God knew what on earth happened to him! "Leave it. You did not tell me about your auditions", he asked me and I felt my stomach twisting in knots because I was running away from this question only. "Why are you silent?", he asked. "I lost", my voice broke down. Of course, I was dying to tell him about everything long back but how was I supposed to that when he was so happy. How could I even ruin his happiness? "How could they? Are you kidding?", he said in sheer disbelief. "I am not kidding. This happened...", before I could continue, a voice followed me from behind, "Nandini". Dhruv walked hastily towards me while I fell silent on the call. "Hey!", Darshan's voice broke my stillness. "Oh, yes", I spoke to him. "Nandini, I need your help. Choose one of the dresses", he extended his phone towards me. "Who's that? Dress fellow!! Are you busy?", Darshan asked me. "No, I am not. Actually, my friend needs my help", I took the phone from Dhruv's hand and scrolled down the page. "Help him first then. We will talk later", he said disinterestedly. "Bu..", he cut me off in between, "I will hang up. I have some work to do. I will be waiting at the airport that day. Bye". That marked the end of our conversation, actually, an abrupt end of our conversation. I just cursed Dhruv for coming in between and spoiling our talk. I kept the phone in my trouser's pocket while Dhruv still stood in front of me. I passed on a death stare at him. "What?", he stammered. "You are such an as...", my phone rang aloud before I could end up scolding him. It was an unknown phone number, I swiped right. "Hello", a hoarse voice came from the other side and shivers went down my spine. I did not know how to react. "Excuse me", I walked away from Dhruv who was busy in placing the order.

"Hello", my voice cracked, I still did not have the nerves to talk to Dad. I thought he must have been worried about me after all he did not talk to me since long. Maybe he had changed, that's why he rang me up. Maybe Darshan was right that sooner or later he would accept me. For the next 15 minutes, he spoke. Each word which left his mouth pierced through my heart making it ache badly. Never did I imagine him to be this cruel.