A scent-less flower

Chapter -2

Chapter - 2

"Hello, is this Ms. Ananya Sehgal?", I heard a voice from the other side of the phone. "Yes", I replied not recognising the voice. Then she continued, " This is Mrs.Anita Raichand, Dhruv's teacher. He has not been doing well since morning. He is running a high temperature. Can you come and pick him up?". Hearing to what she said, I left the house panic-stricken. Dhruv was my best friend Kavya Chaudhary's sister's son who along with her husband died in a car accident 3 months after Dhruv was born. After them, it was Kavya who took up the responsibility of Dhruv. She was both a mother as well as a father to him. It wasn't easy at all for her to take up such a huge responsibility. After I entered their lives, Dhruv started getting closer to me. He was like the sun rise after a dark and stormy night, in my life. He would never let go off me. He would always cheer me up during my low times. As time passed by, he became the sole purpose of our existence. Kavya was 27 years old, still unmarried. She worked as a receptionist at Hotel Pearl Avenue, one of best 5 star hotels in the city. She is a carefree person who looks forward to meeting her Prince Charming, who would not only accept her but also Dhruv. She would always gawk at all men she thought were handsome. That attitude of hers still annoys and embarrasses me a lot when we are together in the public. I on the other hand, would always lecture her on not to believe men as they really enjoy playing with our feelings. But she always ignored what ever I said. There were times when she tried to set me up with some one. But my cold attitude towards them would keep them miles away from me. After trying a few more times to set me up, she gave up. That was completely not my fault, it was him who made me what I was, today. I mused about my transformation from a silent, carefree, happy go lucky girl who would never fight with anyone except her sister and mother, to a cold hearted lady who found it hard to trust people, especially men. It was because of that one person in my life who I loved from the bottom of my heart.

The cab driver got me out of my train of thoughts, as we reached Dhruv's school. When I entered the medical room, I saw him lie down on one of the hospital beds. My heart pained to see him like that. Immediately, I met his teachers and took him home. I informed Kavya about Dhruv's health and told her not to worry about him as I was there to take care of him.

Dhruv was adamant that he wanted to eat pasta. I made him his favourite red sauce pasta and put him to sleep after dinner while waiting for Kavya. Kavya usually came home late every night. I settled on the sofa facing the TV and switched it on and kept changing the channels continuously until I settled on a music channel which played a song that was close to my heart. It reminded me of the man I once loved but, now hated the most. It made me feel so close to him. Tears began flowing from my eyes. That's when Kavya's voice shook me from behind " Hey Anu! I'm back home!" in a tone that clearly denoted that she was extremely tired after a long day. I immediately wiped my tears to hide the emotions that I was successful in protecting all these years. But today, I really needed him near me and these traitorous tears would never stop and Kavya did not fail to see my wet cheeks. She panicked and asked me if everything was fine. " Anu, I hope Dhruv is alright and his health is not the reason for your tears", she said as she looked at me with hope in her eyes. " Dhruv is completely fine and in fact his temperature is normal and he also had pasta for dinner", I replied wiping away my tears and looked at her with a faint smile on my face. Before she could shoot further questions at me, the ringtone of my phone distracted us. I was taken aback when the phone displayed the name 'Mr.Sehgal'.