Meera

Episode 11

It was a Saturday noon, and was almost 2 months since Meera had left and Raghav Sundar had shot himself in the police station. Raghav couldn't overcome the feel of the betrayal by his best friend whom he trusted to be his aabathpandavan when his parents left the world to the skies. And he was equally lost in the thoughts of his Meera. His days were going so hard but he made sure of keeping his official work undisturbed.

Just them Mr. Kamal made his entry into Raghav's mansion.

"Inspector. Please come in. Have your seat. Anything important?"
"Yes Mr. Raghav. Its regarding your case about your late friend Raghav Sundar's suspicious foreign account and the codified mail communications with a foreign party without your knowledge. I'm sorry to say this. Your late friend would have been made to serve a long term in jail had he been alive. He has been selling one of your business secrets to a party abroad for money. When we tracked all his call records, we found out that he has been speaking to an ISD number every two days. Immediately we contacted the Interpol to get the details. As per their prima facie investigations, your late friend has sold almost 90% of the codes of your proprietary software to that party abroad. He has also invested the money that party had paid him in a shell account in one of the offshore banks. That account is frozen now. And we have raised a complaint with the Interpol. They have assured action against that party"
"I can't believe that inspector. Though he was greedy and desperate for money, I never could imagine him doing his. And the software's important data is only known to me, even my team knows only about the working part of the software"
"Do you remember any incident in which you could have told him about that, may be, I'm sorry to ask, when you were drunk?"
"Aah! Now I get it. It could have been the same day he found about Sahana or some other day. He could have copied the codes from my personal computer. I'm not sure. Inspector. I know we can't take any action against the deceased. I've decided to take back the case against him as it's of no use."
"No Mr. Raghav! There are chances we could get the sum recovered from the party abroad!"
"Its of no use inspector. I'll come to the station to take the case back. I've decided to retire from the firm and leave Chennai. I can't live without my Meera. I'm going in search of her. I'll have to get something for Sahana. Poor woman. She has no one now to support. Ok inspector. I think I'll come right away and take back the case"
"Ok Mr. Raghav. I'll leave now. You can come over and take your case back. Anyway the case regarding the money in the frozen account will be transferred to the black money investigation team. But are you sure you don't want any compensation for this?"
"Certainly no inspector. I've other ideas to make sure he doesn't crack my software. I'll join you in half an hour. Thank you for coming home. I'm sorry I didn't serve you anything to have."
"No formalities Mr. Raghav. I've come on my official duty. I'll join you next weekend as your friend"
"With pleasure Mr. Kamal"

In half an hour, the case was taken back. Raghav immediately started decoding the software and modifying the base codes so that the foreign party would not be able to crack that. While all these were going on, his thoughts were still on Meera. He wanted to leave the city after selling off the mansion. But his present clientele work meant he had to spend another 5 months before he could shift himself. He wanted to take a break from practice as he felt Meera's absence everytime he sat for discussion with his team.

Days passed by and Sahana was almost about to deliver her child. He was concerned for her as a friend and also his late friend's love. He wanted to arrange for a key posting in his firm before he retired from it. Sahana was thankful for his friendship. She felt bad of her past act of leaving Raghav. But Raghav never seemed to even bother about the past. He wanted make sure his friend Sahana was comfortable.

It was a hot summer night. Raghav was in his drawing room on his PC working out his business plans. His cellular phone rang. Hearing what the other side spoke, Raghav immediately changed to a normal wear, locked the door and rushed to the hospital.

"Doctor. I'm Raghav. Sahana's friend. May I know why you called me? Where's Sahana?"
"Mr. Raghav. Come with me"
"Doctor. Please tell me, is everything fine?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Raghav. Sahana is no more. Her delivery was complicated. When she came in here with the pain, she seemed to be stressed, so her blood pressure went up as she was delivering the baby. Adding to that she had heavy blood loss. Unfortunately, we couldn't save her. And before she went into the labour room, she gave me a bag which she wanted me to give it to you"
"Doctor. The child?"
"Mr. Raghav, I'll tell you everything. Please come to my cabin."

"Here. This is the bag. First go through this and then I'll take you to her child"

Inside the bag was a diary, and two letters. He opened the letter which had the words 'To my friend Raghav', it read the following;

'Dear Raghav,
I know I've hurt you so much in the past. Sadly I didn't realise which love is true. I fell for that guy. Little did I know he would use me to break your life again. But even after all this, you're so caring, treating me as a good friend. You've given enough of care that I yearned for, much like a father. I have a strong feel that I would breathe my last when my child breathes her first. So I wanted to write this to you. If I die, please consider these are my final wishes -
* Raghav, please raise my child as yours. My child needs a father like you. And don't worry. I'll speak to God and get you united with your Meera. I strongly feel she would be better mother to my child. I have a letter for her too but only she should open and read it. And that diary is for my kid which should be opened only when my kid turns 18; and
* Donate my body to the Chennai Medical College.

With Gratitude,
Your friend Sahana.'

Raghav felt like crying for her. He suddenly had a responsibility cast on his shoulder which he didn't want to take up at the first instance.

"Mr. Raghav. Please come with me"

Raghav carried the bag with him and followed the doctor as she took him to the babies' room. She stood by a cradle and lifted the baby.

"Mr. Raghav. Here! This is Sahana's child. Its a girl"

Raghav had the first touch of a baby, an altogether different sensation ran through his body. He felt elated seeing the little face, it was a unique feel. His mind took him to an imaginary life of him and his love Meera having a child. He felt confused and at the same concerned, he felt dilemmatic. Even as he was not ready to accept the responsibility, the smile on the toddler's face created a bonding which he didn't want to lose. He made up his mind.

"Doctor. Can I take her home as my daughter?"
"Yes Mr. Raghav. But you will be able to be take her only after adoption. I'll get the forms done for legal adoption. Please come with me. I'll get you her vaccine schedules and tell you what all need to done for her"
"Sure doctor."

A new relation out of nowhere had entered Raghav's life. He set his entire focus upon the toddler, but at the same time, his mind was still in search of Meera. He wanted her to be with him in raising this girl as he was sure she would definitely be happy to groom the kid as her own!

Where did Meera go? How did Raghav find her? Did Meera accept Raghav and his daughter?

Wait and watch...!