Fates

Part 55- Anticipation

"Thank you for bringing Riya here. Both of you can go back to school now, I'll take care of Riya." Alia said as she came back inside Riya's room.

"Please Auntie can we stay here with Riya?" Prachi asked desperately, looking at still unconscious Riya, still holding her hand unable to let go for some reason.

"Of course, you can. But I just don't want you to be in trouble with your parents for skipping class." Alia said elaborating, surprised by seeing such concern about Riya from Prachi. She knew that they had become friends now, but she didn't know that they had become this close in a few days. That Prachi looked as if she was feeling Riya's pain.

"Alia auntie don't worry, my mumma won't say anything if I skip class. I'll even call her to tell her that I won't be there." Prachi said reassuring Alia, still looking at Riya.

"Okay then, since you're both staying here, what would you like to eat?" Alia asked after a short silence, trying to understand what Prachi was feeling and also watching Riya sleep. It was unsettling for Alia to see Riya so still, usually, she moved around a lot while sleeping.

"It's okay, I'm not hungry." Prachi said not having the appetite to eat until she knew that Riya was okay.

"Auntie don't listen to her, she's a liar, I can literally hear the mouses running in her stomach. For I second I thought that we were having an earthquake, that's how loud her stomach was." Ranbir said jokingly to lighten the mood. But he knew that Prachi was hungry for real. Alia gave a small smile at Ranbir's joke, while Prachi just made a disgusted face.

"Auntie don't listen to him. The mouses that he heard were running in his own stomach. He's basically rotting away from not eating." Prachi said matter-of-factly, giving Ranbir the side-eye.

"Okay then, what would you like to eat Ranbir?" Alia asked giving a small smile at Ranbir and Prachi's conversation. They sounded like an old married couple. At first, Alia had thought that Riya and Ranbir might be a thing but Riya had not given her any indication that she liked Ranbir. Now though Alia was beginning to think that maybe Ranbir and Prachi might have something going on between them.

"Ooh can I have biryani, Robin makes it the best. It's so delicious." Ranbir said exaggerating his response so that Prachi would admit that she was hungry too.

"Okay, I will tell him to make it. Prachi, what will you have?" Alia said asking Prachi one more time just to make sure.

"No thank you, I don't-." Prachi said about to refuse food but the ringing of Ranbir's phone stopped her.

"Excuse me, I have to take this." Ranbir said leaving the room to attend the call.

******
"Why did you pick up the phone, Ranbir?" Pallavi said sternly on the other side of the phone.

"Because you called me, Mom." Ranbir said confused about what was happening.

"I called to test you and failed badly. If you were in college in class, you wouldn't have picked up the phone. Where are you right now?" Pallavi said causing Ranbir to make a regretful face, knowing that he had been caught cutting class again.

"Mom- I-" Ranbir said about to say that he was at Riya's house because she had abruptly fainted, but Pallavi interrupted him.

"I don't care where you are. I care about where you should be. And where you should be is college. This time I won't be able to save you if you're dad finds out that you ditched class again. He already threatened to take your car away so you couldn't leave the college if you wanted to. Last time I stopped him, but this time I won't. Because you will fail if you continue to do this. Do really want to repeat a senior year while all your friends and classmates leave?" Pallavi said giving a whole lecture, trying to talk some sense into Ranbir.

"But, Mom, Riya is always late in the morning and she often misses the first period, I don't see Chief threatening to take her car away. Your husband is too harsh on me, it's not fair." Ranbir said in a whiney voice.

"That is because Riya actually helps Abhishek bhaiya in his business while all you do is spend your dad's money. And Riya is always late in the morning because she has meetings sometimes at the office before school. Her first-period professor knows about and her absences are excused. Don't try to compare yourself to Riya, you will always lose in that comparison." Pallavi said matter-of-factly, smiling at what a good kid Riya was.

"But, Mom this time I have a good reason for missing class-" Ranbir said about to tell her that he was with her 'beloved' Riya after she had fainted.

"I don't want to hear it. Just leave the place you're at and go attend class." Pallavi said sternly. "Unless you want to lose your sports car?" Pallavi said when she thought that Ranbir was going to protest again.

"Okay, Mom, chill. I'll go back to college right now." Ranbir said nervously thinking that his precious car was at stake.

"Good." Pallavi said smiling knowing that her fake threat had worked. She was never going to take away Ranbir's car, but he didn't need to know that.

Pallavi then cut the call, while Ranbir looked at the phone shaking his head at his Mom's 'detective skills' giving a sigh, and going back inside Riya's bedroom to tell Prachi and Alia's auntie that he had to leave.

******
Pragya stopped Shahana from leaving her class after the fifth period ended to talk to her.

"Do you know where Prachi is?" Pragya asked confused wondering why Prachi wasn't in her class today.

"No I don't, Maasi, I was wondering the same thing." Shahana said just as confused.

"Didn't you two go to lunch together? Where could have she gone after that?" Pragya asked.

"I was at the library for lunch. So Prachi went outside to eat alone. She didn't come back after lunch." Shahana elaborated.

"Huh. Where could she be?" Pragya asked now slightly worried.

"Honestly, I have no idea Maasi." Shahana said wondering where Prachi could be.

"I'll figure it out." Pragya said reassuringly. "You go now before you're late for your next class." Pragya said at which Shahana nodded and left.

Pragya tried calling Prachi but her phone went to voice mail because unknown to Pragya, Prachi had forgotten her phone in Riya's car.
After calling Prachi numerous times and getting no response Pragya started to worry.

'Where is this girl? And why isn't she picking up her phone?' Pragya thought to herself. 'Riya wasn't here either and I saw her this morning.' Pragya thought worriedly. But for some reason, Pragya did not worry as much as she was supposed to. Something in her heart told her that both Prachi and Riya were safe. But she also felt a tingle, hinting that something was amiss.

However, Pragya did not have time to think about what that tingle indicated because the class had begun. So Pragya began teaching, that feeling of something being wrong ever present in the back of her mind.

******
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