The Flame of Love volume III

CHAPTER 71

Mayank was called up by his school's principal, who enquired him if he had any relatives who would take up his responsibility and pay for his school fees, now that his father was in police custody.

Having no other option, he called up Prabir. Though he had called up his relatives one by one, none of them received his calls.

No one wanted to be bothered with him or his mother.

Requesting his father, Prabir asked Mr. Banerjee to meet up with Mayank's school's principal and agree to become his acting guardian.

Cancelling all his appointments for the day, Mr. Banerjee decided to visit Mayank's principal.

In the evening, Parul refused to go the dance class as she had to submit an assignment, she had forgotten to do, which would be quite time consuming.

Still suspicious, about Mayank,Prabir insisted that Parul took her books and left for Bhargavi's house, in his absence, as he had decided to take Bhargavi out in the evening.

Borrowing Rakesh's brand new SUV, for the evening, was a brilliant idea as he did not want Bhargavi to get injured because of the jerks that she could receive, while riding on his bike.

All the time Bhargavi imagined that she'll be taken to some nice place having a good view, maybe a restaurant or a coffee shop nearby. With every turn that Prabir took, she started to mentally guess the place he could be taking her.

She felt like she was punched in her face,with all her hopes now shattered, when Prabir finally halted the car at the gates of a Radha Krishna temple.

"You brought me along with you to visit a Temple?" She shrieked.

"Yes! Now please come with me," Prabir pleaded.

"No.You can go alone to visit the temple. I'll wait here", She spat uninterested, fiddling with her phone.

"Please. Have you ever been here before?" Prabir quizzed.

"No. I am not studying about ancient monuments and architecture,like this old temple", She hissed.

Opening the door he climbed out.
" Fine! Wait here. I'll be back in an hour".

"One hour?" She asked exasperated.

"Okay! Let's go," she said and strolled behind him.

Smiling he held her wrist, as they walked in silence upto the entrance of the Temple. They slowly walked up the stairs.

Bhargavi was dazed because of the serene and tranquil atmosphere. She felt extremely peaceful.

Once inside the temple, she couldn't move her eyes from the mesmerizing idols of Lord Krishna and Radha.
It was evening and the temple was filled with people. The evening 'Aarti' was going on, as they entered the temple.

When the Arati was over and people slowly started to walk out of the temple, Bhargavi saw Prabir praying, with eyes closed and hands joined. He slowly opened his eyes to find her staring at him. Quickly, he held her palms and joined them, as if trying to teach a kid to pray. "Don't look at me, close your eyes and thank Lord Krishna.

God answers prayers Bhargu; these are not just empty words that fall to the ground," he whispered.

She obliged silently and closed her eyes for a while. Though she couldn't pray, she only thanked the Almighty as her heart was brimming with gratitude, she felt grateful for having Prabir in her life.

Prabir escorted Bhargavi down the stairs of the temple, as she stared up at the open sky. It was dark and cloudy, with no stars visible. There was no one around, the temple that was buzzing with people, around twenty minutes before was now left abandoned.