The Great Indian College Romance

32. Missing

Kirti Aunty was Angad's mother. 

Yug's call had put her in a frenzy because Angad wasn't in Delhi. The flight time between Goa and Delhi was barely 3 hours. He had checked out early in the morning so he should have reached by this point. 

Yug told her a very censored version of Angad and Siddharth's fight as the reason for his sudden departure. 

What little I knew of Angad's mother made me feel guiltier about this situation. She was the kind of person who worried too much, especially when it came to her only son. He was the one person she cared the most about. 

And now Angad was missing owing to the misunderstanding that I had unwittingly caused. 

An hour later everyone else knew that Angad was nowhere to be found. We looked around all the nearby bars and restaurants. Shreyas and Deepani volunteered to check the nearby hotels. Yug and I were driving to the airport. 

"You think he's okay?" I asked Yug as we neared the airport. 

"When we were 12 years old Angad was missing for two days from his home. It caused a big stir in our circle especially since his father and Kirti aunty were getting divorced. Angad missing from homemade the Mehras quite the happening topic of gossip."

"And then?" I asked horrified at the thought of a twelve-year-old Angad going through the trauma of his parents separating. 

"He wasn't missing. He was hiding in my room." 

"What?" 

"Yes, he managed to make his way to our house, begged me to hide him in my room and not tell anybody. Apparently, he was convinced that would make his parents stay together."

"So what happened?" I asked.

"My mother caught me sneaking food upstairs and, needless to say, both of us got what we deserved. He went back to his house and his parents still got divorced. So no, this isn't the first time Angad Mehra has run away from his problems. Only this time he didn't see it fit to confide in his best friend."

I sat silently thinking about the anecdote Yug had just related till we reached the airport. 

He wasn't there.

We inquired about the flights to Delhi. There were two. One had left at 9 am and the other just an hour ago. If Angad had taken the 9 am flight he should have been home by now but if he had taken the later flight then he wouldn't land till 4 pm. 

We headed back to the hotel and found that Shreyas and Deepani had had no luck either. 

Vahni was talking to me in curt sentences now only because she was worried about Angad. This was an improvement but not quite satisfying. 

My phone rang as we were discussing where else we could look for him. It was Sarah. 

In all the excitement I had completely forgotten about her National Conference. I was supposed to check in. 

"Hello," I said trying to sound cheery. 

I stepped away from everybody.

"Hi, Meera! Where have you been?" she said. 

"Oh, it's been crazy here. You tell me. How was your nerdy conference? Did your project win the prize?" I asked. 

"It's not a middle school science fair you dummy. But yes, we did receive positive feedback on our paper. It was so much fun! Matt has been on cloud nine since the panel praised us this morning." 

I heard Matt yell out an uncharacteristically excited "Hi Meera!" in the background. Guess he really was pleased.

"That is so great! I am so happy for you." I said sincerely, "Say 'hi' to Matt for me will you?"