Prejudice

20. Departed

A baby can turn the world upside down....
A baby can give meaning to the life, and sprinkle colours, to paint it in every possible emotion...
A baby can melt a heart of stone....

Something similar happened for both Pranav and Jay.

As a father, Pranav left no stone unturned to love his baby and care for his still healing wife. He would arrive home early and would leave late, spending his time with the baby.

Shraddha was content, watching her husband love their baby. He would stay awake late in the night, trying to put the baby to sleep, while she rested herself. She, by now, had come to realize that Pranav was a responsible husband, but she now knew that he was a loving and caring parent too.

But that did not stop him from being paranoid towards Shraddha, and now his baby's safety. He was constantly looking out for any weird signals, around him and his family.

Jay was exploring his loving side in a new dimension. He did not know he could love a baby to this extent. He did not know, a baby could bring out those hidden feelings in him. A beautiful craving of a complete family was slowly erupting within him.

He was already done with his studies and was truly focused on getting his gem business flourish more than ever before.

In all this, he looked after the girl that was slowly finding her world in him.

Diya had changed him inside out. He was more responsible now, and had given up on his previous life style. He was more serious about this relationship and a lot more serious about his business, trying to make a safer future for his future family.
Though he was not visiting the college everyday, he would find himself talking to Diya on video calls, on everyday basis. Every alternate day, he would meet her and they would have dinner together.

No one knew, but, he had taken Diya to the large banglow owned by him. The banglow was a single structure standing proud on a vast property. There were hardly any structures around it and it had a calm and serene atmosphere. They would spend their evenings there, most of the time cooking and eating and feeding each other.

Ajay and his two friends were not aware that, Diya meets him secretly. They were relieved that he does not visit the college anymore and were in an impression that Diya is away from his bad omen.

One fine day, Jay was requested by his brother to go to Chennai and assist his father. His father was in bad health and demanded to see his son. Since, Pranav did not have the heart to leave his kid and wife behind, unattended, he decided to send Jay to Chennai.
Initially, Jay was surprised to know that his father was in Chennai. He was aware of his father being in Canada, and did not know, when he came back to Chennai.

"Ask him yourself." was the answer given by Pranav, when Jay asked about the same.

Jay wanted to meet Diya, before his departure. He did not want her to panic and wanted to assure that he will be back very soon. Diya was never comfortable whenever he travelled by a plane. Everytime, he would assure her and promised her that he would return safe.

That day too, Jay entered in the college and waited for her to show up. He messaged her and informed her that he will be waiting for her, at their regular place.

She looked at her phone and was surprised. She waited impatiently for the lecture to get over and sprinted towards the indoor tennis court. As always, the tennis court was empty and he was seated on one of the stairs, waiting for her, patiently. His features lit up when he saw her. She rushed to him, with a shy smile and he did not waste a moment to pull her in his embrace.

They were lost, in each other, for an eternity. They were trying to feel each other and were trying to gain strength from each other, as they melted in the warm embrace.

"I missed you." he whispered pulling away.

"I missed you too." she replied shyly.

He smiled and pushed away the soft tendrils of her hair, from her face and kissed her forehead.

"I am going to Chennai, for a few days. I don't exactly for how long, but I will keep in touch with you. I will just not be able to see you in person." He whispered and colour drained off from her face.

"Why? Is it necessary to go?" She panicked.

"Yes, Dove. Dad requested one of us. Bhai can't go now, leaving Shraddha and Kabir behind. So he requested me to go there. Dad in not in best of his health. So I might stay a bit longer." he replied.

She had no words to protest. She just hugged him tight and closed her eyes, when he cocooned her.

"Diya!" A loud deep voice startled her and she pulled away.

Dev was standing there with his eyes blazing. He had his gaze focused on Jay and Jay clenched his jaw, for his moment was ruined.

Dev did not waste a moment and came forward to hold her hand and holding Jay's gaze, for a brief moment, he dragged her from the scene. Diya looked back at him with glossy eyes. She knew, she will not be able to see him for a few days now.

Jay did not want to create a scene and stamp a few bitter memories on Diya's vulnerable mind. He knew, he wouldn't be able to be there with her for next few days, and it would be better if she just had a smile on her face when she departed.
He grinned wider and waved a small bye, making her smile too, while Dev dragged her out of the doors.

Jay came home and was ready to leave to Chennai, the same evening.

He found his father really weak and in deep slumber when he reached their residence in Chennai.
He decided to make a call to Diya and let her know that he reached. But to his disappointment, her phone was switched off.

Sighing, he decided to try sometime later.

His father felt a lot better, at the sight of his younger son. All he wanted was to see his younger son getting married and settled, just like Pranav. But when he tried to talk to Jay about the same, Jay refused, saying he still wanted to focus on the business. Satisfied by his answer, his father let go of the topic.

As the day morphed into another one, and then the next one, Jay was getting restless.
There was no progress where communication with Diya was concerned. Her phone was no more approachable and he had not talked to her in last few days. He was not liking the feeling.

It was more than a week that he was stuck in Chennai and he was surviving without a word with Diya.

It was too much for him to take and he requested his father to let him go back to Mumbai, under the pretense of Pranav getting overworked, in his absence.

He landed in Mumbai and took a cab to the girls hostel, where Diya was staying.

To his utter horror, he was welcomed with a news that Diya was no more a student of the college and did not stay in the hostel anymore.

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Another chapter up.

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