Prejudice

33. Distress

The busy Railway Station of Thane had all the trains coming and leaving with passengers.

The trains were as full as they ever could be, carrying the passengers and helping them to their destination.
Jay was seated on an empty bench as he thought, he had nowhere to go.
He looked at the trains with empty eyes, not even able to think. He was left alone, in world full of busy people. He had already lost motto of his life, and now he had lost his interest to earn.

A beautiful dream of earning to his full capacity, so that he could give a blessed life to Diya and his unborn Jr. Kabir, was shattered brutally.
He had stopped taking orders for diamonds. He had stopped shaping diamonds. He had stopped dreaming.

Prithvi, in his study room, was engrossed in finalizing the plan for his new amusement park, that he had decided to construct in heart of Mumbai, when a pair of slender hands were wrapped around his neck from behind.
As always, he sighed in defeat. She was known to have her way.

"I want to meet her." she whispered, distracting him from his work.

He gently unwrapped her hands and looked at her.
"No." He simply denied and focused back at his laptop, where he was working with his AutoCAD project.

She pursed her lips as if aware that he would deny.
Without wasting another moment, she turned around and walked out of his study room. He turned his gaze and looked at her retreating figure with narrowed eyes. It was very rare that she gave in without an argument.

But soon enough, his heart skipped a beat as roaring of helicopter was heard. He rushed towards the open terrace, only to find the helicopter hovering above his head, as if waiting for him to show up. He was extremely furious and wanted to snap at something or someone, but he was startled as, a handful of red roses were thrown on him and the helicopter flew away in the dark night, leaving him to struggle with his raging emotions.
He crouched down and picked up all the roses.

He had no other choice, but to wait patiently until she was safe on the islands.

The night was longer than it ever could be.
The emotions were in turmoil, and Charu Villa was once high alert.
Pranav rushed down the stairs, in hope to get an update on whereabouts of his brother. He had just stroked his distressed wife to sleep and was out of the bedroom, the moment her breathing was even. When Siddharth shook his head in denial, he blinked with parted lips and with a shattered heart, walked to his open laptop to pass on the orders to his IT department.

Siddharth watched with unblinking eyes at his friend.

He knew what turmoil Pranav's was going through, and he knew no way to bring the troubled man out of his miseries.
Siddharth could see that Pranav's skin was turning redder with time. He narrowed his eyes and walked to Pranav, who was still standing and engrossed in typing away furiously. Siddharth touched his right cheek and Pranav looked at him startled. Siddharth had a brooding expression on his face.

"You are burning with fever." he stated the obvious.

"I know." Pranav whispered, focusing back on his previous work.

"You go and rest, I will find him. Trust me." Siddharth demanded.

"You know, I trust only you and him. But this is not the time." Pranav replied.

Siddharth knew, nothing can make Pranav rest, until Jay was brought back safe. He had to push his sources and make it faster, so that Pranav could feel better, even without resting.

Prithvi was trying to to calm down his angry self and he received a call. With furrowed eyebrows, he looked at his phone, with a hope to see her name. He was with a mind to reprimand her. But he blinked in anticipation, when he realized that it was from the man, who was following Jay, all these day.

Prithvi received the call, only to realize that Jay had left his home at an ungodly hour and was found at the Railway Station, sitting on a bench, with no mind to go anywhere.

Prithvi blinked thoughtfully. For a moment, he forgot about his distressed mind, that was about to reprimand an audacious woman.

"I want him alive. Make sure that he doesn't attempt to kill himself. Engage him anywhere. And keep me informed." He said in one breath.

The man looked at Jay, amidst the crowd and found him still as a statue. He did not know, why his boss asked him to follow a mourning man, but he was there to do his job.

Jay did not realize when a man seated himself beside him.

"Hello." The man tried to greet Jay.

Jay was too lost in his own thoughts to realize anything.

The man gently shook him and Jay was brought out of his reverie. He looked at the unfamiliar man with furrowed eyebrows.

"Aren't you Jay Agarwal?" The man asked with a small smile.

Jay parted his lips in surprise.

"Yes.... How do you know?"

"You are a renowned name in diamond industry." The man clarified and Jay blinked looking away. He was no more interested in anything related to his previous life.

"I am Keshav Mehta. I am a small diamond dealer. I happen to purchase diamonds from you once." The man added, when Jay did not reply.

Soon enough, the man realized that Jay was not responding. He did not know how to proceed.
It was evident that Jay was hardly interested in diamonds and he had no other topic to converse.
Leaving Jay there would mean that Jay could try to give up on his life, in turn, Prithvi would take Keshav's life.

He tried to make small talk, but Jay said nothing, apart from a nod.

Finally, getting no other way, he photographed himself discreetly, skillfully capturing the name of the station in the photo. He had made sure to get the side profile of gloomy and lost Jay.

Next minute, he posted the photograph on his social media account and tagged Jay, saying, "With Real Diamond, Jay Agarwal"

He was sure, his family was looking out for him and someone from the tracking team must be tracking his social media account too. It was just a question of some more time, until he was realized to be at the busy Thane Station.
Keshav decided to blend in the shadows and wait for the drama to enfold.

True to his suspicions, Jay's tagging was notified to the people close to him and it did not take them long to realize that he was losing himself at a platform.
Pranav, along with Siddharth and few other men rushed to the platform in no time and a Jay was being half-carried by them, to the safe confines of his home.

Keshav or whoever he was, smiled and deleted his fake social media account the next moment. His work was accomplished.

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Another chapter up

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