Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 50: With You All The Way

Parth had been concentrating on driving, but his heart couldn’t help trembling when he heard Shehnaaz lazily answer her phone with a simple “hello.” He could listen to her voice tirelessly.

Sidharth’s gaze was lowered to the cigarette in his fingers. His voice was deeper than usual and held a indescribable magnetism that could steal hearts. He slowly called out her name, “Sana.”

Shehnaaz straightened immediately, delighted.

“Uncle Sid??”

“Mhmm.” Sidharth answered dryly.

“Uncle Sid, you’re not busy now?”

“I just finished.”

“When will you be back?” Shehnaaz asked softly, her question balancing within the tender notes of her voice.

It was only with Sidharth that she could totally let her guard down. If she were to choose only one person in the
world in whom to totally trust and rely on, it could only be Sidharth. Parth couldn’t help turning to glance at her. He never knew her voice could be so sweet, and he was felt warm all over.

Shehnaaz was completely focused on Sidharth. The night was no longer lonesome and she no longer felt the
forlorn sensation that had been
weighing on her mind earlier. Of course, Shehnaaz knew this feeling really had nothing to do with Sidharth himself: it was because she secretly found emotional sustenance with him. Just like people who devoted themselves to their religion and
demonstrated unwavering faith, so did Shehnaaz when it came to her uncle. Sidharth was her religion.

Sidharth was unsure about what to say next. He was not an eloquent man and had no patience when it came to
conversation. He was better suited, he felt, as a man of action. Within the space of silence, the quiet murmur of Shehnaaz’s breathing traveled through his headset and he fancied that he could almost make out the sounds of her heartbeat.

Shehnaaz was nervous too. Sidharth  wasn’t say anything and she was too scared to even breathe loudly.

She was holding her breath and her heart rate was going up. If Sandeep had been there to observe her vital signs, he would have said that her body was activating a self-defense
mechanism in response to a hypoxic state, or some other convoluted medical explanation.

Parth continued driving and thought Shehnaaz had finished the call when she didn’t speak for some time. He
asked casually, “Was that your guardian?”

Sidharth heard Parth’s voice through the line and opened the study door and walked downstairs. He asked easily, “Where are you? Who are you speaking to?”

Shehnaaz gently breathed out and her rigid body relaxed.

She leaned back in the seat to watch the street lights flash by outside the car window and laughed quietly. “That was my classmate, my university Class Rep. I’m in his car because he’s taking me back to campus.”

With the ice broken, it was much easier to keep the conversation flowing.

Sidharth grunted and continued to speak.

“What did you do this week?”

Shehnaaz didn’t want to end the call so soon, so she fervently told him about what had happened at school, at the dorm, and even with the interview. She told him absolutely everything in detail.

She had always been articulate, otherwise she wouldn’t have wanted to study law. As always, Sidharth
grunted intermittently to let her know he was listening. Shehnaaz spoke to him the whole way and when she looked up, they had already arrived to the dorm.

Time to hang up already. Shehnaaz felt her loneliness begin to creep up again.

Sidharth hadn’t hung up yet and Shehnaaz didn’t even bother to say so much as a goodnight to Parth before she turned to enter the dorms. She was going up the stairs when Sidharth asked over the phone, “Sana, Sandeep told me about you wanting to look for a boyfriend.”

Shehnaaz’s cheeks flushed hotly. She was about to clarify that she didn’t want to find one, but someone was pursuing her. Sidharth continued before she could start, “I have no issue with it.”

Shehnaaz’s eyes dimmed and she was silent for a long time. She managed a hollo “Ok” and then ended the call.
Stopping to look up, she found herself standing before the door to her dorm room.

Sidharth had been on the phone with her the whole way here. She had barely spoken to Parth in the car and had basically treated him like a driver. It was rude of her and she had to thank him properly tomorrow. She made a
mental note to do so before she worried or upset him.

Shehnaaz pushed open the door but it didn’t open because it was locked—her roommates were still out. She took out her key to open the door. Turning on the lights, she saw the empty room with two bunk beds, four desks and four dressers. Shehnaaz smiled. The phone call she had been pining for days finally came and to her, but it was like another shoe had finally hit the ground. From now on, she would learn to live alone. Shehnaaz set down her backpack and suitcase to begin tidying her things. She had already
showered before heading out, so she went to the bathroom to wash her face and put on a face mask before opening her laptop to continue her thesis.

…

The Special Operations personnel who was secretly protecting Shehnaaz had followed Parth’s car the whole way and also maintained contact with the base’s communication system. Before going to bed, Deepak opened his computer to check on the tracker and found that Sidharth had been on the phone with Shehnaaz the entire time. He clicked the mouse and a topographic map of C City appeared on the monitor instantly. Shehnaaz’s small red dot continued to move and quickly arrived to the entrance of C University. This meant that Shehnaaz had been calling Sidharth for the duration of her trip.

“What’s going on?” Deepak tapped the mouse and muttered to himself, “Why would that be? Has something
happened to Sana?”

No one knew better than Deepak how busy Sidharth was as a high ranking officer. However, Sidharth, who dealt with a thousand things a day, had
taken precious time on a Sunday evening to call Shehnaaz and speak with her for nearly half an hour. Deepak couldn’t help calling Rohit’s extension and grilling him. “Rohit, is something going on with Sana?”

Rohit had been asleep and was groggy when Deepak woke him. His eyes remained shut. “Nope. Nothing’s going on with Sana lately.”

If there was something going on, how does he not know about it? He takes care of everything that has to do with Shehnaaz. Rohit remembered this in
his awakened state.

Deepak scratched his head and watched the little red dot on the monitor arrive at the entrance of C University.

Sidharth’s phone line indicated he was still “in a call.”

“Why was he on the phone with her the entire time? It’s late already; Sana should be on her way back to campus.”

Deepak rubbed his chin and mulled it over. Rohit had taken care of Shehnaaz for many years already, so he knew, better than Deepak did, exactly how important she was to Sidharth.

Rohit yawned and impatiently said, “You still don’t get it? Sana was going to campus late at night and he was worried, so he stayed on the line with her the whole way. If something happened, he could immediately mobilize help and wouldn’t have to wait for someone else to report
back.”

Deepak wasn’t buying it. Something didn’t quite add up. A thought flashed in his mind but he suppressed it.

“That’s good then, I was worried there was something going on. Go back to sleep, I’ll call it a night too.” The base had personnel on duty anyway. He could sleep for 24 hours if he so wanted.

Late at night, the C City Special Operations Forces base was serene. Sidharth stood beneath the night sky and raised his head to look at the myriad of stars, no longer worried. He put his hands in his trouser pockets and leisurely walked back to his quarters.

*
*
*
I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all.