Anshu and Aayush in Café: Their POV
"Thank God you agreed to meet me. It's hard to kill time when you are alone. Aastha bailed upon me, I thought you won't come either, but you came." Anshu said happily to Aayush, who looked lost.
"Aayush? How long are you going to churn the coffee? Sugar has dissolved long time back!" She said to him.
He stopped mixing the coffee and looked at her, "Huh?"
"You okay? Got bored already?" she smiled unwillingly.
"No. Nothings like that."
"You still angry at me?" she asked him.
"I was, but not anymore. But really, why didn't you contact me when you came to Bangalore?"
"Actually, everything was set, my stuffs had reached, and also the apartment was ready. Aparna aunty and jiju kept everything prepared by the time I came here so ...." she replied. "And then the job interviews kept me busy. But thanks to Aastha that she told you. Now that she herself is here, it feels so surreal."
Aayush was listening to her without looking at her. He looked lost and maybe missed hearing some of the things Anshu had said earlier.
"Aayush what is it? You want to go back home?" Anshu couldn't take it anymore.
When he heard Anshu say that, he realized he must have offended her by not paying enough attention.
"Sorry I was a little ..."
"Lost?"
"Sorry yaar. So what were you saying?"
"No, I won't say anything now; instead you tell me what is bothering you from earlier. Are you okay?"
Aayush didn't look at her. His head was bowed down. He slowly said, "They say he is alive."
"Alive? Who is alive, Aayush?" Anshu moved forward and held Aayush's hand which was placed on the table.
A drop of water fell on her wrist. The tears he had been holding inside since morning finally found its way out. He couldn't sleep yesterday night and wasn't able to concentrate in anything. Ganpatrao asked him if something was wrong but he couldn't tell him either. He wasn't ready to absorb himself what he had heard from his uncle, let alone open up to anyone.
It was Anshu who heard it first from him. And now the tears won't stop flowing.
"Aayush? Look at me! What happened? Who is alive?"
He looked at Anshu and said in a cracked voice, "Mr. Bhushan Chopra", tears rolling down from his cheek.
Anshu retracted her hand back. She couldn't utter a word, after she heard the name, a name that she heard after a long time. She froze.
Random images from her childhood flashed in front of her eyes: a man being brought on a stretcher, a woman wailing and two small girls holding on to the woman and crying along with her. Many people are gathered around them.
She gained her senses when she heard Aayush crying. People around them started staring at them. She immediately got up and went to the café counter to pay the bill. She took Aayush outside the café, who'd become inconsolable by now.
They sat down in a nearby bus stop. She held his hand and asked him, "Aayush, I don't know if this is true or not, but we don't know anything as of now. Whosoever saw him must have misunderstood someone as him."
"I know what I know, and that is, I hate him. Alive or dead, it doesn't matter to me."
"22 years have already passed Aayush! Let it go, you are hurting yourself by keeping it within you."
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TWISTED ENCOUNTERS
Non-FictionAnshu and Aastha are sisters who were living a happy, no-worry life with their mother. However, life took a twisted turn when they find out about there father and his connections with JCPL. Aayush is their sole best friend who has his own personal s...
