Forget-Me-Not : Bound by Secrets

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Two hours later

The door opened and Dia peeked in, taking in the empty room, and heaved a sigh of relief. Vidhi and Ananya must have left. She didn't even want to think about the expression on Ananya's face when they'd found Vidhi and Abhay sitting together on the plastic chairs, Vidhi looking ready to strangle him while Abhay smiled calmly at her. He's an asshole, Dia thought to herself once more. He's an unbelievable asshole. No wonder Ananya had been amused-she was more than intrigued by him. Dia couldn't even imagine how.

However, right now Abhay was the least of her concerns. She was here to speak with Geet, and demand to know what had gone wrong. Geet might succeed in fooling the others, but she wasn't taking any crap from her best friend. She could see that something was wrong, and she had a mind to find out what it was. Geet looked up when she heard her, and raised one eyebrow.

"Still baby-sitting?"

"At least until you keep acting like one," Dia retorted. "Why weren't you eating? What exactly was it that drove you to four days of fasting, with practically no water and unhealthy lifestyle?"

Geet cringed. For a moment, her sudden, direct question left her dumbfounded. Then she drew her eyebrows together and said, "Well, it's a long story."

"I'm all ears."

Geet sighed. "Nothing's wrong, okay? Everything's... normal."

"Except for this, right?" Dia held out a white envelope, and Geet stared at the handwriting and the name addressed to her-the letter was from her mother!

Geet went still, and silence surrounded them. She felt her throat clogging up with emotions as she reached out for the letter. She didn't remember finding it in the mail today-how did Dia get it? Dia's expression remained blank except for the little crease on her forehead which clearly said she was agitated. She handed the letter to her friend, watching the various thoughts flicker over her expression. As Geet tore open the envelope, Dia crossed her hands over her chest and waited patiently.

"Where did you find this?" Geet asked her quietly.

"On the floor of your living room. You must have dropped it. I spotted it while I was calling for help after you fainted."

Geet didn't say anything, but started reading.

Moments later, when her friend's eyes had scanned every inch of the paper, she looked up.

"Your mom isn't home, is she?" Dia said finally, unable to hold in her questions, breaking the silence.

Geet shook her head.

"Since when?"

"A month, I suppose," Geet said vaguely, and her eyes moistened.

Dia didn't know what to say. It was difficult for her to swallow the fact that Mrs. Juneja hadn't been around for quite a while now. She'd been gone for a month, and Geet never told them about it? Something was very, very wrong.

"What does she say?"

"She needs money," Geet's voice was a little shaky. "She's short on cash."

Dia's frown deepened. "Geet, you've got to tell me what's going on. I don't understand this."

She'd never imagined she'd hear Geet say the words which she did a second later. Geet had always been the strong one-the patient, calm, peacemaker, the person who solved everyone's problems, who never had anything to complain of. Geet was the one whose troubles had always appeared to be the least complicated. Now she was the one who needed the most support, and she hadn't even asked for it.