Chronicles of Life

#chap10 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

Atharva spent another sleepless night. Minish witnessed for the second consecutive night his brother losing his sleep, which was an unprecedented event. Then, in the morning....

To be continued....

Then in the morning, Minish let his parents know about Atharva's plight, which deeply affected Mr Shah. He took a decision then and there, that he will abide by his son's wishes; after all, it was his life and his happiness that mattered to him the most. The boys had been raised to respect their parents, to an extent that there was always an unseen wall between them. They were never too open or expressive, especially Atharva.

He had decided to leave early for work on that day, as he had to go to the bank urgently. Moreover, he did not want to confront his parents as it would lead to arguments. He might lose control on his temper and say something which he didn't want to; so he thought it was best to go away.

His father saw him ready to leave and asked, "Where are you going so early?"
He replied, "Papa I need to go to the bank today, have a meeting with the manager."
Mr Shah said, "At least have breakfast and go. You didn't have dinner also last night."
He fibbed, "Papa I had dinner with Krunal last night. Don't have time right now, will get late. Will have something on the way."

And he left, without getting into any further discussion. Mr Shah really felt regretful. He could see that Atharva was trying to avoid conversation and that the incident had affected him severely.

Atharva was on his way to the bank with the driver. It was a one hour drive. He was in one of his worst frame of mind ever, not knowing how to resolve this situation. He always thought that nothing could break his barrier, that he could overcome any challenge that life would throw at him. But one such incident and all his defences came crumbling down.

He was unaware when the drops of saline water slipped unwarranted from his eyes. He was literally crying for the love that seemed to be lost forever. Though it had been hardly a day, but he couldn't explain it to even himself; how can someone you have just met elicit such pain in your heart that you can't even think of being without? He realised that he had lost all his sane thinking since he had met Shruti. His tears expressed the trauma his heart was going through; they were the words of the heart that the lips couldn't express. He didn't try to avoid either, he finally let himself just go with his emotions, had been holding for too long. He reasoned with himself that its ok to cry when alone; don't need to be strong all the time.

The driver Anand had been with them since several years and was scandalised to see him crying. Atharva was not the kinds to let himself weaken in presence of others. Though he refrained himself from asking, Anand kept noticing that he was really looking very depressed.

Atharva felt miserable and kept praying fervently, 'God, please help. I want Shruti in my life, can't think of anyone else. Please don't do this to us. I know she must be equally heart broken. Please don't let my faith in you waver.'

Mr Shah called both his sons. He said, "I realise that I have made a huge mistake. I realise that I should have told you all before I thought of considering another proposal. Didn't think Atharva would mind it so much."

He stopped his wife from interrupting him, when she was about to say something, as she was still not convinced. "Alpa, we cannot weigh down our child with our own wishes all the time. We should be thankful to God that we have been blessed with such children who think twice before raising their voice against us. He had been very clear about Shruti on the other day itself. We overlooked it... and it's our fault."
Mr Shah looked at his sons and said, "Do suggest me what to do now. I would like to amend the wrong that has been done by me."

Shankar said, "Papa, there is only one way. You have to call Anilji and ask him to let them meet today evening, I feel. Since they have to go back, we cannot afford to keep this lingering. Plus, the way you must have put it, I am sure they must be equally tense."
Minish agreed, "Yes papa... thankfully you haven't mentioned about the other proposal and all, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Atharva and Shruti can meet up and they can easily sort out the misunderstanding."