Hello Everyone.
Chapter 47
When the world comes to a standstill !!
Karthik’s POV.
It’s just unfair. I am sure he is thinking, ‘How can she die ?!! How can it happen to me ?!!’
It feels like someone has ripped my heart out. So, for him, it is bound to be even more painful.
Anushka might have just come to know that Virat loved her. She might have read the entire diary and then died. It is just so unfortunate.
Suddenly, something strikes Virat. He flips open a telephone diary and goes to the page where Anushka’s home phone number is listed. It’s a London number.
“Hi. Can I talk to Anushka’s mother ?!! No longer live there ?!! Why ?!! What happened ?!! India. Why ?!! Death ?!! Whose ?!! What ?!! Anushka ?!! Fine.” He says.
Our eyes widen and our hearts sink as we hear the word Death. It is final. It is no courier guy who died. We look at Virat and he is disturbed as hell. He has reasons to be. It’s worse.
Anushka knowing that Virat was dead was much better than this. Anushka can’t be dead. This is not happening. And we
just told Virat that ?!!Oh God. This is a worse nightmare than we had ever imagined it would be.
He hangs up and flops on the sofa. He covers his face with his palms. I can’t imagine what he’s going through. We are devastated too. I can barely sit still, my head spins as I look at him. I can feel
his pain.
It’s even more real now. It’s like imagining Naira blown to bits and someone telling me that. I would want to die that very instant. It would kill me. And it seems like it is killing Virat too. It has to.
After reading everything that he feels for Anushka from the diary, the pain would be unbearable. It shows on his face, which is red and looks like it would burst.
After a little while, Virat is not crying. He sits still, looks down and breathes heavily. Anushka is dead, blown to bits. Not Virat. He looks at us and again a few tears trickle down his cheek.
He almost faints as Naksh holds him up. He holds back and cries softly. He leans back on the sofa and looks at the ceiling. He doesn’t say a thing.
A few moments later, he tries to stand up and does so. He walks up to me and hugs me.
“Thank you.” The words barely escape his throat. His eyes look vacant.
I don’t know what to say other than “I am sorry.”
“How did you get here ?!! You want something to eat ?!!” He asks.
He instructs the maid to get something for us. He is still crying. We feel sorry for him. All of us are close to tears. Keerti and Naira have tears in the corners of their eyes.
It feels like we have known Anushka forever—and now, suddenly, without any warning—she’s left us. We show him the envelope Ranbir gave us.
“We met your sister too. We read about her in the diary. Very sweet girl.” Naira says.
“Did she look happy ?!!” Virat asks.
We nod.
“She liked Anushka. I had promised her that I would make her meet her some day …” Virat starts to say but trails off.
He doesn’t say anything for a while. Obviously, there are other things on his mind. He tries to talk a few times but his voice gives way. Words refuse to come out of his mouth.
“I was leaving today to meet Alia. You met everybody ?!!” He asks.
“MSD, Sakshi,Alia,Ranbir. We met them all. We thought you had … They all had good things to say about you. We wanted to meet Anushka. Ranbir showed us the Get Well Soon card and said it was from Anushka. We didn’t know it was you who sent it to him …” I state.
Since he isn’t talking, we decide that we would. Naira tells him everything that has transpired since I found the diary.
How we got to Mahi, then Alia, Sakshi and Ranbir. She tells him everything—the kind words and love everyone had for him—and we wait for him to smile. It doesn’t work.
I look at Virat and feel terribly sorry for him. He is a good-looking guy. We already know he is a sweet guy. Anushka would have been really lucky to be with such a genuine person.
“Anushka had started to hate him. Ranbir. I know what its like to be left alone. So I sent him the card.” he says and looks out of the window. The tears don’t stop.
“Ranbir told us.” Naira says.
“Nothing should have happened the way it did.” he says and holds his head again.
I can imagine the feeling. Of loving someone and not letting that person know. And the only time that Virat had tried to tell her about her feelings, it didn’t end well. Anushka died with that diary in her
hands.
“It took a lot of courage to send her the diary. I should have done it long before, but I wanted to give her time. I ne … never knew that … I just wanted her back.” He says. His voice is filled with regret.
We don’t want to say anything that would make him regret it more. Naksh and I look at Naira, who is our expert at handling such situations.
“I’m sure she knows that you love her … wherever she is.” she says and pats his hand.
He starts to sob again but stops immediately. He sees us looking at him and maybe realizes that it must be awkward for us. I really don’t mind. He should get his time to cry it out.
“But why did you go out looking for Anushka in the first place ?!!” Virat asks.
I say, “I read the diary first. I just thought that Anushka deserved to know. And it was your intention too—as you mentioned in the last note—that you will disregard what Anushka had said and will tell her
everything. I just wanted your story to have an end.”
“Thank you. I would never have known … had you not …” he says.
None of us says anything. The air around us is still one of shock, we are still grappling with the stark reality—that Anushka, the girl we had been looking forward to meet, is dead—and none of us is getting used to it. The feeling of denial hangs unceremoniously in the air.
Everything changed in a matter of a few seconds. Neither he nor we know what to do. There is an awkward silence. It’s a
consolation that Anushka probably knew that Virat loved her.
“Why didn’t you drop in your number in the diary ?!!” I ask, just out of curiosity.
“The last few pages of the diary are burnt. I had written my contact in them.” he says.
He tells us that he had poured his heart out on the last few pages, which were now burnt. He tells us that he had even written his number and had been waiting for her call ever since he had couriered the diary. He tells us that he was beginning to think Anushka wouldn’t ever reply and that he had lost her forever.
He was right in a very twisted,unfortunate manner. Indeed, he had lost her. Instead of the call from Anushka, we landed up at his place. If only those pages hadn’t gotten burnt, it would have been so easy to trace Anushka/Virat down.
But I am glad they got burnt. The chase and the search for Anushka made me realize how important it is to keep your loved ones close and let them know what you feel.
Who knows what tomorrow has in store for you ?!! Or worse still, for them ?!!
Once again, silence hangs around the room.
“I have to leave … to meet Alia …” Virat says, still a little disoriented.
“Are you okay ?!!” Keerti asks.
“I am fine. I need to go now … I have a flight in an hour …” he answers and looks at his feet.
“Do you want us to stay ?!! Or come with you ?!!” Naira asks.
“I am okay.” he says and looks at his watch. He gets up from the couch and we follow suit. He looks at us and smiles.
“Thank you.” he says.
We just look back at him, not knowing what to say.
“How long are you in Mumbai ?!!” he asks, his voice quivering.
“Not for long.” Naira says.
“Maybe we will meet in Delhi some day.” He hands over his card to us.
Naira and I give him our cards. There is silence again.
“I think we’ll go now.” Naira says. He nods.
He comes to the door with us, hugs all of us, and bids us goodbye. He closes the door behind us.
We stand there and wait. We don’t hear any sounds from inside. Keerti asks us to move. We get into the elevator.
My face is flushed red. What just happened was so surreal and incredibly saddening. No one says a word. The atmosphere is tense and we don’t know how to react.
Precap : Back to the Bay !!
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I know its not a good Chapter but I hope that you liked it. One more down. Only 6 more Chapters to go.
Well its going to be a busy weekend this time as Tomorrow is my Maa’s birthday. So I have lots of preparations to do, a surprise to plan and also make a greeting card.
Gosh, only writing about it has made me tired. But then she is the most special person so I guess she deserves the love and is worth the efforts !!
Do comment. Keep smiling. Keep watching Yrkkh !!