The Quill Part 3 - Page 27

She is making the final moves. Emptying the store, and turning it over to the dude. Its a sad day.

Dude is in town? What is he doing? He has not reached out yet.

Nidhi is making too many excuses for Gaurav. He misses his dad, he needs help. Like Tara says, what about her? She was the one who has been invested in preserving the dad's memory. What has Gaurav done besides asking for money?

Annulled

The night before Pradyut arrived in Chandigarh…………..

“I have no idea what to think of it, you have deemed me an adult so I will figure it out” he muttered silkily enjoying his dinner at his parents

The chair usually occupied by his wife remained empty

Veer and Pia were not eating here every evening.

Sumedha was much better now, leaving her room to join them in the dining area

“Umeshji, Balmukundji dono gaon gaye, meve ke laddoo laaye, aap please deliver karwa do”

“Chandigarh is a gaon Ma, her Mum will make it” Pia scoffed

Pradyut didn’t protest or lash out at her

Just observed her carefully

“Whatt? Why are you looking at me like that bro”

“Nothing, just amused”

“Pia aap zara apni sense of humor abhi share na karen” Gopal mumbled

The men talked about their profession

Pia didn’t have happy stories, she was quiet about her work, she did love her mother and didn’t want tales of illnesses to be her topic of conversation

“Do you know when exactly fetal movement begin?” Sumedha asked eagerly

Pradyut’s heart skipped a beat

“Probably soon” Pia was ashamed a bit

She knew her mother was interested in nothing else

She wanted to live breathe eat walk talk the baby

“Its still pretty hot in Chandigarh, aap please keh do she needs to stay hydrated”

Sumedha instructed her husband

He nodded

If it was a routine visit of Taara he would have joked and asked his son to call her right away, but he pretended to be preoccupied and quickly asked another question about the Goa project

Later in the room overlooking the front of the house, where she came drenched one night to fling the papers on his face

Gopal and Pradyut were alone

“Do the right thing. Go with her to Doc appointments”

Pradyut was just texting

“I would have expected her to tell you or have a conversation with you” Gopal sighed

Pradyut looked up at him piercingly

“Weve been through this last night”

“I am just a little confused”

“Don’t worry, I will figure it out”

“Your mother will be delighted if things work out”

Pradyut scoffed

“You cannot blame her for wishing”

“Nope”

“Beta…”

“She packed up and left, I am told the store is almost empty now, if I were Mum I would start losing hope right about now”

“Don’t think harshly about her” Gopal spoke carefully

“Are you prescribing feelings now?”

“Umm.. no… I know you are reasonable”

“Then you should let me feel whatever I please”

“I am going to Chandigarh next week, do you want to go?”

“I am going tomorrow”

Gopal was smiling wide

“To talk to the CM’s secretary, about Zenith Astro”

“Oh good…” Gopal relaxed happy it was not Parashar & Co

Parashar texted “Weve received annulment request”

“Shes pregnant, it should be a divorce”

It seems Pard is mad that she left and now talking about divorce.

When Prad is watching Pia, does he see the hate emanating for Tara?

What else can he expect? Packing up and leaving was about the only option left. The girl wants peace at this point.

Tara is taking the lead on cutting off ties. They should have at least had a conversation about it. Neither one does that.

what will be the fate of the store at Zenith Astro? While she is away, they can accelerate the construction and wrap it up. I am still hoping Prad will manage to make it look very nice and have her move back in.

Near & Dear & Far

“No we don’t want to stiff that family, give them what was promised when the contract was drafted” Pradyut shaved as he instructed Purohit

“The plans for extending the metro route feel through at this point so I don’t think its feasible for Towers Partners to offer the same price as quoted

“Umm.. I am well aware of what is feasible, please just have the documents ready”

“Are you going to be in town soon?”

“I am already, I have other meetings all day”

“Cool”

“Well… thanks”

“Sure… let me get that out for your review”

“Sounds great”

“Umm… do you want retain us for the divorce? We can talk about…”

“Its pretty straight forward, I don’t expect wrangling”

“I have heard she is a fighter, and you don’t have …”

“I don’t think she wants anything from me” he said gruffly

“She got herself a Rupee symbol tattooed on her body to taunt me, you have no idea who you are dealing with” he thought derisively

“Umm.. weve got”

“I have to go now, I can touch base later”

“Sure Mr Munjal”

“Thx” he hung up

He would go see her first at the store or at her brother’s or parents

That was history now

He had to be included in the Doc appointments, he didn’t know how to approach that

He picked up his phone and texted Tushar

“Hey Tushar, how goes it?”

Tushar did a double take

“Fabulous… how are you Prad”

Then he realized he shouldn’t have said Fabulous

I mean his sister’s marriage broke up

“Shit” he sounded into the phone

“That good huh?”

“No… I accidentally shut my PC down instead of rebooting” he lied, going down the stairs heading to the car, leaving home for work

“Can I ask for a favor”

“Sure man! Go ahead”

“I want to be added to the Doc visits, can you arrange it? Or I can speak with her directly”

“Baat kar yaar, you don’t have to ask me” Tushar was overjoyed

“I meant the Doc”

“Oh” Tushar was heartbroken

Sigh!

“Umm.. I will talk to Pallu and let you know, who hi jaayegi shaayad” he said sadly

“Thanks”

“Ghar aa yaar” Tushar was sincere and sad

“Umm.. cant right now”

“Oh”

“Maybe next time?” Pradyut offered awkwardly

“Haan haa pakka yaar… hum dono touch mein rahenge man… I mean, love for bikes”

Pradyut chuckled

“That’s right”

“We have to man… we never took that Manali road trip”

“Oh yeah” Pradyut relaxed

“Office aa ja agar ghar door hai to” Tushar offered

His office was 20 kms away from the city

“That’s a good idea” Pradyut agreed