Chapter 16
The musical tone of his cell phone woke Yash up from his slumber. He was too groggy in the morning to look at the number in the caller ID, he took the call anyway. After 10 minutes, he was out his door, ready in his jeans and T-shirt. Gayathri called out to him..."Yash, wait..where are you going.."
"Ma, I'll call you in an hour" saying this, he just dashed out of the house., inspite of Gayathri calling out to him several times.
An hour later, Gayathri gets a call at home. "Ma..?"
..."Yash, where are you? We are all so worried...".."Sorry Ma, actually I am on way to Mumbai...to drop Aarti at the airport.."
Gayathri was shocked..."what???..I don't understand...what are you.."
"Ma, please... She missed her train..so I am going to drive her to Mumbai and drop her at the airport. I'll return back tomorrow. We can talk then, okay? I promise. Please tell Bauji and Bhaiyya also. Dont worry about me., I'll be fine. "
She?? Was he talking about Aarti? Gayathri was very confused as to what was going on. Yash went to drop her off last night and after returning home, he just went back to his room and retired for the night. She wanted to sit down and talk to him. She even looped in Prateek to help so they can start the conversation. Now he just left her even more confused than before...she walked in a daze to Prateek's room to give him an update...
Yash looked at Aarti who was staring at him...he simply smiled and looked at the road ahead focusing on driving.
Aarti was feeling guilty about calling Yash...and now he was driving her to Mumbai! What was she even thinking??...? She reflected back to last night when Yash dropped her off at her hostel.
***
Aarti was getting down the car, there was not much conversation between them earlier..she was slightly taken aback when Yash called out to her...he was looking for something in his car's dashboard...and then a couple of minutes later...
"Aarti, here, you can keep my business card. If you need any help tomorrow, please let me know. When is your train tomorrow by the way?"
Aarti was pleasantly surprised...does that mean, he is supportive of her going to the US to study? Can it really be true? Can someone be so understanding? What was their relationship anyway? He doesn't even know her, and she doesnt have any clue about him...all these questions were racing through her head at once...
..she just took the card from him, thanked him with a slight nod and smile and waited till Yash's car disappeared into darkness.
She walked straight to her room, afraid of being stopped by anyone there and asked questions...about anything...she was just too tired and confused to give a straight answer anyway. While changing into her night gown, she slowly removed her mangalsutra that she was still wearing (a lot of women do take off their mangalsutra at night or while taking bath) ...she looked at it keenly for sometime, thought about Yash..and kept it safe in the same jewellery box where she had kept her mother's single jhumki (ear ring). She wasn't still sure about what her feelings towards him were...or how to address the current situation.
As Aarti opened her eyes in the morning...she realized she was running late. She jumped out of her bed and got ready quickly, packed up her last minute stuff and got an auto to the station. She knew she was already late...and she was afraid she may have missed the train. As she pulled into the train station and took her suitcase and bags, to her horror she found out that the train indeed did leave. She hoped she can find Mansi and Aakash there, maybe they can help her somehow catch a bus or something...she looked around and did not find them...they probably headed to her hostel trying to find out where she was, or if she even got onto the train. She went to a phone booth, and called Mansi's cell. It went straight to her voice mail...after trying a couple of times without any success and not knowing what else to do and who to ask, she found Yash's number in her handbag and called him almost instinctively...
***
"Aarti.."...Yash woke her up. "Get down, we are here at the airport.."..
"Oh...how long have you been driving..??" Aarti asked with concern in her eyes and voice.
"Dont worry about that, come on, lets go. We just barely made it, you have to check in and pass security..come, lets go"
Yash asked Aarti to freshen up in the restroom quickly, and he got both of them some coffee and snacks. "Here, eat quickly...you hardly have any time.."
After Aarti checked in, there was a final boarding call for the London to US flight. Aarti with tears in her eyes thanked Yash again for everything and he nodded and asked her to take care and almost pushed her to the checkpoint... Not once did any of them bring up their wedding and the fact that they were husband and wife now. He was helping her simply because she made one phone call to him asking him for help.
"Bye Yashji.."she almost choked on her words...
"Bye Aarti, have a safe flight...", he wanted to add to ask her to keep in touch...but he didn't.
...before he could say anything else, Aarti added "I'll try to contact you as soon as I get settled in there...I have a friend in US who was going to pick me up at the airport and help me there".
"Ok. Take care..."
What was in store for their future, and what is going to happen to the relationship they were put in, they didn't know...
Yash was staring at his email that just popped in his inbox.
Hello Yashji,
Hope you had a safe drive back home. If not for you, I would have missed my flight for sure.
I am fine here. Sorry I did not contact you earlier. Got settled into the university now and I am staying at the dorms.
Thank you for everything you have done for me so far. I dont have a phone here that I can make calls yet, email is the best way to contact me for now.
Regards,
Aarti
It has been a week since Aarti left and he was surprised to get an email from her. She did say she will contact him once she settles down there...but it was a week and he was worried the whole time. He wished he asked her about her friends here...and who they were and if he could have gotten more details about her...So secretly his heart rejoiced. He was a mess for the last one week worrying about her and if she had reached there okay or not and he refused to discuss anything with anyone at home.
He clicked on "Reply" to the email...and started typing...
Hi Aarti...
Cricket
