Part 2
For the past
four years Yash took care of Palak with the help of Vidhi, his sister in
law. The family's financial situation
was much better than before still their struggle was not over, Prateik the
youngest brother was still studying and they were planning to move a bigger
house, every penny went to these efforts.
When Palak started pre-school Yash had his hands full because Vidhi had
rejoined work since her two kids and Palak were all grown up not requiring
constant care.
Yash was
doing very well at his job as a software engineer, his boss even offered him a short
stint overseas with a tempting remuneration.
The money was too good to pass, it would have solved all their problems
but when Palak came to his mind he just couldn't do it because it would mean
leaving Palak behind. He declined the
offer. However his boss did not relent and came up
with a better offer, this time a promotion after returning from the overseas
stint. Indeed Yash was in dilemma, at
one hand his lifelong dream for a better life and on the hand to leave Palak
all by herself who was already vulnerable without her mother.
Yash prayed
to God, "If I let go this opportunity I don't know when the next one will come,
only God can do a miracle and make everything possible." God works in
mysterious ways and Yash will realize that his prayers will be answered soon
enough.
They had
arranged an auto to send and pick Palak daily and one day the auto broke
down. Poor Palak waited and waited and
no sign of her transport, she saw all her classmates were gone and she was the
last one there. She walked to a nearby
park, sat down at the bench and started crying softly. Her crying was barely audible that the person
sitting next to her had to strain her ears to identify the sound.
"Why are you
crying, are you lost?" the person asked.
"My auto
didn't come today, I don't know how I'm going to go back," Palak replied still
crying.
"Let me
help, do you have any number that I can call?" the lady said offering
assistance.
Palak stopped
crying and started to look into her bag, she remembered her father wrote his mobile
number on a piece of paper. At last she
found the paper and passed it to the lady.
"My papa's
number," Palak told her.
"Ok, we will
find a public phone and call him."
They went
together to look for a public booth.
They found it and dialled Yash's number.
"Hello," and
when the person on the other line greeted her back she continued, "I'm Aarti,
actually your daughter is with me. Her
transport didn't come to fetch her, she is all alone and pretty shaken up. Can you come and pick her up? I will be with
her until you come."
Yash rushed
from his work place to Palak's school.
When he reached the school compound he saw Palak playing and laughing
with a young lady. He assumed that must
be the person who called him. Palak went
running to her father as soon as she saw him.
Yash knelt
beside her, stroked her hair and said, "Are you alright Palak?"
"Yes... papa,
the nice auntie helped me to call you." She pointed at Aarti.
Yash conveyed
his gratitude to Aarti and left the school with Palak.
After this
incident Yash was more afraid to leave Palak, the thought that she might have
been kidnapped or hit by a vehicle entered his mind. He shuddered to think of all the
possibilities this incident triggered.
Yash gave a sound thrashing to the auto driver for his carelessness.
"What was
the name of the young lady? ... Was it Aarti? If not for her ..." he said to
himself.
Everything
continued as normal until one day Palak on her ride back saw Aarti walking on
the side of the road. She stopped her
ride and ran towards Aarti.
"Aarti auntie...
Hi, I'm so happy to see you. Where are
you going?" Palak innocently asked Aarti.
"Nowhere ... I
have nowhere to go," Aarti said and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Come with
me," Palak told her and pulled her into the auto.
When they
reached Palak's house, Aarti and Palak got down. Aarti was reluctant to enter the house, she
felt like an uninvited guest yet this was the only option viable to her. If she is unwanted here she has to go to the
streets. Palak held her hand and both of
them went in.
"Dadi...dadi,
I have brought my friend back," Palak excitedly told her grandmother.
She in
response looked puzzled and looked at the person Palak brought home a few times
but couldn't recognize her.
Aarti
understood her predicament and quickly introduced herself and said, "I'm Aarti...
Could I stay here for a few days? I have nowhere to go now but once I find
another place I will surely leave."
"Hmmm... I will
call and ask Yash. As you can see our
house is so small and we are a big family, if you don't mind sleeping ..."
"No... no... I
don't mind to sleep anywhere," Aarti answered rather pleased because she was welcomed
to stay.
Yash's
mother Radha went out of the house to call Yash and inform him about
Aarti. A while later she came back and
told Aarti that she can stay until she finds another arrangement for herself. Aarti was relieved and thanked her from the
bottom of her heart.
Another
elderly lady came out and started eyeing her up and down.
"Bhabhi... Who
is this girl? I have never seen her before," she asked.
"She is the
girl who saved Palak the other day, she has nowhere to go. She will stay here for few days."
"Bhabhi... we
know nothing about her and you want to keep her here," the elderly lady stared
at Aarti again clearly not happy with her presence.
Aarti was
not bitter at all with her reaction, she had a lot worse treatment at Mansi's
place especially Mansi's mother in law who was responsible for chasing her out of
there.
"I have to
find work fast and be self-reliant," Aarti said to herself.
Yash came
back home and saw Palak sleeping next to Aarti.
"I'll have
to wait till tomorrow to know more about her situation," he said to himself.
Edited by Sdaren - 10 years ago
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