They both looked at each other for a minute. No words were spoken initially. Their moist eyes were doing the talking - but not with same emotions. Cyrus felt shame and humiliation - Jenni felt pain and anger - looking at each other. There were several questions going through her mind. How did he know about Roohi? Was he always been keeping track of her? Does he know about her current parents? Was he here to take the child away? Questions were plenty with answers to none.
“Roohi - are you ok?” came running Pooja, Roohi’s classmate. “Are they your papa and mama?” asked the kid innocently.
What was moist before - now became a broken levy with tears now flowing freely from Jennifer’s eyes.
“No. I don’t know who they are Pooja. Aunty, please don’t cry. I am ok. Please don’t cry” The tender hands of Roohi swept away the tears from Jennifer’s eyes. Jennifer had waited 9 years for this very moment of holding Roohi by her hands.
“Uncle, please ask Aunty not to cry. I have to go back to class for the next period. My teacher will punish us if they see us hanging around in the ground after the bell. Ok aunty, Ok uncle. See you” Roohi disappeared in a flash.
“Jenni - I don’t know how to begin. A simple sorry is not going to cut it, I am aware. I have made you suffer all along by punishing you with my cowardice. There is not a single moment in my life that goes by without thinking about you. Will you ever forgive me? How can I ever make it up to you for all these years?” Cyrus was on an apology spree.
Jennifer brushed her tears off, regained her composure and continued “Look, there is nothing to talk between us. My husband is waiting for me in the hotel. Please don’t waste time in explaining the past. I remember nothing. But remember this - if I ever come to know that you are trying to talk to that child again, I will get the police involved for possible kidnaping charges. Leave all of us alone and just go away”.
Jennifer ran away as fast as possible from him, fearing that she might actually forgive him if she prolongs the conversation. She also made sure that Cyrus knew that she was married and moved on.
Kumar had stayed back in the hotel near the school providing some space for Jennifer to face her past by herself.
“Jenny honey, what happened? are you ok? did you meet your child?” a concerned Kumar enquired seeing Jennifer rushing back to the hotel room crying.
“Did you talk to her? How is she like? Please don’t cry honey” Kumar continued.
“Kumar, please take me away from here. This was a mistake. I should have never asked you for this. You have been way too kind towards me for all these years. I don’t deserve you. I made a mistake. Please take me back to our place. All I care about is you. You have sacrificed everything for me. I have not given you the slightest happiness a wife can give her husband. You sacrificed your fatherhood just because I was not able to move on from my past. I have tortured you with my sobbing all the time. Please forgive me. Please don’t ask me anything. Lets go home and I will never talk about it again”
“Calm down Jennifer. Ok, as you wish. I will book a flight to Trivandrum for us tonight. Please don’t cry honey. I will always be there for you.
*****
 |
| Pic courtesy - Satish Acharya |
“You tell me this now Tara? it is already 4:30 and our kid will be waiting outside already. You clearly know tomorrow is Ganesh Chaturthi Visarjan day. Traffic is going to be a mess in Mumbai with several diversions. Thanks for making me rush Tara”
I was about to pick her up, but I got stuck in a meeting. Please. Bye. Gotto go" Tara hurried her conversation rushing to her 8th meeting of that day.
Shekar picked up his car keys and started driving as fast as he can. After all, he did not want his kid to be stranded all alone at school.
Dark clouds surrounded Mumbai around 4:40PM. They came in from no where. This was not the monsoon season. The sky opened up. Mumbai started to soak.
Shekar had already been asked to take 2 diversions from his original route. The wet roads made the driving even more difficult. He overtook two city buses one after another to make sure he takes the right before the signal fell. He did not see the auto rickshaw coming from the other side of the bus also rushing way over speed limit.
BANG.
Shekhar slowly woke up from a brief pass out. He has hit the auto rickshaw and the passenger was bleeding profusely from his head, lying on the wet road. Shekhar slowly tried to open his jammed front door to step down and try to asses the situation.
“Can someone call an ambulance” the auto rickshaw driver shouted at the crowd that had gathered. He survived just with scratches.
“Shekhar, bleeding himself, slowly tried to check the passengers pocket for some identification. The passengers wallet had few 1000 rupees, some visiting cards, something that looked like an air ticket receipt and few other papers. He flipped over to the front side. There was a picture on the front - a girl, in her teens smiling with her hands around what looked like a younger version of the passenger”
He opened the other small compartment to notice a slip with emergency contact details. It read -
Cyrus Daruwala, BA BL;
Advocate - Dubey & Partners Advocates;
New Delhi.
Blood Group - O+
Emergency Phone - +91 923409454
---End of Round 1---
You can read the earlier parts of the story at the following links :
Chapter 1: The beginning
Chapter 2: Roohi revelation
Chapter 3: Sleepless nights
Chapter 4: Paradoxical Jennifer
Chapter 5:The nightmare
Chapter 6: So near and yet so far
Chapter 7: Meeting after 9 years
Chapter 8: C for Cyrus- coward and commitment phobic
Chapter 9: Fighting guilt
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