FF: A Blue Moon Ago - Chapter 9

Angad woke up thinking. He had fallen asleep in the chair. He trusted Aaliya more than anyone else in the world. She trusted Josh and she thought he was always right. Did that mean Kripa and Josh were right? No, Josh was just fooling around with Aaliya's mind. 'Aaliya is not a kid,' he thought. 'She knows things better; sometimes even better than me. I should trust her judgment.' When he thought again, he was not entirely sure. She was still his kid sister and he could not see anyone playing around with her emotions. 

He rose from the uncomfortable chair with a stiff neck. Whatever happened, he would accept their relationship. He would not let his sister down. It must have taken her a great deal of courage to say that to him. He smiled softly. His sister was brave. She was willing to face the wrath of her brother for her love. She was very much in love. 

He walked to the room and entered the shower. Water drops fell on his tanned skin as diamonds fell from heaven. He stood there thinking about Kripa. Had she really betrayed him or had he just not given her a chance? He should have confronted her instead of staging the drama. He sighed. His pride then was more important to him than any truth. 

Kripa and Josh had always been good friends. They almost had sibling affection. Why did he start seeing them otherwise? What made him suspect? He had no idea but he suddenly wasn't so sure about what had happened ten years ago. He thought he was incredibly dumb. He should have talked to her instead of suspecting her. She was so much in love with him. Not anymore. He had ruthlessly broken her heart. 

She must have been married by now. Oh God, please don't let that have happened. He couldn't bear the thought of her loving some other man. But who would wait for him? And why would she? 'Angad, snap out of these thoughts OK. She cheated on you,' he thought with uncertainty. The only way he was ever going to find out was by confronting her. She was in Nainital; he had seen her. He would ask Aaliya tonight. She would know. Yes, she would definitely know about her whereabouts. If she was talking to Josh, she would be talking to Aaliya too. With that he relaxed somewhat and thought of his friend Sonia. 

Sonia on the other hand was very nervous and sad. She was a tall woman with black eyes and equally dark hair. She had loved him, damn it! He didn't look at her twice. She paced with all these thoughts running in her mind. She only did what she did so that he would look at her twice. Even with Kripa out of the way, he didn't look at her. Kripa was etched on his mind, on his body and his soul. As far as she knew, and she knew quite a lot about Angad, he had not touched any other woman. 

Even a few months ago, she had been optimistic that with just a bit more time, he would come to her. Now, she regretted what she had done. She had separated two people who had loved each other very much. Angad considered her as his friend. If only he knew. She wanted to tell him what she had done but she was afraid. She was afraid of losing him. 'But he never was mine,' she thought. She would rectify her mistake. And that idiot hadn't called her yet. She didn't know what part of the world he was in now. She called Naina Aunty. 

'Hello, Aunty. How are you? Do you know where Angad is?' she asked. 

Naina spoke with a smile. 'Seems like this time he didn't tell you where he went. He's in Nainital. I wanted to go there so he went and hired a cottage. I'm leaving in a few hours.' She really liked Sonia. She was wary about her in the beginning but had realized that this girl loved her son very much. She never thought about fixing them up because she knew Angad was somebody else's. She had still waited. She had waited for a decade now. Naina knew she would wait for her whole life if she had to. But she noticed a change in her from a few months, she was filled with regret. Naina didn't understand why but she knew that Sonia was genuinely regretful. She thought it had to do with Angad's condition but didn't quite reach it. 

On the other side Sonia's breathing was very uneven. He was in Nainital; so was she. This was the right time to tell them both the truth. She would do it even if it killed her. She would do it. She wouldn't be responsible for their separation anymore. Oh God, it hurt. But she had caused much more hurt to many more lives than she realized. 'I deserve it,' she thought. She couldn't sleep at night anymore, her regret was that deep. 

They chitchatted for a while and hung up. Naina finally went to the prayer room and sat down with hands joined. She looked at the deities of all the Gods. She whispered, 'Oh Lord, please give Angad a new life. You know how he's been for a decade now. I can't see him like this anymore. Please do something. I'm depending on You. If there is anybody or anything, there's only You.' 

What Naina didn't know was that somewhere far away, her blood was wishing something similar. For his mother. Kunal stood in the temple with his hands joined to Lord Krishna. There was eye contact between Kunal and the Lord. He moved forward. 'Oh Lord Krishna. Please give my mother happiness. All you've seen is her sadness. Please do something about it. You need to do something about it. You know I've been a good boy. I have never asked Mom about my dad. I have never even asked you. Don't you owe me something? I know Mom still loves dad; I can feel it. She needs him back in her life. I don't know what's going on but I know she loves him. Please let him love her too. Please bring them together. I never even asked you for my tenth birthday gift, I'm asking now, please bring my dad home. Not only for her, for me too.' He looked at the Lord and bowed down. He trusted Lord Krishna. Miracles would happen now. He smiled, everything would be alright now. There would be nobody and nothing to stop this now. 

The four friends couldn't stop thinking about their beloved friend either. She looked distracted as she often did. That didn't mean that she neglected any duties or performed bad in any surgery. She had this crease on her brow that clearly told her friends that she was deep in thought. They had never questioned her. They would never need to because she was very expressive. Her expressions told them everything they needed to know. She still missed Kunal's father. She would tell them when she was ready but there was no denying. They quickly prayed that some miracle would happen and there would be happiness in their friend's life. 

Kripa was really distracted today. All she could think about was Angad. Aaliya had told her that he had accepted the relationship. They would come for dinner tonight. Of course not Angad. How she wished he would come there too. 'Oh well, he's in Mumbai. Why would he ever come here?' she thought. 

She went home in the evening and got a quick delicious dinner ready. Kunal was jumping up and down all excited because he really had missed Josh and couldn't wait for him to come here. They all had a wonderful dinner filled with laughter and Kripa was really happy for her friend. Finally, she thought. 'In university, I always thought that they looked perfect together. It took them a decade to realize that. Why am I feeling so hollow though? I am very happy for them. I will not think about her brother.' Kripa was then called in the hospital for an emergency and took their leave. 

Aaliya went home with Josh all excited. She saw Angad and tensed a little bit. She reminded herself that everything would be fine between Josh and her brother now. There was no reason to panic. They entered the house and Josh and Angad saw each other. They forgot all the animosity that existed between them and just went into each others arms. Aaliya sighed. 'This is just like what happened with me and Kripa. They still love each other so much. I wonder why such things happen.' She thought. 

They talked for a long time and Josh left. Angad turned to Aaliya and saw her happy face. She looked so happy. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if he would have broken their relationship. He was happy for his little sister. Now was the time to ask his sister about Kripa. 

He cleared his throat. 'Aaliya, I wanted to ask you something. Do you know where Kripa stays here?' 

He looked at his sister's panicked face and heard his phone ring. Cursing under his breath, he picked it up. After a few seconds, he managed to bite out a what! Aaliya looked at him and saw that color had led his face and he was listening attentively. 

'Aaliya. Hurry up. We need to go to Sanjivani Hospital. Mom just had an accident!'