Whispers Of Love

It would be unfolded in next episode which I would mostly post tomorrow ..

 

Chapter-48

Srikanth


I was waiting for Sriram to be back for dinner.He is here in London for his startup’s first project abroad. Oh yeah, I moved to London soon after Mike found out about me. ORK had a one year project for me here and thankfully all is well here. Work was challenging, tiring and yet I felt accomplishing something.


‘Deal or no deal’ I asked Sriram as he entered the house. He looked sharp in the suit though he hasn’t completely recovered from jet lag.


‘Deal.. But a tight timeline..still this is a huge one..’ he high-fived me and went on to update his team back in India. It must be late night in India but looked like his team was eager for the news.


I checked Whatsapp to find Harini has updated a snap of her and she looked breath-taking. There is a glow of confidence in her face. She got three offers and one among them is from Evolution. I remember the video call with the day she got Evolution offer and there were tears of joy in her.


My eyes wandered to snaps of Vithuran Ramya shared few days back. He has resembles Dev very much. I was planning to visit him often when I go back in two months. That again brought me back to the question: Should I go back? Am I ready for that?


There was a call from dad and it was then I realized, I didn’t know which country dad was in.


‘Srikanth, Any idea where is Sriram?’ dad asked and I could see his voice was bit disturbed. I explained he and his team was celebrating. I could hear too much of noise over video call, that I came to another room to hear dad.


‘Uffff.. Srikanth thing is I don’t know how to tell…’ dad fumbled for words. ‘Jai..Let me tell.’ Came the voice, it took me a minute to realize it was Venkat’s. ‘Meera eloped..’ he said.


‘What?’ I asked. I could hear Venkat asking Dad for another drink.


‘Srikanth..Meera eloped with Kishore’s son… Venkat got to know just now when I was in a meeting with him. He is not taking it well..’ dad said.


‘I’m not sure whether you are aware..verdict against Kishore’s case is pending next week and this changes lot of things…Make sure you inform Sriram before he catches the news from somebody else and watch out for him ‘ he said. I could hear the slurry speech of Venkat. ‘I’ll be off Srikanth..he is heavily drunk now..’ dad disconnected the call.


‘What’s for dinner?’ Sriram came after sometime to dinning table reaching for the snacks. When I told him the news after the dinner, he was too shocked to react.


‘Why Srikanth? How can she do this? There was not a single sign of that. Offlate she was demanding and fighting less, I thought counseling helped her..; he went on.’Dad did point out something on this months before’ he said. I remembered Dad mentioning something on Meera doesn’t appear to be in love.


A tight deadline important deal helped diverting Sriram’s attention. He nearly stayed two months with me and was engrossed in work most of the time. He was starting back by month end and was insisting me to come back for a visit. I heard from dad ,Venkat is still not in talking terms with Meera and not visited her even. Case was adjourned till next month which dad


My project is getting closed and ORK asked me about what I wanted to next: come back to India or move to another project. There was a mail from dad’s brother Vijay asking me to come for his daughter’s wedding. It was another mail which landed in my mailbox made me pack my bags.

 

Chapter-49

Harini


It was a roller coaster of emotions when I boarded the train from college to home for the last time. My life turned out for good in these two years and I now hold more than three unbeatable job offers. Personally too, Nandhini’s career is going fab though she is yet to finish her engineering. Mom,that was a different story. Six months back, after she ran the first marathon she said she wanted to talk to us.


We all went to a near by restaurant where she talked a lot about her position as bakery and during the middle of meal I was complimenting how mom looked fitter now.

Nandhini interrupted the conversation by saying’Harini, Cut the crap. Mom, are you seeing someone?’


Mom took extra time to sip her juice and then said ‘Yes. I’m seeing someone. I’ll tell you girls more about it when things are bit stable…’ she said directly looking at us.


‘Wow mom. Who is it? We badly want to know..’ I said. I was absolutely delighted. If anyone deserves this happiness it must be mom.


‘I’m not telling you any further now.’ She said firmly.


But I know whoever mom is seeing, he is a keeper. Mom kept on blooming and there was a constant happy glow in her face.


Long trip back home brought me back those memories.I was surprised to see Nandhini had come to station for picking me up.


‘Five bags? Don’t tell me these are books…’ she sighed picking my luggage.


‘Only these two are books.’ I said. A group of people who went past us were commenting ‘the girl who comes in that music channel’ and Nandhini beamed hearing that.


We got a cab and while going home Nandhini asked

‘So Evolution again? What is Srikanth saying? Don’t tell me I never asked crap..’


‘May be sometimes you should leave things as it is..How is mom?’


‘She is fine. I think your Mukund sir is her man. I saw them together and he has dropped her home couple of times this month.’


‘Mukund? Are you sure?’ I was shocked. ‘They would make a good pair..but somehow cannot think Mukund as…’


Nandhini caught my thoughts and nodded her head. ‘I’m not sure though..’


We reached and found mom cooking something special for me.It felt great to smell her cooking and I felt home. I dunked enough breakfast and was about to hit bed for a nap.


‘You don’t have any plans tonight right? Nandhini , today is your off right?’ mom asked. ‘I will be home early and let’s go for dinner. Someone else will be joining us as well…’ mom said with a smile.


‘You are going to finally introduce him?’ I asked.


‘Looks like that..’mom said and left to bakery.

Mom came very early and insisted we dress up well for the night. We happily clicked photos and then I asked

‘So he is coming here and taking us out or whats the plan?’


‘Hey black color Innova crystal is coming to apartment..’Nandhini shouted looking from balcony.


‘Hmmm ..so?’ mom asked.


‘That’s Mukund’s car right? Oh mom we have guessed..’ Nandhini squealed.


‘If you think something is going on between me and Mukund that’s completely wrong. ‘ mom said and remained silent for a minute.Nandhini glanced from balcony to see, Innova was going in some other direction.


‘Mukund runs CSR for Evolution which has tie up with bakery because of NGO we are supporting. Mukund comes often to check, mostly buys stuff for his huge family and I know he has extraordinary love on Priya. He is a gentleman considers everyone as their equal. He is concerned about you a lot, Harini and keeps asking me , advising me about you. Also if not for him, I would have been madly chasing you to finish your college Nandhini.’mom continued.


‘Oh..that’s stupid of me..’ Nandhini laughed. ‘So who is that you are seeing?’ she asked.


‘Whoever it is we think he is perfect for you. Look at you now…you wasted long time for that worthless…’ I said ,but stopped seeing the look on mom’s face.


‘That’s Priya who brought the change in me….She frankly pointed out I enjoyed playing the victim role and then guided me on how to come out of it. I took baby steps with her guidance and realized there was a mistake on my part too..’ mom said calmly. More mom explained about how Priya helped her come out of the shell more thankful I was.


The door bell rang and it took me a minute to realize we are awaiting mom’s man.


‘I will get the door.’ Mom said firmly. Her face looked radiant as she opened the door.