Destiny or Coincidence?

Athira Patel

There she is standing in the doorway with the support of Abhi and looking at me with tear-filled eyes while Abhi was looking in between us with different emotions in his eyes. I can clearly see the fear, hurt, betrayal, fear of loss and everything in them. It made my heart cry in pain for him but what's even more surprising and shocking is that my heart is struggling to beat normally after seeing her face like that.

I knew the reason why it's painful for me to see Abhi in this state but I never thought that I would feel this way about her. 

Seeing her standing there like that in a helpless situation is making my stomach form into knots with struggle with my feelings. Everything is very confusing at the moment. The feelings, the pain, the love, everything fell apart into pieces by making me confused and hard to pick them up neatly. 

Behind her was my dad, who just stood there like a statue with sorrow but not trying to make any eye contact with me and instead he was looking down silently. I know that he thinks that I am hating him for not informing me about it but how can I ever hate him?

I agree that I am angry at him, but hate is a very big word and I am not ready for it at the moment. I have lost one parent and I am not ready to lose one more because of this matter even if he is not my own father. I may be angry at him at present but I know from the heart that I will definitely forgive him. 

The only question is when and how?

"Athira…." aunty said taking a step towards my direction while I sat there looking at her without fluttering my eyelashes.

"I know it's hard for you to digest it or even think about it. But please give me a chance to explain it before you decide anything" she asked with hope-filled eyes while coming near to me and taking a seat on the opposite side of me.

Abhi too sat beside her without uttering a word but looking at me with an expression that was conveying to say yes for a moment. It was assuring to know that he is still with me at this moment. 

Dev and Brother too occupied the seats on either side of me with silence and was looking at me expectantly. I can feel the tension and burden on my shoulders with all the eyes looking in my direction.

I too need to know the answers to all my questions that were raising in my head but the question is am I ready to hear them out? 

Probably yes. Because I need to listen to them if they are linked with me and basically if it's about me. So even if its harder to digest and face them at the moment, I think I need to prepare myself for the blow that's going to come in the form of truth which I was not expecting in a billion years.

"I too am responsible for this" dad said silently glancing at me with regret and pleading eyes and continued "so I think I need to explain it as well" he completed by sighing in return and coming towards us with silence and occupied the left sofa of my side. 

I can see the relief in aunty's and Adi's eyes while dad stiffened slightly with fear-filled eyes. It made me confused but to some extent, I think I might have got his fear. 

"I think we have to tell you from the start of our friendship for you to understand our relationship." Said aunty looking at all of us and then resting her eyes on me. It made me a little bit uncomfortable but I stood on my spot without backing away. 

"It was the first day of our college and both me and Spandana were very excited for our first day. We were very happy to be together again even in our college that we took the same classes. Most of them said that it was crazy but we thought that it was friendship." She said remembering those days with a chuckle. I can see that even dad was smiling a little at this. 

"I think it was the best decision of our life because if not for that then we wouldn't have met our gang. It was funny though because we never thought that we would meet the best friends of our life." She said giving us a genuine smile but it became sad very soon. I think it's because of remembering her friends. 

"It was our first class I think when we met Priya who was sitting silently at the back of the class alone. So we thought of occupying beside her and making her our new friend. So we went and sat beside her with friendly smiles on our faces but she just looked at us for a second and then got back to looking down." She said chuckling and continued "We both looked at each other with confused faces because we didn't know what was wrong with her. But again we tried to talk with her slowly and after trying three times she responded to us with a tear-filled face." She stated, looking at dad to which he chuckled shaking his head. 

I can see that they both know the story by heart and were reliving it again. 

"Now we were literally shocked to see her expression but then she explained to us that someone was teasing her and that she ran away to this room immediately. But found out later that it was our classmate and he was none other than Mohan." She said with a smirk while glancing at dad. 

"It was not my fault that she was so scared of me for saying that she is beautiful," dad said defensively to which aunty raised her eyebrows in challenge. 

"Ok. And maybe I might have asked her out to which she freaked out. But in my defense, it was pretty normal and I explained it before also." Dad explained as if his action was pretty normal and he didn't do anything that made my mother scare away from him. 

"Ya ya. So it was because of him that she cried on her first day of college. It made Spandana angry that she swiftly went towards him who was sitting on the other side of the corner at the back with his friends and was chit-chatting with them. She went and clutched his collar in the rage that both of them gasped in return. We never expected that she would do that and to say frankly it scared me a little bit. Not because we might get expelled or punished but thinking about that boy's future because Spandana can be aggressive and dominant when it needed." Aunty said looking down and smiling to herself that we looked at each other in return to see each other's reaction. 

"That's only because she was a fighter" dad again explained defensively. 

"We both know that you were scared of her if not for Yashwanth and Girish catching hold of her from breaking your nose on that day," Aunty said as if she is challenging him to add something. But dad raised his hands in surrender that I was surprised looking at him. Because he never surrenders except for mom and me. And at that moment I understood that his friends are his family if he is willing to accept defeat. 

"So that was the first time Spandana glanced at Yashwanth and fell for him head over heels at first sight. Of course, it was the same on the other side too but they took a while to express their feelings towards each other. It was like Tom and Jerry fighting to gain each other's attention and this process we all became friends. Mohan got the chance to flirt with Priya even more that finally after completion of the first year she accepted him." Aunty said looking at dad with happiness in her eyes. 

"You know Athira your dad was one romantic person that in front of everyone after the cricket match, he proposed to her dramatically with so many flowers and balloons. Everyone was in awe stuck when we realized what's happening and his two idiotic friends helped him in that plan of his." She said shaking her head that I chuckled knowing too well about my dad's romantic ways to impress mom. 

"He used to be the same until mom died. I can agree with you on that" I said nodding my head in agreement with a smile on my face after a long time. 

"Your mom used to be silent at first but even then she secretly used to glance at him from the corner when he wouldn't watch her. It was so beautiful to their innocent love blooming that me and Girish used to laugh at them all the time. Now our gang consisted of two couples with me and Girish being single among them." She said closing her eyes and remembering her days of college. 

"Ya, you were so stubborn to notice that Girish was trying to impress you all the time. He used to act like a puppy roaming everywhere you go but you being the idiot never noticed him. Not until Pavan tried to misbehave with you and Girish saved you on that day" dad said looking at her eyes with such seriousness that I would be surprised if not for his eyes that are glinting in mischief, letting me know that he was teasing her. 

"Ya, I agree with it. God who could have thought that he was trying me. You know it right that I have feelings for him but never expressed because of fear of getting rejected. Damn, he was the favorite one among the girls then how could I think that I stand a chance against them? So yes I was stubborn and you all know that. It was only after the incident that I realized he too has feelings for me. Even then he was very stubborn to express and took his sweet time to express. I was a weeping mess by the time he proposed to me you know. I thought that I had seen it wrong because if I was right then he would have proposed to me until now." Aunty explained her side of the story about how she became scared of knowing her feelings. I think I can relate to it because even I felt the same way about Abhi when I realized about my feelings towards him. 

"That's because he wanted to do it romantically but you were being impatient. So he preponed his plans and proposed to you on that night" dad explained from his friend's side that it made me smile looking at both of them. They both looked like they were in teenage days by quarreling like that. 

"Ok. I admit that I was restless but you cannot blame me for reacting like that. Anyone could have reacted the same way as me at that time." Aunty said as if she felt she needed to explain her point of view. 

"Ok. So from that point onwards, we were all a couple in our gang. We were inseparable and everyone used to envy us, become jealous of our relationship or even admire us for our strong bonding. It even continued after we graduated and started working in different places. I think after four years of graduation we eventually started getting married with a gap of five to six months for each of us. It was like a dream come true because we used to spend all the time with each other at that time. After four years we met again and until one and half years we enjoyed each and every marriage of us" dad said with so much happiness in his eyes that I admired their friendship. Even aunty was having this fond look on her face that it made me happy seeing them like that. They were literally very close to each other. 

"If everything was going fine then what happened so suddenly that it made you all fall apart like this?" Abhi asked looking in between both of them. Even I want to know what happened between them that they became like this.

"It was all because of me. I should have been more careful while planning everything" Aunty said with guilt and regret filled time and eyes that it tugged my heart seeing her like this. 

"How many times should I tell you that it was not your fault Hema," dad said getting angry all of a sudden that aunty gave a sad smile making his anger vapourised and in place there was concern on his face.

"You don't know the whole story, Mohan. I never said it in the first place," she said making him look at her in confusion. 

"What are you trying to say?" dad asked to which she gave a sad smile and continued. 

"Me and Yashwanth planned to build a company that was related to designing. We were all set to open it. You know it from the start that we were obsessed with the plan of building a company but no one believed us. So we wanted to make you all surprised by showing you in person that it was not just our illusion. The actual plan was to launch it before I gave birth to my second child but unfortunately, it prolonged further because of the loan pending from the bank side and then came my delivery time. So it was postponed and we were able to launch only when Athira became a six months baby." She said looking at me fondly that I gulped in return. Involuntarily my gaze landed on Abhi who was watching me already with tensed eyes. I can feel his stress about all of this while this far away from him.  

"It was all set and when we informed Spandana, she was very delighted to hear the news. It was her plan to come and tell you in person instead of calling and informing you. So we all packed our stuff but Girish was having a meeting so he backed out from the plan. Even Abhi was suffering from the fever, so we let him stay with Girish instead of traveling all the way to Hyderabad when he was sick. And anyway we were planning to return in one day so it was not a big deal. I made Adi watch over him while Girish was away and came to Hyderabad with them by carrying my six months baby with me. Because I can't let her be alone when Girish was busy and there was no one to look after her." she said with a miserable tone that dad got up and took a seat beside her. I realized how sensitive this topic was for them to relieve it again. 

"We all wanted to come by train Mohan but Yashwanth insisted on taking his car to showcase in front of you. So we all agreed to it and started coming to Hyderabad with newfound enthusiasm in us. Everything was perfectly fine until….." aunty stopped with a sob that dad hugged her tightly in return. Even I have tears in my eyes seeing her like this. Everyone in the room wore grim faces, seeing her like this. 

"Until…. Athira woke and cried. I tried to… I tried to stop her cries and make her sleep but I think she was hungry that made her cry. So Yashwanth suggested that he would stop somewhere nearby so that I can feed her. But Spandana insisted on parking at the roadside immediately. She was not able to see Athira cry like that and it was tearing her apart." she chuckled lightly remembering the scene and continued "sometimes I used to feel like she was the mother of Athira than me because she always used to carry her in her arms without giving me" she said looking at dad with glum eyes.

"So, without much thought and looking at Athira with concern he tried to park at the roadside... But the only mistake he made was to look back to Athira when she started hiccuping in her cries..." she stopped and covered her face with her hands while sobbing. 

"It… It was all in a flash of the mom… moment Mohan. It was like one minute we were happy and the next minute we were spiraling down the road filled with so many trees and rocks." she continued explaining with sobs and hiccups while covering her face. Even dad had closed his eyes while listening to her. 

"I don't remember much of anything after that. I fell unconscious and only got up in the hospital after a day. When you fill in everything that had happened with us….. It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water on me." she said looking at dad with grief and sorrow.

"When I realized that my best friends had died on the spot in a car accident leaving me alone with these injuries, guilt started to creep in knowing that I was the reason behind all of this." She said clutching her stomach and crying her heart out that I too cried with her. Abhi hugged her tightly from trying to stop her and Adi seated there looking at his mom with a stiff expression. I think he knew everything from the way his expression is. 

"The worst part was that my baby…" she said after sobering up to some extent and looking me in the eye. 

"Police said that they can't find your body for several days and I lost hope for you. I was staying sane only for the sake of you but when police had surrendered their helplessness, it was my time to breakdown and fall apart. Guilt was eating me alive that three lives had been sacrificed because of me." She said averting her eyes from me to dad with an unreadable expression. 

"So I did what I thought was correct. I silently ran away from all of you and never came back because I couldn't face you. I don't know when I would be able to face you, but when I can, I thought of coming back. But then I remembered my son and Girish. He stayed with me all throughput my breakdown and supported me in my worst time." She said now looking down and not facing anyone. 

"It was my choice to not contact you, so even Girish stopped texting you or calling you." She said with guilt-ridden eyes. 

"But I wanted to move on from that incident. So I launched the company which me and Yashwanth together thought of doing it and it was none other than Jordan Saint Architects. I gave my everything to this company, and spent all the guilt I felt for them on the work. It was not easy grieving for both my best friends and my daughter but I copied it with my two sons." She said looking at Mohan with tear-filled eyes.

"Two sons? But as far as I know, you have only one son and one daughter right?" Dad asked looking at her in a confusion that it made me snap my head in his direction with a shocked expression. 

One son? What does he mean? She has two sons right? Or again there is a story to it?

"Yes. I have only one son." She said after taking a few moments with deep breaths and continued "but I adopted Abhi as my own from the moment Spandana and Yashwanth died" she said making me gasp and look over at him who had a wide-eyed expression on his face because of this new revelation. 

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Hello everyone,

Here is your awaiting chapter. I hope that you like it.

I know that I haven't updated it for a long time and I am sorry for that because I was busy with my personal life and got these days.

But here I am with three chapters in a row. So do let me know your thoughts and opinions on this chapter.

Don't forget to vote comment and share it if you like.

Love....

Sprinkle....