Destiny

Chapter 4A

Chapter 4A

One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.

“You may not believe in destiny, but I believe some things are meant to be and no matter how much we deny it or try to stop it, things or people who are destined to be together will end up together. Things that are destined to take place will happen no matter how much we fight it. Think about it.”

Damn his hide and his parting words, they have yet to leave her mind. For one whole week she tried her best to forget the words and do anything and everything in her power to avoid meeting any of the Desai’s or anyone remotely close to them.

She evaded Dr. Joshi at every turn, and made sure another nurse was assigned to patients he is following for his mentor. He hadn’t said anything to her but his knowing looks had told it’s own stories. He knew she was avoiding everyone, including him.

Then the phone calls had started, her hard won peace was shattered in span of two weeks. She had waited for the other shoe to drop and just when she thought this time she wouldn’t have to deal with her.

Gauri is brought out of her complacent attitude by one lousy phone call. Thank god Sweta hadn’t been home when that woman called.  Mrs. Neeta Parekh, Gauri no longer thought of her as mother. She was a hateful witch who could never be happy until she made sure Gauri was miserable.

You have made this bed of roses and now lie in it and deal with the thorns that came along with the roses. Gauri admonished herself.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty and now it is too late to undo what was done. Why had she given into her brother’s pleadings to get to know Sanya? She chose the path and now she has to walk it to see where it takes her and see what she has to give up to make sure that the people she loved are protected at any cost. If she was made to leave everything behind then so be it.

She must make sure neither Sweta nor her brother comes to know about the harassing phone calls. Her brother was out of town but will be returning soon and Sweta has been busy with work and Karan so it has been easy to hide the phone calls from them.

So far it had been easy to avoid everyone, but Fourth of July is coming up and she has heard from both Kruti and Sanya about the plans to spend the weekend at Raj’s beach home in Wildwood. Neither of them wanted to hear any excuses from her and was ordered to join them all for the party and the fireworks.

“Earth to Gauri, come back.” Gauri was startled to hear her co-worker and friend, Lisa, call out to her. She looked up to see her petite, pretty blond haired blue-eyed friend looking at her with worry.

Gauri smiled to ease her worry. “Hi, when did you get here?”

Lisa was not convinced by the smile and placed her hand on Gauri’s shoulder in understanding. “Two minutes ago, ready for lunch?”

Gauri nodded. “Let me just report off and I will join you.”

Five minutes later both girls made their way to the cafeteria on the first floor. Lisa waited until they sat down with their food before inquiring about Gauri's worry. Her friend was going thru some tough times and she couldn't help but feel her pain.

"How are you holding up? You look very tensed and worried about something. You want to talk about it?" Lisa's compassionate voice broke Gauri's resolve to keep everything to herself. If she didn't talk to someone she is going to go insane.

Lisa was the only other person, outside of her family and Sweta, who knew all of Gauri's past history. Gauri told Lisa everything that has been happening and felt much better after sharing her grief over the current events.