BORN TO RULE

[Hin] Chapter 30: It's Time For Pathankot!

Tia and Yohan, along with some other students, were coming out of their classroom. Tia stopped back to answer her buzzing phone. She unzipped her handbag and checked her phone. There were two missed calls from Jai.

"Jai?"

She wondered why he had to call her because they were definitely not on good terms with each other. Her chain of thoughts was interrupted with another call from Jai. This time she answered immediately.

"Hello?"

"Khamma-ghani, Rani-sa. Kaisi hain aap?" Jai greeted her in Rajasthani greeting from the other end of the call.

"Saath-Shri-Aakaal, Rana-jee," she greeted him back in Punjabi greeting. "Main toh theek hoon. Par aapko kya hua, aaj humein kaise yaad kiya?" Tia replied harshly.

He chuckled sensing that beating around the bush won't work with her. So he came directly to the point, "Humein aapki madat chahiye."

"Hmm. Madat? Vo bhi meri! Baat kya hain?" She was curious now.

"Batate hain. Lekin Gayatri aapke aas-paas toh nehi hain na?"

"Nehi. Aap boliye."

Tia smiled slyly after hearing Jai's reason of calling her.

~*~

It's the birthday of the Princess of Jaipur, it was Gayatri's 22nd birthday. The whole palace was decked up and lightened up with everything of Gayatri's choice. The palace was crowded with guests and only chattering sound of them could be heard.

Amidst all the hustle and bustle, Gayatri stood with her bhabis somewhere in the main hall in complete silence, occasionally unlocking her phone to check something. Only she stood in complete silence but her bhabis were talking non-stop.

"Kya baat hain humari Gayu jo sara din non-stop bakbak karti thi, aaj apne birthday ke din chupchap khari hain... Cake pasand nehi aya kya?" Priya enquired, taking a break from her chat with Tia.

"Nehi, Priya bhabi, aisi koi baat nehi hain. Bas aise hi...." Looking up from her phone, she smiled a little.

"Aise kaise? Kuch to zaroor hua hain, nehi to tum itni gumsum nehi rehti. Batao, baat kya hain?" Tia lifted her chin to see her face and sadness was clearly visible in her eyes.

"Hmm. Ek minute," Priya scanned around the hall with her eyes, before continuing. "Tia, Jai nehi aya kya?"

"Ow! To ab samajhi... Jai nehi aye iss liye naraz ho?" Tia asked.

Gayatri nodded and frowned.

"Aww, koi baat nehi. He must be busy. Aise hi thori na tumhare birthday pe nehi aata vo," Priya gave her a side hug and tried to cheer her up.

"Na ane mein koi problem nehi hai, pehle bhi aisa hua hain. Lekin issbar toh na call kia aur na hi koi message!" Gayatri mumbled under her breath.

"Kya! Ussne message bhi nehi kia?" Priya was stunned at this new information.

"Achchha, main ek minute mein ayi," Tia disappeared in the crowd in a hurry.

"Gayu, main bata rahi hu, Jai ko asaani se maaf matt karna. Yeh to bohot buri baat hain! Aa nehi sakta, call nehi kar sakta par ek message bhi nehi bheja? Not done," even Priya frowned.

"Bhabi, sach kahu... Mujhe iss party mein rehne ka bhi mann nehi kar raha. Main, please, apne kamre mein jaun?"

Before Priya could reply, all the lights went off and a spotlight fell over the stairs.