FAKE DATING

Day 4

Rohini's POV

I couldn't sleep last night. Nats been missing since yesterday and so is her father.
Nats' phone has been switched off since 2 pm from yesterday so I tried calling Rivaan. It was really difficult to find his number from truecaller because he was a premium subscriber so his number had only the first three to four digits visible then the rest of it was in asterisks but by trial and error method I finally figured out his calling number. The phone ringed and ringed but no answer. My heart was sinking down with each passing second. Nats has never been this irresponsible. The anxiety, the stress turned my head into a zone of depressing and frightful thoughts of dreadful circumstances that Nats might be in. It was almost 4 pm and there was still no sign of Nats. Where the hell did Rivaan take her??? I was literally going to burst out in tears now when amma knocked on the door.
"Roshi, is everything alright why are you pacing up and down in your room? Are you fine?" She asked sounding really concerned. I checked the clock once again, it was 11 pm and still no sign of nats. I was breaking down. I was waiting for her father to call but even he didn't. I also went to Nats' house once or twice to check if she had come back but she hadn't. Finally with some strength and shaking hands, getting up from the floor I opened the door and as soon as I saw her I hugged amma really tight.
"Venkat come here fast!! Roshi is crying so bad!!" Amma called my father holding me.
Appa rushed at once.
Sitting in the drawing room it was 1:30 am and still no sign of Nats or her father. Neither did Rivaan call back. I had told the whole story in detail of whatever I knew to my parents. They were shocked then pretty disappointed also hurt for breaking their trust. I was sorry for everything. I regret never telling them about all this. Had I ever known Nats would disappear like this one day I wouldn't have ever lied to them or hidden things from them like this. Neither were they as cool as the parents of the western countries nor that strict. I could share some school stuff with them, specially amma.
The first thing they did was go to Nats' place and check but like me even they returned disappointed. Tried calling Nats' father but even his phone was coming switch off. Then appa tried inquiring in the office about the meeting (for which uncle had to go to Pune that morning), appa was told that the meeting ended before 5 pm only the other day and even Naman uncle ( Natasha's father's) had left for his home after that but didn't accompany his colleagues or mates while coming back to Pune so they didn't knew his exact location or even any idea about where he might be.

It's 9 am in the morning, today amma-appa have gone to the police station to file a missing report of Nats and uncle.

Nats didn't have a mother. She lost her mother when she was only six so my mother took care of her as her own daughter. Amma never once was bias to anyone of us, she loved both of us equally. Infact nats was pampered more by amma than me at times. We were like sisters from different mothers and our families were so close from so long that even they don't remember how long.
Along with me my parents were equally disturbed too about the disappearance of nats and her father both all of a sudden. We all were very worried about what happened to them and how could they disappear like this. They didn't have many relatives, visitors or any other family members other than uncle and nats themselves as far as I know, we were their only family friends. Amma-appa had checked with every friend of nats and me to know her whereabouts but got no new useful information.
Amma, appa and Sasha aunt ( Natasha's mother) were in the same college. Romance bloomed between my amma and appa from those days only but they waited till they both got well settled in life to get married. Natasha's parents' wedding was an arranged one, I don't know much about it. Amma once told me that even aunt had a boyfriend in her college days but her father was really strict so ended their relationship and after aunty was done with her graduation and got a job like my parents she was married off to Naman uncle.
After one year or so of marriage, both the couples were blessed with the two of us, amma had told me. Soon after nats was born, her mother was diagnosed with leukaemia fortunately it was only the first stage so she could be cured and saved from dying.
She was urgently admitted to the hospital one night, the reason I don't remember that well as I was really small back then. Aunt's treatment started as soon as she was admitted, she was recovering slowly but the doctor had informed that her life was not in danger anymore. I remember going to the hospital with my parents to visit Nats and her family as she used to not come to school during those days and I missed her. But one terrible day, aunty died due to an accident, she fell down the stairs while coming up to her room from the washroom, she was hardly being able to climb the steps, but there wasn't anybody to help her, the nursing staff was really incompetent and careless. That incident still sends chills down my spine, it's only this one horrible accident that I remember from my childhood distinctly, I remember aunty falling, I saw her but could do nothing to save her, such a coward I have always been, I kept hiding behind the pillar and kept my mouth shut crying. The thing was I saw who pushed her down the stairs. It was Nats, I couldn't believe my eyes at first, how could a daughter push her own mother to death. Aunt was really weak at that time as she was under really strong medication so even with the pushing by a small kid she could fall and would need a lot of support to get up. She fell and died instantly because her body was too weak to handle even that small fall. I kept staring at Nats one second then her mother the next instant, I wanted to scream out loud to my parents but couldn't because my friend would have got caught for murdering her own mother. It felt like a betrayal back then, like some child's play like if I told anybody about what nats had done she will be punished and I would be called a backstabber. I don't know from where I created that logic, it was so stupid. Nats ran away from that place as soon as she heard her mother shout her name while falling. Nats didn't even turn her head around once to check on her dying mother. She must have not noticed me or seen me since I was all shaking and trembling but trying my best to stay hidden behind the pillar.
I also wanted to run after Nats and ask her why she did what she did but my legs were frozen. After hearing the loud thud I did run to see if aunty was okay but she was already dead, I guessed as she wasn't moving. She was lying down in a pool of her own blood.
The police declared it as an accident which happened because of the hospital staff's careless and unprofessional behavior which was true. There was not a single grown up on that floor that day to take care of aunt or help her except for Natasha's mother and we both, me and Nats. We were just kids what could we possibly done wrong. The case went on for few years and Nats' family was paid the compensation and the case was closed and settled permanently.