" We zoom in on a photo to have extraordinary view of only one person among the crowd!
Isn't it? " Rishi's mom came and sat next to him as he is surfing through their photos of new-year event.
" I missed sleeping on your lap, so much mom!" Rishi said as he rested his head on her lap, quickly closing the tab.
He narrated how his friends motivated him to step towards his dreams.
"Friends for life you have got! " She admitted.
"Do you like Anu, dear?" She asked.
Rishi got up and looked at her surprised.
"Why did you ask that? " He mumbled.
"I felt so, you instinctively smile seeing her, you check on her, you laugh at all her jokes bit more, you feel proud when someone praises her, you always look into her eyes when you are speaking to her. Do I need to say anything else? " She giggled.
"I'm not sure, I just want to focus on career right now. I'm confused if I should step a head now, " he gasped.
" When you think you met the right person, there wouldn't be any timetable to proceed. Remember love is constructive, attraction isn't. " She smiled.
" I agree. But.....! " He exclaimed, "what if she says she isn't expecting this from me. I can't face rejection especially at this point of time! "?
"Well, so you would become a devdas?" She joked.
"Absolutely not!" Rishi said, bit shocked.
" Jokes apart, why would a girl who knew everything about you, who is always ready to accompany you, who listens to everything you speak would reject you? I'm sure she likes you too. I saw hints from her side too. " She smiled.
" That's true, she listens to whatever I speak as if it's very important every time! She even forgot her mobile in hurry when I asked her to come with me to meet you! " Rishi exclaimed.
" Well, when you are going to propose her then?" She beamed.
"I don't know, I'm afraid of relationships." Rishi said recollecting how he suffered because of toxic relationship with Anjali.
"But she did reject me once, my letter, she reacted angrily. We are friends then too, she supported me then too. But she gave that letter to professor who always supported me in college, he lectured me why I shouldn't deviate. For the first and last time, I hated her for that. I felt ashamed infront of him just for declaring my crush on her. She might have done that for my well being. But that's immature. It took me long time to get normal with her, though she was like nothing ever happened. I was deeply hurt. I still wonder why a girl like her did like that! " He thought in his mind.
" But we were kids back then. Being immature was okay. Everyone does mistakes. So did she. It was past. She would have forgotten even. But I'm still scared, " Rishi told to Arun on call the evening after narrating his conversation with his mom.
" I don't know what's inside her head. But your answer is in your question. " Arun suggested.
"Well, I would talk to her then, " Rishi concluded.
Rishi returned after 2 more days. They quickly got busy with their works.
Sam is happy when she spotted herself in serial episode finally.
Well Anu did intentionally add a clip of covering all her friends' faces including her's to have it as a memory!
Anu and Rishi did meet in between. But none of them spoke like before. They mostly kept wondering how should they talk, what to talk and what's in other's mind.
Megha really got annoyed as they kept silence mostly, when they four met.
It's 11 of Jan. After reciting what to say and which song to sing, infront of mirror a no. of times, Rishi decided to tell her on the next day evening, as she would leave for her hometown on 13 evening.
So does Anu, as she is writer she is wondering either to write a letter, send a long text, write poetry or recite infront of him!
" Can we meet tomorrow? I need to talk to you about an event! " She pinged him, when he is typing the same.
His heart raced.
"Yeah! Ping me the details of location. " He quickly texted back.
"I think destiny has other plans. I would propose her after the meet, " he thought.
None of them couldn't really sleep. They are wondering how the next day is going to be.
" I will tell Sam, Arun, Mega, Raghu and Ritu first, if everything goes fine. They will be elated! " Anu thought.
"Ritu.... We used to talk on call after I came here initially. It turned to texts and almost no calls. We aren't almost talking since two months. She didn't ping on birthday too. Yeah, how did I forget that! "
Anu dailed Ritu worried.
There is no response.
"Seems like she switched off and slept. Will call in the morning," she thought.
.................
The next day Anu is busy till the evening. She is eagerly waiting for time to run quickly.
She dressed up good, the dress Rishi complimented once.
"All set! " She is waiting in the shooting spot, which is decorated to shoot a love proposal sequence. It's almost isolated.
She lied to them that she need to sit alone there and think, about the screenplay and is waiting for Rishi.
Rishi soon came there on time.
He is dazzling in white shirt and blue jean, Anu's favourite combo.
"Haven't others come yet? It seems isolated but very beautiful set! " Rishi asked acting causally.
"No, they haven't come yet, no body is coming actually." Anu mumbled.
Rishi looked surprised.
" I'm afraid if relationships and love Rishi, " she said.
"Did Arun tell her about my confused feelings. Is it why she called me here? "Rishi is puzzled.
" Love is complicated to decode. What makes us fall for someone is a big question. It's not like I don't believe in love. I do. But it's just that I'm afraid of making wrong steps. " She continued.
Rishi kept mum, agreeing with her.
"But that's not how life goes. I should leave behind my fear and confusion one day and give it a chance." She smiled bit tensed.
"Yes, that's what I thought about myself too. I should give myself a chance again. " Rishi said.
"And my time has come Rishi! I want to trust and accept completely! " Anu said turning towards him.
Rishi's heart thumped.
"Does she love someone else? Does she want my suggestion about it? Is it why she met me alone, so that others couldn't disturb or eavesdrop? Is that her friend Raghu...... or someone from her team? " Rishi's face turned gloomy.
She is about to kneel down, when her phone rang.
"How the hell did I forget to put it in silent mode, " Anu cursed herself.
She rushed towards the table, where her phone is ringing interrupting the vibe between them. But the call ended before she could pick up.
"I'm Ritu's friend, she is battling death. " The text popped up on her screen made her dumbstruck.
" What's wrong with this! " She cried.
"What? " Rishi quickly read the text.
Anu called back, but no body answered.
They quickly checked the number in True caller but it didn't help.
Before they can do anything, her phone rang again.
"It's Ritu's mom." Anu said to Rishi while answering the call.
"Anu, Ritu left us and the world. Drunk and drive case. We are bringing her body to home now. Tomorrow itself we are going to cremate her. " Her dad said sniffing, "Inform her close friends if any. "
Anu and Rishi are thunderstruck.
"We will start early in the morning, please control yourself, " Rishi said patting Anu's shoulder as she looked devastated.
They rushed to home quickly. Anu, Rishi, Arun and Sam reached there by 10 AM.
Everyone is in shock. They all know Ritu as a happy going girl with a supportive family.
"She does drink at parties but she never drives if drunk." Anu said.
" But she did, she took a part of us with her! " Her mother burst into tears.
"When did it happen? " Arun yelled.
"Yesterday at around 8pm. Her friend took her to hospital but she didn't survive. " Her dad cried.
"Who sent that whatsApp message to me? Is that Ritu's friend? " Anu asked Rishi worried.
" Yes it's me. I thought she would get up and become normal. I thought she feels good if you come there to hospital. That's why I pinged you. Thought to call back but, that's when the doctor said she is no more. I threw the phone away in anger," Saketh said.
"They are in pain. We shouldn't ask them anything now! " Sam told them.
Four of them found it difficult to see Ritu lifeless. They sat in the garden where they all used to sit and chit chat after every odd semester holidays during their college.
" What about post-mortem? " Sam frowned.
" We should inform police. And that friend of her looks very helpful. She told me about him few months ago. "Anu said.
However Ritu's parents are unhappy with police encounter. They assured it's an accident.
" We don't mean to hurt you. But you aren't there at the spot. May be someone is behind this. We just want to make sure. " Rishi and others said to her parents.
"They are right, " Saketh supported them.
They all regretted not in being touch with their old friend.
The further proceedings are done next day after the autopsy.
"Do you suspect any of her friends? Any one stalked her? Teasing, love? " Police asked Anu.
" No, as far as I know, she never told me anything of such kind. "Anu said.
"You can leave kids. We will take care. " Ritu's parents told them the evening.
They left heavy hearted. However they are still unsure about the facts. Anu is upset, time they spent together, how Ritu motivated her to pursue her dreams, how she helped her in fetching part time jobs, everything hovered around her head.
She's unable to focus on work. As they shot many episodes ahead, her team is okay with her taking leaves. They generally take leaves in a cyclic manner.
"Autopsy report says she succumbed to head injury due to accident. There is no other conspiracy, " Ritu's dad said.
Anu felt bit relieved.
"It's not the complete truth Anu, there is something else."A text from Saketh made her mad again.
" Something went wrong, she is quite upset since a month." Saketh told her.
Anu informed about it Rishi.
"I have to find it out! Even her parents are acting weird, " Anu stated.
" I won't let you go there alone. I too will come with you. " Rishi said.
"We have new character entry shoot there. Luckily I planned it a month ago coincidentally. We with help of Saketh can find clues. " Anu said thankfully.
As she already planned a holiday during pongal her schedule isn't much effected either.
They landed there the next day.
"This is where I began, and now I'm here again but for a different purposes. " Anu said teary eyed.
"I will take care of this sequence, will ping you if I need any help. " Her team mate helped her with escaping from shoot.
"There is a guy she met six months ago. " Saketh said. "They got into relationship too. After that there was a change in her behaviour. She started ignoring us.
He smokes, drinks a lot. She is habituated to it along side consuming, because of him and bad circle. I tired to warn her as she is messing up in office too.
But she asked me to stay away as it was her life. I was hurt and let it be.
But they had a cat fight on road when she found he does drugs.
But he somehow convinced her.
The worst part is soon she too started taking them. She is badly influenced and lost herself.
I did try to talk to her parents but she slapped me for that. Her parents became upset with her after this. They told her to leave him. But she didn't. She is addicted to drugs slowly.
One day she found him, cheating on her with another girl. She came to me crying that day.
I suggested her to move on. She agreed.
But he came after her begging. He is head strong and spoiled.
She changed her number and is in the process of healing. That's why she isn't in contact with anyone. Her parents were initially angry but came here to stay with her, and helped her with everything. They are shattered and upset. She misused freedom, it seemed like. I felt ashamed as a friend."
I felt bad for them. I wonder if she succumbed to accident or he did something. " Saketh told them every tiny detail he knew.
" May be they had a fight. She might got drunk after that and hit the tree. " Rishi said.
"She tried a lot to get rid of addiction. But she used to drink every time he troubled her. He blackmailed her that he would leak their pics and those in which she was doing drugs. " Saketh said teary eyed......
To be continued....
Precap: Anjali finds about Rishi's brewing love for Anu.