CH 14 || Move On

Dhruv

******

As always I got up before my alarm beeped. Sometimes it feels, it's my job to wake up my alarm.

What a bad joke it was. Mr.Chatterjee's company is leaving bad effects on me I guess.

Mr. Chatterjee is my driver. He is Rana Uncle's relative. Rana Uncle has retired from his work now and has opened a poultry farm along with a general store in India. His business is going quite well. We often talk on the phone, and he takes tips from me regarding his business. It feels like yesterday only, when he used to teach me driving, and now he is learning the business from me.

Sheela Aunty has opened a small restaurant and its working very fine. Well, it should be, after all, she is such a great cook. I have learned cooking from her only.

Wearing my black hoody and grey sweatpants, I went out of the house for jogging.

The black clouds were hovering and thunderstorms were loud enough to scare anyone. The rain has not started yet but it could anytime soon. It was fifth day and the weather was still the same. I have heard a rumour of storm but I believe it's only a rumour as there was the same fake news which traveled around the world 5 years ago but nothing happened and no storm has occurred in the town for the last 30 years.

I started jogging around the park near my house. Running for around 25 minutes I saw Mrs.Acharya my neighbour sitting on the bench in the park.

I looked at my watch and it showed 6 a.m which was a very odd time for her to be there. What was she doing there at this time of the hour?

Mrs.Acharya is an editor in a famous newspaper in London. She is a lady in her 50s and lives here alone with her pet as her family resides in New York. I visit her from time to time to make sure she is doing fine and she also treats me like her own.

Going towards her, I said, "Good Morning Mrs. Acharya."

Her face lightened seeing me and she replied, "Good Morning my sweet boy."

She patted the seat beside her and I sat down.

"What are you doing here at this time? "

"I woke up early, so I thought to take a morning walk. I got tired so I decided to just sit and enjoy the lovely weather."

Frowning at her reply I said, "You had trouble walking since last week and now you are telling me, you wanted to take a walk in this weather. You should have thought of a good lie."

"You are a mind reader."

"That I am. Now tell me why are you here?"

"I came here to make a wish."

"A wish? In this weather? To whom?"

"There is this saying in my village that whenever you make a wish on the 5 day of the consecutive rain, it comes true."

I laughed at her comment. Who believes in these things these days, not even kids will do that.

"See, that's why I was not telling you." She said sadly and I felt bad for the old lady so I apologized. She was still sad so I thought to show some interest in her story to cheer her up.

"Tell me about this wish please."

Her face lightened a bit seeing me curious to know about the story.

She told me how some God has given this blessing to the people of the earth that whosoever wish for something on the 5 consecutive days of rain, her/his wish will be granted but the thing was the wish should be made from the heart.

I would be lying if I said that the story didn't intrigue me so I asked her,

"And how to make this wish?"

"Look at the sky, close your eyes and just say what you want. Remember, say in your mind and if a raindrop falls on you the moment you wish for something then the wish will surely come true."

"So, did the raindrop fall on you?"

"It did." She replied grinning. I thought to gave it a try, only for her sake. I looked towards the sky and closed my eyes and was thinking about what should I wish for, I have everything except her.

The moment I closed my eyes, the face of her flashed in front of my eyes. I decided to open my eyes but before that, a raindrop falls on my head.

"Oh My God, your wish will come true soon." She squealed leaving me shocked but I didn't want to give myself false hopes, so I thought to shrug it off thinking of it as a childish thing.

I left Mrs. Acharya at her place and went directly to my house.

After getting ready, I went to the office but this raindrop wish was going in my mind. Even though I knew this was not real but the stupid heart was telling me otherwise.

And when I couldn't be at peace I thought to google about this raindrop wish. I found something about it. In the northeastern parts of India, they have this belief that raindrop wishes always come true if made from the heart. I searched more and found some stuff, there were real stories too where people have accepted that their wish had come true.

There was a meeting scheduled and I went with Niharika to meet the new investors. After the meeting when we were coming back to my cabin to discuss important aspects all I was thinking about what Mrs.Acharya had said.

"What's wrong Dhruv? Where are you lost?" Niharika asked shaking me a bit.

I raised my eyebrows in confusion to which she replied, "I have been asking about your point which you were about to include in the contract but you seemed lost. Did something happen?"

"Have you ever heard of a raindrop wish?"

"The one where you have to make a wish on the five consecutive days of rain?"

"You know about it?"

"Of course, I do. I went to that village with my family once on a vacation and that's when I heard of it. At first, I thought of it as a joke but it was real."

"Did your wish come true?"

"Not all, but some of them only."

"Why didn't all of your wishes come true?"

"Because not every wish was made from my heart. And the heartful wishes did come true."

"But how did you know about it? And why are you so curious?" she asked further.

"My neighbor mentioned it and I found it childish. By the way, let's talk about the contract." I said and diverted my mind from that topic. I don't want to have hopes on something because it hurts at the end.

The last time I wished for something, I was left broken and I don't want the same now. So, this time I am going to keep my guards up.

After work, I went home and freshened up, worked for a bit when my phone rang.

I smiled seeing my little one's name on it.

"Hey, little one."

"Hi, Dhruv." she squealed.

"Someone's is quite happy huh? So tell me where did Namit take you today?"

She filled me with everything from how Namit took her to Santorini and what did she do there, what did she buy. She seemed happy and that made me more than ecstatic.

"Sama, how do you make these?" Can you help me out?" I heard Namit calling my little one. Namit calls my sister Sama lovingly.

"Coming," she replied

"Dhruv, I need to go. Namit needs my help. I will call you tomorrow."

"Sure, have a good night, little one."

"Good Night," she said but didn't cut the call as I could still hear their voice.

"What are you doing?" I heard from my sister.

"I wanted to bake cookies for you, but I don't know how to make it," Namit said.

I cut the call when I realized Dhriti forgot to cut the call. Namit didn't even know how to cook. He once burned his kitchen because he wanted to learn to cook pasta for my little one. And now he is keen to learn everything my sister likes.

The sudden ring of the bell of my house startled me and I went to see who it was. I opened the gate only to find grandpa there.

"Grandpa? What are you doing here?"

"Can't I come to meet my grandson?"

"of course, you can," I replied ad let him in.

"I was startled by your sudden appearance," I said after we both settled on the couch in my living room. We talked about business and Dhriti for a while but I knew he had come for something else as I knew him well enough to understand what was going on in his mind. And if I was not wrong he had come to talk about the topic I was not interested in.

"Dhruv, There is a meeting tomorrow with one of my old associates and I would want you to join it."

"Okay, if you want me to talk about the new project with him then I will come with Niharika," I replied because I was avoiding the main topic.

"I don't want anyone of your colleague to accompany you."

"I have lots of meetings to deal with tomorrow and also, little one is not here so I will get bored there."

"You won't as his daughter will be there too." He said coming directly to the point. The topi which shouldn't have come out has started surfacing and so badly wanted to run away from the current situation.

"Grandpa, I can't."

"You can't always avoid it Dhruv. This is the fifth time you are trying to avoid the topic." I could see the determination in his eyes which made me worried. He was right, I can't always avoid it but at the same time, I didn't want to hurt anyone because I knew no will be happy if listen to what my grandfather wants.

"Grandpa, it's late and I need to sleep. I have a meeting tomorrow morning." I said getting up from the seat.

"I don't know why you avoid this topic. Your sister is settled and it's time for you to settle now."

"I can't."

"Why? Whatever has happened, I know it must be bad and I get it you don't want to share it with me and I am fine with it but till when you are going to avoid it. Dhruv you can't run away from your fate."

"I am not running away. Grandpa, you need to understand that no one will be happy if I decide to settle down. Neither me nor you and most importantly the girl who will marry me."

"I know you, beta, I know how much you think of others before you, and trust me the girl you will marry will be the happiest." It was hard to convince him, I didn't want to ruin anyone's life as I will never be able to love her the way I loved....

"I will never be able to love her."

"She will make you love her. I have met Mr. Awasthi's daughter Vishakha and she is a very nice girl."

He was too stubborn to give in. He had no idea what he was trying to do. Trying to tying me with someone who has no idea what she will be dealing with is not a good idea.

"Grandpa, please, I....." He didn't let me finish and said,

"Enough Dhruv. I have heard enough. You will be coming to lunch with me at 1 p.m tomorrow and that's final. I will send you the address tomorrow morning." He went towards the main door and was about to go out of the house but before that, he turned around and said,

"I don't know what is stopping you but I need to tell you something. You can't hold on to the past for long. You need to let it go and then only you will able to live happily. You need to move on."

He went out leaving me stunned. What he said was right but is it the time to move on? Or should I put the question as, Am I ready to Move On?