Want to know what happened before this? Please read the previous chapter here
He stood next to her and listened
to what Jennifer was saying.
“Life has changed a lot after that
incident. But that phase of life had
taught me great lessons.” Jennifer
said.
He wrapped his arms around her
shoulder and soothed her as tears streamed down her cheeks copiously. Photography was something she embraced and it
was something that made her forget her disastrous past. After seeing Aryan with Tara, she believed that
the ghosts of past had come back to haunt her once again. She had reached this position after lots of
struggles. She was never at work for a
longer period of time. She changed jobs quickly.
“I’ve seen so much in my life and
I fear looking back,” Jennifer said, wiping her tears.
“This camera is my only solace,”
she said, smilingly, pointing at her camera.
“Cheer up!” Cyrus said to her. He
asked her to be strong.
“Ghosts of past may come to haunt
you but you don’t have to worry. We both will tackle it together.” Cyrus said
and they both hugged each other.
Cyrus soon called the reception
and ordered them to get tea. He looked straight
into her eyes that had million unanswered questions. She felt good talking
about her past with Cyrus.
“But I don’t understand the
connection between Tara and Ahuja?” Jennifer said.
At the same time, the door bell
rang. “Must be the room service guy,” Cyrus said and went to open the door. He
offered tea to Jennifer and asked her, “Why do you think so?”
He sipped the tea and continued, “How
could they be related?”
“Ahuja is a dangerous man, Cyrus,”
Jennifer said, “I have seen him and he is very dangerous.” She said, looking at
him through her fiery eyes.
“What? Are you known to Ahuja? How?” Cyrus bombarded
Jennifer with several questions.
“Ahuja used to visit the Bibiji’s
house at Kolkata quite often,” she said and continued, “He was her right hand.”
“And I think Tara and Ahuja know
each other very well,” she said, “but I fail to understand the connection
between them and Kolkata.” Cyrus
endorsed her views too.
He drew his eyebrows closer and
riposted, “We need to find the missing link, Jenny!”
“Yes and I suspect it had got
something to do with Tara’s sudden rise in fame and career.” She added.
Tara was an enigma, she thought
as she placed the tea cup on the table nearby.
She seemed to her like a deceiver and Jennifer too got deceived by her.
“I need to find the hidden
secrets of her life and ...” Jennifer said.
“We need to…” Cyrus interrupted her before she could
complete the statement.
She looked into her eyes and
smiled at him. “Thank you so much, Cyrus!”
“I’m not helping you to earn a
thank you from you,” Cyrus said,” You mean a lot to me, Jenny!”
Jennifer rested her head on his
shoulder and said, “I don’t know what to say now.”
“We both will unveil the mystery
behind Tara and we both will expose her dark secrets.” He said.
Cyrus went on to attend an
important phone call and Jennifer was glancing through the magazine placed at the
book stand.
Cyrus came back and apologized for
the break. “Sorry, that was a call from an old friend.”
"It's okay!" Jennifer said.
"Between ,I have a news for you." Cyrus said.
" Tara Dutta is filing a divorce from Shekhar and has even asked me to prepare a will for her." Cyrus added.
"Such a strange women she is!" he said.
"Indeed! That's why I call her a mystery woman , an enigma to be precise!" Jennifer said and contiued, "I never knew you even handle divorce cases."
"Yes, I do, do recommend me to your friends," he said, laughing at her.Jennifer inquired about his job and life. Her eyes came across a visiting card lying on the table. Swiftly she started digging her bag.
“Between, see, this is what I found
from Tara’s house.” Jennifer said,
rummaging through her hand bag.
“What?”
She handed the card to Cyrus and
said, “The Dutta’s were busy attending the guests at Roohi’s birthday party and
I did something what I was good at!” She
winked at him.
“You talk like an agent, huh!” Cyrus
joked.
“Aashakiran Anathalay!” Cyrus read the name mentioned on the card and
got to know that someone called Mrs. Nayyar was the in charge of the orphanage
“This orphanage can answer a lot
of our questions. We should visit them,” Cyrus added.
“Perhaps, this can help us to
close the gaps,” Jennifer retorted.
“Let’s go there tomorrow.” Cyrus
replied, “Let’s meet Mrs. Nayyar.”
“And what do we say?” Jennifer said, bewildered.
“You are a journalist, boss and
not me,” Cyrus said, “You work for Marie Claire, not me!” Cyrus displayed a straight face.
“So, tomorrow we are going.”
Jennifer confirmed with Cyrus to which he nodded a yes.
“Listen, we need to
disguise ourselves. I plan to work here at Marie Claire for a longer duration.
I can’t risk anymore.” Jennifer said.
“I thought taking risk for you
was like eating Rusk!” Cyrus joked to which she grimaced. Jennifer punched him,
clearly indicating her displeasure. Cyrus told her that he would come to pick
her up the next morning.
The early morning alarm bloomed
violently breaking Jennifer’s sleep. It
was morning 8 AM and by then she had already snoozed the alarm several times.
She finally woke up and looked at the morning sky. The sun had just bid adieu
to the moon and she smiled at the little birds cheerfully warbling at her. She rubbed her eyes and checked her mobile
phone. She learned that Cyrus was trying to reach her through.
“Hey Cyrus, Good Morning!”
she greeted him on phone.
“I will be at you place in
another 45 minutes. Get ready!” Cyrus replied.
“What? So early. It’s just 9.”
“So what. I’m on my way,” he said
and disconnected the phone call.
She went to the bathroom and took
a bath. As she looked at her in the
mirror, she realized that life had veered drastically after Cyrus entered her
life. She slipped into a light blue
kurti and got ready. She looked at the mirror at the main room and quickly
combed her hair and clipped it. Cyrus
called her and was waiting for her near her PG. She quickly locked the room and
left the PG.
“I thought you were a typical
woman who takes more time for make ups.” Cyrus laughed
“I’m an exception!” she grinned.
They quickly hailed a taxi and
indicated the driver to go to Santa Cruz, the place which was home to the
AashaKiran Anathalaya. They reached their destination in 40 minutes, thanks to
the heavy traffics at the Western Expressway.
They got down at Prabhat Colony
and legged it towards the Orphanage. The watchman asked them for their identity
and they both introduced themselves as journalists from Marie Claire and wanted
to meet Mrs. Nayyar for an interview.
As they went inside, they saw few
young kids playing hide and seek. The
kids were so adorable that Jennifer halted for a while and captured them in her
camera. She nuzzled a little girl’s nose and planted a kiss on her cheek. Cyrus
stood there and admired the sight.
“They remind me of my childhood
days, Cyrus!” Jennifer said, “I just hope someone adopts these lovely kids and
gives them happiness.”
They soon met Mrs. Nayyar in her office. She was clad in a cotton saree, neatly ironed.
She looked young, her eyes shielded by a spectacles. Her hair was neatly tied
into a bun and a smile on her face adorned her looks. She welcomed both of them
and asked them to get seated. She
offered them tea.
“I’m so happy and excited that
Marie Claire wants to write an article on us,” Mrs. Nayyar said, “I can’t thank
you enough for this kind gesture.” She displayed a vibrant smile on her face.
They both introduced themselves
as Jane and Leo. While doing so they sheepishly smiled at each other.
For the sake of formality they
asked few questions to her. Cyrus noted her views on a diary to prove that they
both were actually interviewing her. Few
minutes later, they both enquired Mrs. Nayyar about the high profile adoptions that
happened at AashaKiran. Mrs. Nayyar, at first, hesitated but later on mentioned
few famous celebrities name.
“What do you do when someone
comes to you and decides to give their kids for adoption?” Cyrus asked, smiling
at Mrs. Nayyar.
“Good question. AashaKiran serves as a home to all those kids
who deserve support. It’s sad that due to certain circumstances some parents
are not able to take care of their kids. Due to many unavoidable things, they
are forced to bring their kids here. It’s unfortunate! “She replied.
They soon enquired about Tara
Dutta to her.
“It was 9 years back that she
came here. She had visited our orphanage
to give her infant baby to us for adoption. She had a charming personality and
seemed to belong from an affluent family.” Mrs. Nayyar replied.
They both cleverly cajoled Mrs.
Nayyar to show their files. But what Mrs. Nayyar told disappointed them.
"The adoption didn't happen." Mrs. Nayyar said.
"The adoption didn't happen." Mrs. Nayyar said.
Mrs.
Nayyar told them that they had sent the adoption papers to Tara Dutta but she
somehow failed to acknowledge. Days passed and eventually even AashaKiran forgot
about her! Mrs. Nayyar told that she
seemed to be a busy woman and all attempts of reaching her eventually turned
futile.
"May be should could have given her baby to some other orphanage," Mrs. Nayyar said to which both of them acknowledged with a frown.
"May be should could have given her baby to some other orphanage," Mrs. Nayyar said to which both of them acknowledged with a frown.
“I think we have to find some other way,” Jennifer muttered to which Cyrus nodded in agreement.
“Can we click your pictures?”
Jennifer asked, looking askance at her.
“Oh sure!”
“Smile...” she asked and Mrs.
Nayyar passed a vibrant smile.
She sooner called all the kids
playing at the garden and clicked a group picture with them.
“Thank you mam for all your time,”
Cyrus and Jennifer said to them with the same breathe.
“We should thank you. At this
moment we need support and you guys are incredible.” Mrs. Nayyar said.
Jennifer smiled at her as she spoke those
words. She reminded more of her in
charge who took care of her in the orphanage where she lived during her young
days. She waved bye to all the kids there! She left that place with a heavy
heart and nostalgia struck her again, reminding her of the good awesome
childhood days with her friends at the Orphanage where she lived.
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A Quality Analyst by day and a dynamic blogger by night, Ste is an out-of-the-Box thinker whose thinking cap is never on the resting mode. The real feather on his thinking cap is his creativity which you can see in all his works, be it short stories, poems or sketches. He is a very big fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Most of his short stories are inspired from real life and things that fascinates him. His blog "The Solitary Writer" is a central repository of his entire creative spear." . Did you like this post? Get The Solitary Writers updates via Facebook or Twitter, better yet, subscribe to it via RSS Feed. It’s easy, and free!Also you can discuss in the Forum. Comments are just another way to let me know how you feel.Don't forget to comment.
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