Yugank was irritated of what happened. His train stopped at Nallapuram station for a while. He stood still, not uttering a word.
'There is no way we will reach the station with the Mancherial Express still there' he thought, 'NO WAY.' Poor Yugank; little did he know that if at least he had shouted that out loudly, the two girls in the car beside his' would rush up to him. Yugank looked out of the window, expecting Shivadwar station to appear sooner. He could see several electric poles, moving left from the right part of the window railing.
* * *
Viraj, tired of searching for his sister, decided that she might have boarded the Mancherial Express. He did not know what to do. He tried calling the others several hundred times, but one was busy, one was busier and the other was busiest. He wanted to tell them that Mihira was on the train too with them.
A minute later, he lost hope in calling the others too. 'They might be busy handling the crowd that entered the train' he thought. He sat before one of the shops on the first platform. He knew Daktar would kill him if he came to know. Then he blamed himself for including his sister into the group.
* * *
Daktar was in a way, shocked and in a way, sad too. 'So Shreni and Mihira didn't board the train' he thought, 'Why in the world would they not?'
Then an announcement came over the speakers stating a local train to Devanagari. Daktar stood and thought, 'Shreni and Mihira would've definitely gone to Devanagari; in search of me, maybe? However, if I'd get a clue of what had happened, this would be the only way I'd get it'. Thinking so, he hopped on to the train to Devanagari. God knows what he was doing.
* * *
Apoorva was the most worrying one; she thought. She was impatient and she accepted that. Sitting in the station hall and waiting was the worst job for anyone; she decided. She could neither wait a little more for a person who took a break for more than two hours now, which started to seem unnatural, or just stay there as she believed Shreni would be coming to save her from that, nor could she go somewhere, in search of Yugank or Daktar maybe, as she trusted that Shreni was coming. She took her phone out again and was utterly disappointed when she saw it was dead.
More than half of her heart seemed to vote to stand and go in search of someone. And she did so.
Apoorva wandered in the station hall and on the platform no. 1. A train arrived. She hoped Shreni was in it, and so she rushed back to the station hall and got seated. A minute passed by, but no one came to meet her. Apoorva was disappointed. Then, a mysterious chuckle was heard from behind her. A teen boy with a shallow beard, who was behind her, chuckled again and put his hand over her shoulder. Apoorva turned back in distress, which turned into anger as soon as she saw that it was Daktar.
"You were here the whole time?" she shouted in anger.
"No, I took a train to Shivadwar after missing the Mancherial Express" said Daktar, "Then, at Shivadwar, I saw Mihira and Shreni come here. So I decided to come here too"
"Mihira's with Shreni?" Apoorva asked.
"Yes" replied Daktar.
There was a moment of silence.
"But Shreni hasn't arrived yet!"
* * *
The train Yugank was in reached Shivadwar.
He rushed out and looked around. People were everywhere. An old woman walked before him. He called out to her and asked her if the Mancherial Express had left. The old woman looked at Yugank angrily and impatiently. She cursed him in herself and resumed walking.
'No use' thought Yugank and immediately sprinted to the enquiry centre. The lady at the enquiry desk looked at Yugank, just like the old woman had looked, but as half of hers. Yugank was confused and told to himself that the people now-a-days have no respect to give. The enquiry lady shook her head to his question. Yugank was tired, angry, confused, and what not. He had lost all hope. He imagined in his mind, the hopefulness of Shreni, the irritation of Daktar, the excitement of Mihira, the tension of Viraj and the thinking of Apoorva, as they all sit in the Mancherial Express, not at all bothering about Yugank. He then blamed the samosa-man, "This is all his fault. What was his name? Ugh!... who cares?"
He walked slowly and reluctantly towards the station hall, where he saw a row of shops. 'A cool drink would do for a defeat' he said to himself and walked towards a shop having a fridge on the outside. Just as he reached it, he could see a couple of closed shutters, before one of which, was perched Viraj.
* * *
Shreni and Mihira got off at Shivadwar.
"However we are going to go to Shivadwar, and we know Daktar might be there. So we could search for him and find him by chance, and then take a train to Devanagari for Apoorva" they had discussed in the train.
Just as they discussed, they started searching for Daktar, platform to platform.
"You have Daktar's phone, right?" Mihira asked Shreni.
"Yes" Shreni replied.
"Why don't you try to call the other then?" Mihira asked.
"I tried. The screen's broken. It isn't touch-sensitive anymore" Shreni replied, sadly.
They had searched for more than a minute and were tired.
"I think Daktar has boarded the Mancherial Express" said Mihira, "Do let's stop now and initiate the remaining part of the plan"
"Yes, let's wait for the next train to Devanagari"
* * *
Yugank and Viraj were standing on the first platform of the Shivadwar station. Viraj had his phone in his hand and his finger was dancing on its screen. Then he lifted it up to his ear. Shreni picked his call up on the other hand.
"Houston, we have a problem!" Viraj said, "We couldn't board the train"
"We have one too" replied Shreni on the other hand.
"Shreni? Where are you?" asked Viraj.
"Not at all in the Mancherial Express" Shreni replied.
Viraj was in shock. He held the phone away from his ear and told Yugank that Shreni was not in the Mancherial Express. Then he put the phone back to his ear.
"Where are you now then?"
"I am currently in a train, going to Devanagari. Mihira's with me too" Shreni replied, "Haven't you boarded the train?"
"No, we haven't. Yugank's with me. Thank god you have Mihira. I was worried about her"
"Where are you?"
"At Shivadwar"
"What? We searched the whole station but haven't found you guys!"
"We are on the platform no. 1 now"
"Don't care. Come and meet us in the Devanagari station. Apoorva told me that she would be there"
"Alright. Will be there soon"