Kamala was the first to sight her. She wondered if someone was after Priyanka or did she won the dancing competition?
Stepping down the corridors, she waited for the beautiful news.
Priyanka's facial expression changed from angry to a shocking one, when she saw that the man standing in front of their door was no other person than Pintu, their neighbor. Her face dropped and tears started streaming down her cheeks. She could not control her emotions.
Confused Kamala hugged her like a baby. Her daughter was a strong girl who hardly cries. When she cries, it means something very bad has happened "stop crying, dear. Shedding such tears for no good reason does not suit a beauty queen like you."
After some minutes of sobbing on her mother's shoulders, Priyanka gathered herself together and look through the opened door "is Krish still awake?"
"No," both Kamala and Pintu answered, purely. They kept on staring at her.
She moved to one of the stairs in the corridor and sat down with her head buried in her hands. All she could think of was how to break the sad news to her poor woman. The hope, they had for raising money for Krish's treatment was gone. Now, they were back at the start line with nothing to show for it.
Kamala walked to where she sat and knelt "Please, tell us what happened. You are scaring me."
"M-mother… I-i missed the competition" Priyanka started sobbing again. Quickly, Kamala patted her back, gently. The weather was cold as dark clouds covered the sky. It seemed it wanted to rain.
Looking at the dark clouds covering the sky, Kamala stood up from the floor. "It wants to rain, Pintu, and your dear friend, Priyanka is still crying like Krish. Tell her to stop please."
Pintu came to where she was seated ad squatted in front of her. "Tell me dear how it's happened? Why did you miss the competition?"
"I would have not missed the competition, if not for that cursed man I met on my way to the dancing house" Priyanka raised her head and spoke. The more, she thought about the whole incident, Her hatred for the mysterious bike man grew like grasses closed to the river Ganga.
"What man are you referring to, dear?" pintu asked, curiously.
"He slashed mud on my sari and gave me this stupid cheap jacket to wear. But when I reached the dancing house, the competition was over and my teacher was very angry at me."
"I am so sorry about that" he apologized. Taking a look at the jacket, Pintu added, "the jacket looks quite expensive."
"Whatever" she rolled her teary eyes up as her lips slightly parted. Damn that his jacket and double damn the owner. "I wonder how I am going to get the drugs for krish, tomorrow."
"Aah!... You don't have to worry about that, my princess" Kamala told her. "Mrs. Khan sent a doctor to check on Krish. He gave him injections and drugs. I have never seen my son sleep so relaxed in a while."
Priyanka was surprised by this news. It seemed the creator had better plans for them. Mrs. khan was Zara's mother. Zara was the only friend she had. They lived in the middle-class area because her mother worked as a cleaner, in the famous private hospital in the city. They said it belongs to Prime Minister, Mr. Singh. People praised him for his generosity
But the case was different with Priyanka. She had nothing to say good about a man who does not come to the grass root. To her, he was just a rich man who sat on top of the country's wealth and enjoys it with his family.
**
He arrived home quite late. It was 10:00 PM. Grandmother was not going to tolerate that. She hated it when he had to stay out at such hours.
His home…well, anyone who has eyes could see that the mansion was a unique one in the high-class society. It was situated in the heart of the city.
A white-story building with beautiful ancestry sculptures surrounding it. It has two gates. The middle big gate was made of gold. Some people find it hard to believe, but he knew that this was true. There were many gardens before the middle gate. Which was called the Heavens gate.
It was guarded by twenty-two arms men. No one was allowed to come in without permission from the chief security guard, whose house was after the main gate.
If one was permitted to enter after meeting with the chief security, he will be searched thoroughly before passing through the golden path that led to the white story building. It's consisted of eighteen bedrooms. Each member of the family had a room to himself.
Karan smiled at the life his father had given them. He was grateful, for what he saw today, made him weep. His people were suffering. As the son of the prime minister, assisting his father whom he could not reach, would be very wise of him.
"Welcome home, Master" a voice interrupted his thoughts. When he turned around, his gaze met with a young girl fifteen. She was average in height. Her dark hair was long and carefully groomed. She had a big smile on her face that tells him, his sister was happy to see him.
"Alia, my moon face princess" he embraced and kissed her forehead. "You are still awake?"
"Yes sir. Everyone is awake waiting for you" she answered. "Grandmother was worried about you."
"Let's keep grandmother aside for a while. Who is everyone?"
The Singh family. It was one of the largest families in the city. It consisted of eighteen members. His father, Mr. Varuna Singh was the prime minister. He worked hard for years to provide both the needs and wants for his family.
Grandmother, Ganga... she was aged sixty-five but still looking hot and young. One may think she was in her early forties. For her, religion was the first thing to achieve in life. Every member of the family was to take either Hinduism or Islam seriously. Nobody was allowed to leave the house before performing the morning prayers.
Karan patted his sister's back as they walked into the house. The main door was opened by the guards who were standing next to it. They passed through a long passage that led to an open door in the center. He could hear familiar voices coming from the room.
"Mother came around today" Alia looked at him, happily and he smiled back at her. His mother, she was his life. The only woman he loved and saw as the only sinless, blameless, honest, humble, Beautiful, and smart human. She was the first lady of India. Her heart was that of gold.
"Thank god, she arrived safely. I missed her so much" he wrapped his hand around Alia's shoulders as they entered the room only to be greeted by the yelling of his grandmother.
"Stay there, Karan. Don't bring impure spirits into the house" An aged woman dressed in a blue sari shouted, she was angry but, not enough to irritate her grandson with her behavior.
"Grandmother, what happened?" Karan was confused. He turned to his beautiful mother, who stood behind his aunt, Jigyasa. But she did not give a clue. No one did.
"Alia, move away for him before you get affected" grandmother yelled, ignoring Karan's questions. She turned to the woman standing behind her and commanded "get me some holy water from the temple. I need to purify my grandson."