The warm evening glow of the setting sun dawned on the park located in the city centre of Bengaluru. All the office workers had come in droves along with their families and kids in order to unwind themselves from a day of busy work. This is also the hour when fitness enthusiasts go for a run. Fortunately, the park is wide enough spanning five kilometres, which makes for an excellent exercise spot for the people interested in being fit.

Having a calm and beautiful lake at the centre of this park is another additional attraction. You could see families sitting along the bank of the lake and simply enjoying themselves. But there was an outlier among all these positive vibes. On a park bench not too far from the lake, a man who looked to be in his early 30s sat there with a sombre and melancholic expression. His name is Darshan, And he is currently questioning his life decisions. 

Darshan had grown up without a father or mother since he was a child and was wholly raised by his grandmother. His grandmother was his sole family member, as his grandfather also passed away due to unwarranted fits.

However, truth be told, he does not remember the incident because his grandpa passed away when he was very young and could not even remember the face of his grandfather properly. The only thing that came to his mind was the smiling expression on an old face, which had wrinkles around the eyes. He did feel kind whenever he saw the photo of his grandfather, but he did not have much emotional connection. It was his grandmother who held the utmost importance to him throughout his life growing up. His grandmother, who owned a small stationery shop, had fed him and made him a knowledgeable and functioning member of society by herself. She had worked very hard for it. Throughout Darshan's life, he had never seen his grandmother wear a piece of new jewellery, and although saddened by this, Darshan could not do anything about it. He was still in college and was heavily reliant on his grandmother.

Eventually, he passed college with flying colours. Although he wasn't strong academically, he stood out practically, which caught the attention of a company called HC Electronics, a manufacturer of Air conditioners in Bangalore. Getting the job with a salary of 6 LPA, he was very happy and jumped with joy in front of his grandmother. She had a relieved expression on her face, the widest smile Darshan had ever seen. Seeing this smile, he felt like all his hard work was worth it. But his happiness ended abruptly as his grandmother was no longer able to maintain strength in her body. When taken to the hospital for a checkup, it was revealed that she had stones in her kidney, and unfortunately, she could not undergo surgery due to her being anaemic.

Darshan's world collapsed at that moment. Not a single tear came from his eyes initially, as the whole situation felt very unreal. But eventually, tears slowly started dropping from his eyes, and they did not stop. He sat down sobbing at the same place he stood. He did not know how long he cried, but he cried until tears could no longer be produced by his glands. He accompanied his grandmother in her last moments of life. 

But to his amusement, his grandmother acted as if nothing had happened at all. She was still the strong woman who raised him all by herself without making him feel the need for a father or a mother. "What are you staring at, son? Should I paint a Bindi on your forehead and chant slokas for you to come near Grandma?" she said, Which caused him to chuckle a little. Darshan could still remember the last sentence his grandmother said to him.

"Be healthy, marry a good wife. Looks like unfortunately, I cannot be there to see my great-grandchild," She said after which her voice permanently stopped. He was only 23 when that happened, and he was left all alone in this world as a young adult. Fortunately for Darshan, he managed to pull himself out of the deep pit of despair and moved on with his life, as his grandmother said. Eventually, with years of experience, he climbed up the corporate ladder, became the chief technician of the HC Electronics company, and became the main researcher of the AC division.

On one of his business trips, he met a girl named Navya. He was instantly attracted to her from the first look. Although she was not the most beautiful person he had ever seen, there was something about Navya that attracted him very much.

Eventually, he ended up asking her out after accumulating some courage. "Yes" was the answer he had gotten as a reward for his bravery. This date led to another, and finally, it reached the point where he met her parents. Although her parents were hesitant to marry their daughter to an orphan, fortunately, he had good qualifications both in terms of looks, as he was tall, 6 feet 5 inches, and like his grandmother always used to say, he had inherited the best genes of both her son and daughter-in-law. As for property, he had already become a crorepati with the stocks in the HC Electronics Company.

He eventually got married to Navya at the age of 29. Life was moving as usual; both work and personal life were satisfactory, and he couldn't ask for more. That is, until today. Darshan hoped he could forget everything he saw today, but unfortunately, what had happened was something he could not run away from. In the morning when he left for work, halfway through the transit, he soon discovered that he had forgotten the pen drive in which he had stored the design drawings for the new air compressor for the company's new air conditioner lineup. He had worked on the design the whole night for the same reason and got the design prepared.

So, without any other choice, he had to turn around the car and go back home. He stopped the car outside the compound as he needed to return right away, opened the door with the key he had, and went to his study room where he usually worked. He took out the pen drive and then went to see what Navya was up to. To his absolute disbelief, he heard sounds of pleasure coming from his room. He thought he had been mistaken, or he felt like he might even be hallucinating because of the lack of sleep, but he recognized it; it was undoubtedly his wife. He stood there in stunned silence, not knowing where everything went wrong.

He dropped the pen drive he had just picked up and silently walked to the park with his mind absolutely empty. Yet here was Darshan, wearing luxurious clothes with a Rolex watch, sitting on the bench and questioning why he had worked so hard all his life. The person who deserved his hard work was already dead, and the person who did not, got all the benefits of his hard work. He Remembered, His grandmother always used to say, "You are very good at discerning people, son." But if Darshan could see his grandmother now, he would just laugh bitterly and say, "You are very wrong, Grandma. I suck at it."

After sitting on the bench for a few more hours, he finally got up and went directly to his lawyer.

 _FIN_

P.S. This is a short story written to practice my writing, If interested do check out my Novel Reborn In 17th Century India with Black Technology (RCB)

Thanks for Your Read.