Chapter49

Shravan had almost fell asleep when he heard the incessant knock on their bedroom door.
The knocks grew more urgent with time, and Shravan hurried towards the door, waking Drishti in the process.
He opened the door to find his mother, who looked worried as hell.
"Mom? What happened? Why do you look panicked?" Shravan asked
"Sharan"
"Where is he? What happened?" Shravan asked
"I don't know. He went out in the morning. He is not back yet. I tried his phone many
times. He isn't picking up. He told me he was going out to meet his friends here. I called them up and they had no idea that Sharan is even back. I'm getting worried, Shravan" Anuradha Maheswari was on the verge of crying.
"Mom, relax. I will bring him home. He might be somewhere around" Shravan said trying to console his mother.
A guilty Drishti stood behind him, not knowing what to do.
"Drishti. Please take Mom to her room. I will go look for Sharan" Shravan turned around to look at Drishti
"Yeah sure." Drishti agreed and walked Anuradha to her bedroom.
On the way, Drishti dialed Siddhu's number and asked him to accompany Shravan in searching for his brother.
Drishti made Anuradha sit on the bed and poured a glass of water for her.
"Here. Please have this aunty. Don't take stress. Shravan will bring him back" Drishti said
"I'm worried Drishti. He has always been sensitive. He doesn't often show it. But he is very sensitive. If something hurts him, he shuts everyone out and broods for weeks." Anuradha said
"I'm sorry aunty. This is all happening because of me" Drishti said guiltily.
"No no. I didn't mean it like that Drishti. I
didn't say that to make you feel guilty. I know it was not your fault. It was not Sharan's either. It just happened. There is nothing we can do about that. I just hope he gets over that soon" Anuradha said
****
Siddharth switched off the playstation and stood up from the couch and stretched to relieve his muscles.
"Time to hit the bed Siddhu" he talked to himself and walked out of the game room, only to collide with a soft body.
His arms instinctively went around it and he looked down to see the young girl he had been thinking about the whole day.
"I'm sorry. I didn't see you coming out the
room" the girl said softly as a pretty blush crept up her cheeks.
Siddhu loosened his arms around her and she stepped back, looking down and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ears.
"That's absolutely alright. I didn't see you either" Siddhu said with a grin, too happy with the accidental collision.
"Okay then. Good night" she said shyly and was about to walk past him
"Hey. This place is so huge. I can't exactly remember where my room was" Siddhu lied with no remorse
"I will show you. It must be in the east wing. That's where the guest suites are"
Shreya said and Siddhu mentally pumped his fist in the air at his small victory.
"I'm Siddharth Agnihotri" better late than never, he thought
"I know. Bhabhi told me. My name is Shreya Maheswari. Some friends calls me Shrey" she said and his smile dimmed.
Shreya saw the way his smile dimmed and his eyes glazed over with something akin to pain as she mentioned the name Shrey. She wondered what it is that caused such a drastic change in his mood.
"Everything okay?" She asked and he smiled and she could bet on the entire Maheswari wealth that the smile was fake
"Everything cool. I think I can find my way
from here. Thank you Shreya" he said and she looked at him for a moment and then nodded her head, before turning around and walking away.
Shrey!!
Before he could drown himself in the past painful memories, he got a call from Drishti asking him to accompany Shravan in search of Sharan.
****
"Does he have any favourite places here in Jodhpur?" Siddharth asked
"I don't know" Shravan answered looking around outside the window now and again as he drove through the neighborhood.
"Where will we go searching for him?"
"Siddharth. Take my phone and dial Ahuja's number" Shravan instructed and Siddhu did as he was told and put the call on the speaker.
The man picked up the call on the third ring.
"Sir?"
"Ahuja. I want you to track Sharan's phone. It is switched off. Track it using the IMEI number" Shravan ordered and hung up the call.
"Who is Ahuja?" Siddhu asked
"Our security team head"
Within ten minutes Ahuja tracked Sharan down to a night club in the outskirts of Jodhpur.
"Damn him. He is enjoying in a pub ruining our sleep" Siddhu complained.
"He might not be enjoying" Shravan mumbled imagining his brother getting drunk to drown out his pain.
"Uh oh" Siddhu muttered guiltily.
They reached the place in forty five minutes.
"Couldn't he find a more dingy place?" Siddharth muttered seeing the so called club.
It looked more like a local shack with
drunk as skunk people on the dance floor grinding against each other.
The place couldn't look any more shady and they couldn't even stand the smell of the place.
It smelled of a mixture of alcohol tobacco and marijuana.
"This place needs to be shut down immediately" Shravan said seeing a group of teenagers in a corner smoking away what could only be marijuana, from the look of dizzy pleasure on their face.
"There he is" Siddhu said spotting Sharan
Shravan looked towards the direction Siddhu pointed at and saw Sharan in a corner making out with some woman.
"What the hell" Shravan, ever the good boy, cursed seeing the unacceptable behaviour of his brother.
He walked briskly towards his brother, through the masses of drunk people and pulled Sharan away from the lady.
The lady protested loudly. Shravan could see that both his brother and the lady are high.
"What the hell Sharan" Shravan asked angrily
"Why are there two of you bhai?" Sharan asked blinking as he tried to focus on his brother.
"Let's go home" Shravan said pulling
Sharan up and Siddhu came on the other side to support him
"Did the two of you marry Drishti?" Sharan asked with a frown
"We will talk about this later Sharan. Let's get you home first" Siddhart said and Sharan turned sideways to see who it was.
"Siddhu?" Sharan asked and then laughed
"Why are you laughing now?" Siddhu asked
"Bhai was jealous of you in the morning" Sharan said
"Shut up Sharan" Shravan said as they pulled his drunk brother out of the dingy bar.
"I don't know why. I have never been jealous of their closeness. Doesn't that make me a better man, bhai?" Sharan asked
"Yes. Absolutely. Now get into the car" Shravan said and pushed his brother into the back seat of the car.
Within seconds, he fell asleep and both Shravan and Siddhu heaved a sigh of relief.
"You get into the car. Keep an eye on him. I will talk to the ACP about this shack. These people will ruin the teenagers" Shravan muttered and dialed the number of the police officer.