I woke up to the sound of a ringing phone when I fell on the floor with a thud and somebody yelling groggily to pick up the phone. It was Sid who kicked me. He and Karthik are occupying the entire bed. I looked at the ringing phone. It is Srikanth's. Some decoration people are calling him. I looked around the room to see that he is sleeping on the couch. I groaned and took the phone and threw it on him. He woke up startled and looked around and picked up the phone. My head is pounding and I woke up completely. I looked at my phone to see the time. It is 12.30 PM. There is a notification from Sharanya. She sent me an email.

Weird.

Why would she send me an email when she is in the same house?

When I opened the phone, I got the shock of my life. I just froze seeing the contents of the mail. This must be a prank. She is playing with me just to see my reaction. I immediately threw my phone and ran to her room. Srikanth is bewildered by my actions and he too ran behind me asking me what happened.

I knocked on her door.

Maybe she is sleeping.

I opened it and there is no one in the room.

Maybe she is in the washroom.

It is also empty.

Maybe she went for a walk in the garden or she is in the kitchen eating food.

I ran again to check the kitchen and garden.

She is not there.

I just stood in the middle of the living room thinking.

Srikanth is asking me what was wrong. I couldn't hear him. I was in a daze.

Maybe she is sleeping in Ananya's room.

She is hiding. So better check every room.

Yes.

That is the only explanation.

I immediately went and opened every room to see drunken people still sleeping.

Srikanth stopped me and asked me, "What are you doing Arjun? You are scaring me. What happened?"

"Where is Ananya's room?"

"What? Why?"

"Sharanya might be there"

"Pinky's room is on the second floor. But there are..."

I ran to the second floor and opened every door to find Ananya's room. Ananya is sleeping with three other girls. I checked her washroom. Sharanya is not there. I closed the room and went to the corridor and thinking. I can hear my heart drumming hastily. A chill ran through my spine.

This has to be a prank. I just need to find her.

"What the hell Arjun? Are you still drunk?" Srikanth roared at me angrily just now reaching there.

"Sharanya is not in the house."

"What?"

"She sent me an email saying that she is leaving. She is pranking me. We just need to find her."

I know in the back of my mind that something is very wrong. I have a gut feeling that this is not a prank. My mind played yesterday's weird scenarios with Sharanya and that of Sangeet nights' incidents where she was crying. I remember her asking me to forgive her yesterday night. That is unlike her.

Reality hit me hard.

Srikanth is asking or yelling. I don't know. I can't hear anything. My mind went blank. Srikanth is taking me somewhere. He is giving me my phone and is asking me to unlock it. When I am not responding he took my hand, opened my phone with my fingerprints. He then ran somewhere taking my phone with him. I was just standing there in the room.

Karthik woke with all this commotion. I looked at him. He immediately knows that something is wrong. He ran to me and asked me what happened. I just stood there numbly. I tried opening my mouth to answer him. But I couldn't. I know why. Benefits of being a doctor.

My mind is going through shock. Even Karthik understood that. He made me sit on the couch and forced me to drink water. After five minutes, I came back to my senses. I went to the washroom and washed my face with cold water. It took me another five minutes to compose myself.

I then leaned against the wall in the washroom and started thinking. Slowly rage and betrayal started to fill me as I understand the situation. No. I should at least give her the benefit of doubt. She is the one who is in hurry to get married. So why would she run away? It does not make sense. I need to see the email again. I went back to the room to see that Srikanth is already there. I snatched my phone from him and opened the email and read it again carefully.

Dear Arjun,

I am sorry that I am informing you like this. I got an offer in a south Indian movie. The girl who played the lead role got fired and I got selected last minute. They are starting shooting in a day in some forest in South Africa. It is a 120 day schedule. I have to leave today. You know how much I have waited for an opportunity like this. I can show everyone that I am capable of standing on my own. Please understand. And tell my parents to postpone this wedding. We will marry once I come back. I am sorry I am leaving like this. If anyone come to know this, they won't let us to postpone the wedding. So this is the only way to postpone the wedding. I am sorry.

Love you

Sharanya

Srikanth forwarded me some pages. He took a printout of Sharanya's letter to me and some other papers. There is a plane ticket and visa copy printouts from the mail. I can see that she received her visa two days back, on our sangeet day. That means she knew this at least two days before. Yet, she didn't say anything. She blindsided me.

"There will be no printout shop opened at the time you received the email. So she should have used our office room to take the printouts. I checked the printer's history to get these." Srikanth explained me.

I never felt such anger in my life. I nodded at him. Karthik, Srikanth, and I just stood there. Nobody knows what to do. How would anybody react in this situation? How can she not even think about the consequences? How can she not even think about me and her family? How can one be so selfish?

I looked at the bed to see Siddharth sleeping soundly. I don't know for some reason I wanted to kick him and wake him up. I am angry that he is sleeping without a care in the world, while I am worried for the day. Afraid that if I stay I will beat the daylights out of him and he wouldn't even know why, I left the room and went to the living room and sat on the couch with my head in my hands.

Srikanth and Karthik followed me and they too sat on the couch. The entire house is filled with relatives. People are starting to wake up. Some of our cousins came and asked what happened. They are confused seeing us on the couch with serious faces. No one answered them. They too sat on other couches. The decoration team has started their work for the wedding on the lawn. We should stop this.

"We should inform our parents", I told Srikanth after ten minutes. He looked at me and nodded. He and I both know the consequences. Right now, I think we are not worried about Sharanya leaving this marriage. We are more worried about what will happen in the next few days. He knows the stakes. He left the room to inform our parents. I wonder how he will break the news to his parents. Then I decided not to think about it and let him handle that. I have more important things to worry about. I have to think about a solution to avert the crisis at our hands.