Love is a spontaneous emotion

Chapter2 Ambushed

I was happy hearing his voice and about my daughter and everything put me in a better mood.Just then I heard a knock on my door......

Holding my conversation with Raghu I opened the door just to find armed men who were all masked barging into my room pushing me inside and asaulting me. Then a man pulling out his gun fired bullets at me and after that I don't remember anything .

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Raghunandan

I was talking with Papa and the next moment I heard his screams . I was sure something very bad happened. I kept talking to him ,asking him what happened but all I heard were gun shorts and then it went dead silent.

I was terrified and I couldn't believe it. My hands were trembling thinking of the worst. One moment we were happily conversing and the very next moment everything came crumbling down.

I took deep breaths to calm down. I have worked under tremendous pressure and the one thing I have learnt well, being a surgeon is to never lose the cool no matter what, presence of mind is the key that you can't afford to lose but here it is my Papa, I am not dealing with a patient with whom I have no relationship other than the doctor and patient. It is not the same.

I struggled controlling my emotions and there was no time,I had to think and plan my next move and the first person who came to my mind was Assistant commissioner Pratap who was Papa's close friend who worked for Delhi Police headquarters then without wasting time I called Mr Pratap Singh and explained everything to him.

He asked me to switch on the TV which I already had done and kept changing the channels to find something regarding the hotel where my Papa stayed . Just when I was about to change the channel there I saw the news showing the hotel in Calgary which was ambushed by the terrorists.

The news kept showing about the attack and the damages but my mind could'nt register anything. I stood there frozen.I felt like the ground beneath me slipped. Iwas jolted back to reality by the blaring of my phone ,it was from ACP Pratap.I picked up the call and ACP divulged about the details of the attack and he said 5 of the guests and 3 of the employees that is total 8 of them died and 13 were hospitalized and were in critical condition but still he couldn't find out anything about Papa and he said that everything was brought under control and they could arrest 2 of the attackers and 5 of them were killed during the encounter. I asked him how soon can we get the news about my Father but he didn't have any answer to it.

The weather had gotten better and the flights had started operating which was a relief and I booked the next flight to Calgary. I didn't want my Naani to know about it just yet but was not sure if Naav already knew about it as it was everywhere on the news . I called Naav and she picked up the call and started crying. She knew about it. She just could'nt speak.

I said , " Naav, I understand kiddo what you are going through but calm down and just take a flight immediately to Delhi whatever that is available. I am leaving to Calgary in couple of hours . I want you to stay with Naani. She doesn't know anything yet and I don't want her to know either for the time being because the last thing I want right now is her worrying about it and compromising her health. She is already a heart patient."

Naav said,"Bhaiya, I want to come to Calgary with you ,please book another ticket too for me?"

I said "NO" to Naav and told her that she needs to be with Naani right now. Because I don't know how safe it is in Calgary and can't afford to put her life at risk and I can't leave Naani alone here just with the servants. I wanted Naav to behave more responsible atleast in a situation like this.

I said,"Naav , It is not a good idea to leave Naani alone knowing her health condition and the fact she is not aware of the situation right now and which we don't intend on her knowing about any time soon . So please understand , Bachi( child)."

Naav spoke after a moment, " Ok, Bhaiya . If you say so. I already booked an earlier flight cancelling the previous booking. I will be in Delhi as soon as possible. I think I won't be seeing you when I reach home as you are leaving to Calgary before that and by the way what have you planned to tell Naani about your travel to Calgary so sudden and urgently?"

Well I had not thought about it ,but I am definitely not going to tell her that I will be going to Calgary which would make her suspicious . I said, " Naav I will tell her that one of my friend's Father is ill and he needs my help and so I will be traveling to London." Naav did'nt further question me about the matter and agreeing with me she hung up.

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Naanima( Raghunandan and Navneeta' Maternal Grandmother ) pov

Raghu returned from USA after 4 years. I have missed him a lot even though I have visited him in US many times in 4years but still we have not lived apart for so long before.

He is 28 years old right age to get married but he is very adamant about not getting married. He says marriage should not be an obligation but a choice.He hates the norms of the society and doesn't want anything to do with them but Neerav, my Son in law and Raghu's Papa wants Raghu to get married and settle down.

Life has not been easy to any of us since my Daughter Subhadra ( Raghunandan and Naav's Mother) left us 10 years ago. My son in law,Neerav was so devastated that he shut himself off from the world including his children who had also lost their Mother. He was trying hard to cope with life by distracting himself from the pain of losing his wife by deluging himself with work. He was so shattered and struggling with the loss that he completely ignored the children who were craving for some love and comfort from their Papa. Poor children lost the warmth and comfort of both the parents at the same time.

I had lost my daughter too and had felt like walking dead and was only alive because I was breathing. For a parent what can be more disastrous than losing their children?I felt like nothing was left for me to live for. In short I wanted to accompany my daughter to wherever she went but one look at my innocent Grandchildren I turned into a warrior ready to live and fight this battle. I took up the responsibility of both the parents and raised these Children to the best of my ability. Raghu was 18 and Naav was only 8 when they lost their Mother. Raghu once the most cheerful kid turned into this cold ,aloof and detached person with a lot of anger issues. Smile on his face vanished as if it never existed to begin with. Naav struggled too but she was more resilient of us all as she was still young. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard the phone blaring, it was from Maithili. Naav's best friend.