Bare skies

[ Note: This is the last part (3rd part) of the story "Bare Skies". For the 1st part, click - "It rained that night ..."

and for the 2nd part, click - "Swissed" ]

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Abhay could read those questions on Sanchita’s face.

“Too much of travelling dear! Exhausted a bit coz of this jet lag; that’s it!” He replied. Sanchita knew about Abhay’s busy and hectic schedules, so there were no further questions left in her mind.

After having breakfast, they started for Milan. Abhay said, “Lets go via Bern and Luzerne.” Sanchita had a broad smile on her face as she didn’t bother whether Abz gonna drive via Bern or Zurich or Luzerne or any other place for that matter. She just gave him a tight hug.

Highway 18 of Swiss was as beautiful as Sanchita. Abhay took many detours ‘en route as he knew the places in that area really well. Sanchita had been to Swiss before but she was experiencing the real Swiss with Abhay.

1 day stay in Bern, 2 days in Zurich, 1 day in Luzerne, 2 days in Lugano and finally 3 days in Milan………With Abhay….

Sanchita was having the best time of her life!

Sanchita came back to Mumbai from Milan ‘n Abhay got started with his project in Milan. When they were in Swiss, Sanchita had asked about their engagement. Abhay had replied that he’s ready for it but it’d be great if the engagement happens when he completes Milan project. That project was timed for 23 weeks but Sanchita didn’t have any problem with that.

As expected, Sanchita got a deal from Rolex and her life in Mumbai got even busier. Elegance was now spread across 4 metros and she had big plans to take it to even more places in India. Even Abhay was under tremendous pressure as 2 of his team members from Milan project team had resigned and there were no resources available with necessary skillsets. So Abhay was handling their parts of work also. Burning midnight oil had become a routine for him. He had almost forgotten what a weekend feels like. Thrice a day calls had reduced to a call in 2-3 days.

5 months had elapsed since they had met in Europe.

Their communication got reduced to a text message in a day. Sanchita had started getting a feeling that Abhay is going away from her. Sanchita tried twice reaching Abhay over phone. Abhay couldn’t take her calls as he was in a long meeting with Milan International Airport Company’s Director. Abhay returned the call after the meeting and Sanchita felt even strongly that there’s some problem at Abhay’s end. But she couldn’t gather anything specific from their conversation. She thought about giving a call on coming Sunday as Abhay would be working from home and wouldn’t have any meetings in the office.

“Abz.. Abz dear.. Please tell me what’s the matter.. Please dear.. Please dear..” Sanchita was worried.

Sanchita gave a call to Abhay’s parents also. Sanchita was in regular touch with Abhay’s parents. She had a normal, casual conversation with them. No traces of tension at all at their side!

“Sanch, I’m under tremendous stress. I need you. Can you come down here? Please…..” Abhay had called Sanchita on Sunday morning at 4 o’clock IST.

Sanchita understood there’s something seriously wrong with Abhay and Abhay needed her badly. But she had to wait for 5 days to get a new visa stamped on her passport. In between, Abhay had called again and had asked Sanchita to fly down to New York as he had wrapped up the Milan project and he was flying to New York on the same day.

It took 5 more days for Sanchita to get her documents in place for a new visa for US; and a day more to delegate the responsibilities for Elegance. She landed at JFK on a bare skied morning. Abhay was supposed to pick her up but she didn’t find him at the airport. His cell was also switched off. She decided to wait for him for a while. While she sat in one of the lounges, she picked a daily from one of the stands.

A small news item on page 5 caught her eye.

Indian professional found dead in his apartment… “Abhay Sheshadri, 33, working with Hudson & Mitchell as Senior Consultant in Terminal Design team was found dead in his apartment in Clayton Towers yesterday night. Garreth Smith, his colleague at H&M, informed police about it immediately when he entered Abhay’s apartment at 9:30pm to meet him. Police have found traces of cocaine in Abhay’s apartment and they suspect drug overdose to be the cause of death. Mr. Smith has also confirmed Abhay’s drug consumption habit of last 5-6 months. He also informed police that Abhay was about to join rehabilitation center in a day or two after his fianceé who was about to fly to US from India. The body is been sent to forensic department for further investigations.”

New York’s bare skies seemed nothing as compared to Sanchita’s eyes.