A True Friend

Once, in the city of Mumbai, there were two best friends, named Priyanka and Prajakta. Priyanka was an introvert. She had joined the school one year before Prajakta joined it. She had not spoken to anyone for the whole year. Prajakta, on the other hand, was an extrovert. She made a friend on the first day itself. She went and talked to Priyanka and made friends with her. She was Priyanka's first friend.

As the years passed, their friendship grew stronger and deeper. They both were now 25 years of age now. Prajakta had now done the degree for becoming a businesswoman. Both her parents were retired. Her elder brother, Arun, was looking for a job. Prajakta wanted to open her own business but could not find any investors. Her family was in deep loss. On the other hand, Priyanka was a teacher. She had a nice job, a good salary and was well-off. Priyanka's little sister, Yashika, too, had a job and was a CEO of a huge company.

They had not been in constant contact with each other for a few years. One day, Priyanka was scrolling through her childhood photos when she saw a photo of her and Prajakta. She remembered all the good times they had when they were kids. She really missed her friend. So, that afternoon, she called Prajakta and asked, 

"Hi Praju, how are you? Do you remember me, Priyanka?" Prajakta was really surprised that Priyanka had called her after so many years. 

She said, "Prii how are you? I miss you so much. Where are you? Where do you live?" 

"I am in Thane, what about you?", asked Priyanka. "I live in Nerul.", said Prajakta.

"So, can we meet at SGC mall in Seawoods, next Sunday? I really wanna meet you. After all, it's been soo long."

"Sure, I will be free at that time."

A week passed really quickly. Both of them were at the entrance of SGC at 3:00 pm on Sunday. They both roamed the mall, did some shopping, and finally, at 5:30, they sat down to eat at the food court. They talked about their lives, friends, and family over Pav Bhaji. Prajakta told Priyanka all about her business, and the fact that she could not find any investors. When Priyanka heard of Prajakta's problems, she immediately decided to invest in her business. She heard Prajakta's plans for the business and found that her plans had a lot of potentials. She invested a lot of money in Prajakta's business. Soon, Prajakta's business was booming. 

Three years passed. Both of them were 28 now. Prajakta and her family were now well off. Her brother now was the manager of the company in which Priyanka's little sister worked. Priyanka was also well off now. After investing in Prajakta's business, she had struggled a bit financially, but now all was okay in both their families. 

On one fine Thursday, Prajakta called Priyanka and asked, "Hi Prii, how are you doing?" 

"I am doing really well, what about you?"

"I am good. I called you because I wanted to ask you if you could come to my house for a sleepover on Saturday."

"Sure Praju."

"Great! Can you come home at 7 pm?"

"Sure Praju. I'll meet you on Sunday."

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

On Saturday, both of them had a sleepover. 

They had a lot of fun. They stayed awake for hours and talked until they were too tired. Prajakta insisted that Priyanka stay for Sunday too. So, Priyanka stayed at Prajakta's home on Sunday too. But after 7 pm, Priyanka couldn't stay any longer because she had a lot of work. She took her car and went home. 

At 9 pm, Prajakta got a call from Priyanka's sister. "Hi Yashika"

"Hi. Can I talk to Prii? She is not picking up my call."

"But Priyanka left for her house two hours ago. Hasn't she reached yet?"

"What!? Two hours ago? Then she should have reached here by now.."

Then, after calming down a bit, Yashika said, "Maybe she got stuck in traffic and her phone is on silent."

"But I had called her at 7:30. She picked up and said that she had almost reached her house. She only had to cross one highway."

"But that means her phone is not on silent and if she had to cross only one highway then she should have reached home by now."

"Yes. I think we should check that highway. Maybe her car ran out of petrol. After all, that highway does not have a good network even though it is a very busy highway."

"You're right. I'll go check it right away."

"I'll come too."

They reached the highway but couldn't find Priyanka. They both asked some people and learned that there had been an accident here almost an hour ago. The patient had been taken to the nearest hospital. Yashika and Prajakta rushed to the hospital after calling and informing Priyanka's parents. The four of them reached the hospital and their suspicions were confirmed. Priyanka was the person who had an accident. She was seriously injured as her car had collided with a truck. 

Her head was badly injured and both her legs were fractured. She needed blood but her blood group was O-, and the blood bank did not have O- blood group. No one in her family was O-. But Prajakta was O-. She readily agreed to donate her blood to Priyanka. But that much blood was not enough. Prajakta contacted her brother, who was also O-, and asked him to rush to the hospital. Prajakta's brother also donated his blood. 

Soon, the doctor came out of the operation theatre and told everyone that Priyanka's life was out of danger. She was moved from the ICU. She would be discharged from the hospital in a week but will be in a wheelchair for a month. As soon as Priyanka learned that Prajakta and her brother had saved her life, she thanked them and gave them a box of chocolates as a mark of thanks. 

Both of the friends were now happy and closer than ever.