Papa

It had been relatively late that day, almost close to midnight, when Avani left the office premises. She had to complete the presentation, which she had been working on with her colleague Rajiv.

"Avani are you sure, you want to leave alone. It's too late man. I can drop you at your home", said Rajiv. The concern was evident in his demeanour. 

"Chill Rajiv. I stay just 15 minutes from here. Don't worry. You still have an hour of travelling. I will take care.", replied Avani. Circumstances had taught her to never rely on others.

Rajiv was hesitant initially but gave in later, looking at her confident being.

'This woman needs to learn to sometimes rely on others. Stubborn woman.', he thought.

"Okay, but, do give me a call when you reach home", he said assertively.

Avani almost rolled her eyes at that, yet, she nodded affirmatively.

"Will do", came her crisp reply.

"See you Avani.", Rajic started his bike.

Avani waved at him and started on.

She put on her favourite playlist and went along on the road. She came to the regular cross-road. She usually took the left road, but since, it had been relatively late and she wanted to reach home early after a tiresome day, she took the right one, which was a short-cut. She continued walking. There was not even a single passer-by on the road, yet, she seemed to be quite at ease with the surroundings. After all, she had been accustomed to these surroundings, or, so she thought.

As she progressed humming the lyrics of a song, she was startled to see that she had reached the same cross-road yet again. Flabbergasted, she whirled around taking a look at the surroundings, yet, she was in the same place. She looked at her watch to see how much time had elapsed, since she started from her office. It only showed a progression of ten minutes. Avani was extremely confused at this point. 

'Had it all been a dream, me walking, taking the right road, what exactly is happening', a plethora of situations and speculations started swirling about in her head. 

"Ya, probably I am just imagining things.", she exclaimed aloud.

The next thing she did was, took off the cords from her ears and tucked them into her purse. 

"Fine, I can be alert now. Mom had told me to stop listening to music while walking, I should have listened. It makes me too light-headed." she nervously chuckled to herself. 

She resumed walking on the same right road, this time, alert. She just had this eerie feeling, a wierd one, at the back of her mind, which she brushed off. 

Just as she kept walking, she was startled yet again, to see that, she had reached the same cross-road again. Now, this time, she was really scared. She glanced at her watch to check the time, it still showed a passing of a mere ten minutes since the time she had started from her office. She decided to cross-check the timing from her phone. Yet, the same. Sensing something was seriously wrong, she was now close to tears. This had never happened earlier.

"Papa, help me.", she muttered in a shaken voice. 

She had this sudden idea of calling Rajiv. She dialed his number. But, to no avail. She tried over and again, only to be dissapointed. 

Suddenly, she heard the purring of a bike, in her proximity. When the bike approached her, she let out a sigh of relief to find Rajiv.

"Thank goodness Rajiv, you are here. I should have listened to you. But, I had not been able to call you, how did you reach me?", she bombarded him, with a sudden bust of emotions.

Rajiv did not utter a word, just kept glancing ahead, solemnly.

"Ya, I get it, you are upset with me. It is totally justified.", she said, while sitting behind him. As she sat, he started driving ahead. She found it a bit odd for Rajiv to be eerily quiet, yet, thinking of him to be really upset, she kept mum. She knew, she would be apologizing to him, the next day. 

Rajiv stopped the bike when they came in front of Avani's home. She sensed it and got down from the bike. Just as she was about to thank him, he turned the bike and went his way.

"Damn, he's really upset. But, he needs to know the relief I sensed with his arrival today. Thank God for him and his timely arrival today.", she muttered to herself.

She went in her home, and took a look at the wall clock, it indicated a passing of twenty minutes since the time she had left her office, same with her wrist watch and her phone. 

'I reached safely, yet, I could not brush off this wierd feeling. I am sure something was sincerely wrong.', she thought. But, she was too hungry and tired to probe into it further. 

Just as she was serving a plate for herself, she received a call from Rajiv.

"Hey Avani, you reached home? Sorry, I was not able to attend your call, I was driving and could not listen. I am half-way through now, so decided to check the phone. Listen, I will speak with you tomorrow, need to reach home now. Take care."

Before she could process anything and react, he cut the phone. She stood there in a daze, scared, confused, rather petrified, with all of what happened. 

The she remembered one thing. She went near her Papa's photoframe. It had been a year, since he had left her. She remembered his words while he had been breathing his last breath. 

'Princess, I will always look out for you. Just remember this old man, if you were to be scared. I will be there for you.'

Tears of anguish, pain and a quaint happiness, all of those emotions, clouded her eyes, before she blinked, setting them free on her cheeks. 

"You kept your promise old man. Love you Papa.", she whispered in a hoarse voice. 

She had realized that her Papa had been her guardian angel and always would be.