Half way in Love (Chapter 17)

Dev was now too big to be trapped in Tirupur. Still, he didn't shut down Emerald Garments. That was his start. That was Sukanya's gift. That gave him this life.

He visited the factory once in two months. It was being managed by his cousins now. They gave him daily reports through WhatsApp. Karthi was no more in his service. Though that was a big jolt to Dev, his cousins stepped in. They were capable of looking after production. Sitaram sir looked after accounts. Office was managed by a new girl, Keerthana. A post graduate in business management. She took care of all correspondences. Dev still attended important buyer meetings. They were usually arranged in Coimbatore. So he didn't have to travel all the way to Tirupur, just for attending the meetings.

Still, there were unavoidable things like statutory papers to be signed, authorisations for spending on infrastructure, employee welfare decisions and quality control, which required Dev's personal attention. He made his travels, clubbing as far as possible, two or three things.

Each visit to Tirupur was special to Dev. Journey back to the place where it all started. Each was a nostalgic journey.

But he missed Sukanya whenever he visited Tirupur. He tried her number twice or thrice, but the number now didn’t exist. He didn't have the will to go to her home searching for her. Thinking of Sakthi to him was like thinking about slithery insects. It gave him a kind of nauseating feeling.

He enquired in his company whether Sukanya came there after her had shifted. She had never come. She had kind of vanished from his life. Dev got sad and guilty whenever he thought about Sukanya. Only, if he had attended her calls. Honestly, Dev wished to call her back. But it never happened. With each deals, he got busier. New layouts, new projects, new deals and finally the Mall. He had his bag full.

Someday, Dev thought, Sukanya will apparate in front of him. He was sure of that. Whenever, he really wanted her. Whenever, she wished. She was feminine divinity to him. Capable of anything.

Dev had developed this new habit of checking WhatsApp status updates. It started after he talked to Revathy. He had saved her number, and was getting to see updates from her. To think, he never cared to check updates, before Revathy.

Girls make men do weird things...!!!

Revathy was one of them, who put up regular updates. She posted each and every fraction of her life. She was this happy going, worry free girl. A transfer in her office, a temple visit, a new sari, parents’ wedding anniversary; everything Dev knew through her status updates.

Dev was one of those guys, who was too shy to take the first step. With each passing day, Dev was getting to know more about Revathy. What her interests were, which book she was currently reading, the places she visited, who all she worked with and so on. With each updates, Dev was growing fonder of her. She looked cuter and sweeter to him each passing day. With each passing day, and with each of her posts, she grew bigger on Dev. But he never dared.

And Dev hopelessly kept looking for her status updates, almost every minute.

He kept glued on to the mobile screen, when he travelled from home to office, office to mall, during tea breaks, during staff meetings, while having breakfast or lunch, or even when he was on bed to catch few hours’ sleep.

What he got out of it, he didn't know. He was just happy knowing her. Her smiles, her dresses, her writings, and everything about her.

He got two or three more documentations of his clients at state bank CPC. He had the temptation of going to CPC and checking on them. May be he will get to see Revathy once again. But he resisted the temptation always. He thought he would look foolish.

Vasu was pretty amused the way Dev was spending time on phone these days. Generally, while on drives, Dev used to talk to Vasu. He used to talk about many things. But off late, Dev was almost silent. Whenever Vasu observed him through Rear View mirror, he would find Dev sitting silently, with his eyes hooked on to mobile screen. Something is not right. Vasu guessed.

Even Sarada and Sundaram were realising the change in Dev. Sarada used to talk lot, whenever she got her son, within her range. She would walk behind him all the time, telling him about their relatives, who all called her that day, what was happening in their lives, how Sundaram had been stupid enough to do that and do this and so on. Sarada was a devoted wife. She found cuteness in everything Sundaram did. Everything was a story to be told to her Son.

But these days Dev never responded back. He cut short their talk with an hm or yes or no. He would still smile at them. But he was in some other world. Sarada knew her son was not completely with her now. She would look meaningfully at Sundaram.

"Anything worrying you Dev? "

His father asked one evening when Dev returned. He could never stand his son suffering.

"Nothing Dad. Everything is good. "

Dev replied smilingly, and vanished to his room in top floor.

That particular day, Dev was feeling sleepless for some unknown reason. May be the coffee he had had foolishly with the dinner. He was just not able to get sleep.

He walked to the balcony, and sat in the bamboo couch. Traffic was flowing gracefully over national highway. He realised how graceful the traffic looks, from a distance. Darkness, intermittently cut open by head lights of incoming and outgoing vehicles. It was a pretty sight. You only see the festival of lights. No deafening sound. The same traffic looks maddening when you observed from close.

How things change when perspectives change...

He looked around. The other villas in the gated community sprouted out from darkness, basking in faint lights. It made a pretty sight in darkness. More than one hundred fifty villas, arranged beautifully over a vast span of land, and basking in individual outdoor lamps. All solar ones. It was silence everywhere. He would have loved to walk around, if only he had someone else to walk with. Alone, he would look like a fool, and that too at this hour. He now saw one of the securities taking rounds of the big campus on a bicycle. So things worked. Dev felt happy.

It was past midnight now. Involuntarily he took out his mobile phone. His fingers touched the famous green chat icon. And by habit, he touched the status tab automatically.

What a surprise. His heart leaped. Revathy had just updated her WhatsApp status. No, wait. She was now adding more. The circle got many more lines. 15, 20 and it got adding. Was she getting mad? Dev thought with a smile.

He opened her update with shaking fingers.

They were screen shots of WhatsApp chat messages.

" Thank you gopal sir, for the wish"

" Thank you Veena"

" Thank you Aiswarya"

" Thank you Vineeth sir"

" Thank you Acha"

" Thank you Nalini Aunty"

And the list grew on...

It was her birthday. People were awake and wishing this girl at midnight. So many of them.

And she put up a screen shot as and when she got a wish. Most of them had wished her with her image and a golden crown.

Dev was feeling bit jealous about wishes originating from male contacts. Why? He didn't know.

Should he wish her? Dev was pretty unsure. Will she feel bad? Will she think that I am making a move? Messaging her at this hour? Or will she feel happy? Questions kept piling up.

As was her status updates. It was adding on at a steady pace now.

Dev couldn't resist now. What if he wished. As such so many were doing that. And she is happily displaying every message she is receiving. She won't feel bad, hopefully.

He flipped the gallery, for one of her photos. He found some pretty ones; which he had downloaded from her earlier status updates. He was getting creative now. Dev laughed.

He found this one photo, where she stood smiling on a sea beach, with sunrays lighting up her face. She looked very beautiful in her Meesho special flowered long frock.

He forwarded it to her, with a caption..

" Happy birthday Revathy. God bless you"

As bland as it can get. How the messages cover up true emotions.

He kept holding the chat box. She was online. He waited with his heart beat rising now. Suddenly, his message got blue ticks.

His heart suddenly stopped.

She had seen her message. Oh god. She was typing back. And now her message popped up on his screen.

"Thank you Dev. Means a lot coming from you. I thought you might have forgotten me."

And she was typing again.

"BTB, don't you people sleep? Awake at this time?

She sent few funny smileys.

‘Losing sleep over you, Revathy’. He wanted to reply. But he only typed this in.

"No Revathy. Just came in. Happy to know it is your birthday. Enjoy your day"

" Thank you Dev".

Dev wished he could continue. He didn't know how. He simply cut off her chat box, with a longing feeling.

He now checked her status.

There surely it was. Screen shot of his wish.

" Thank you Dev"

Cont: chapter 18