Prameela and Sudhakar searched in bus station, railway station and in every place they could think of and enquired many people. They could not get even a trace of her anywhere and no one had seen a girl of her description.
"Jasmine is a good friend to Mounika. If our daughter wanted to do something like this, she sure would have told about it to Jasmine. Better we go and ask her." Sudhakar said.
"You are right." Trying to calm herself Prameela said. Her anxiety was increasing more and more with the passage of every minute.
Then they both went to Jasmine's home.
"What! Mounika went out of home? When? When this happened?" Malathi also shocked on hearing that.
"Possibly early morning of this day. She wrote a slip, put it on the table and went away. I just don't know what to do. She is such a small girl. Anything can happen to her." weeping terribly, Prameela said.
"I shall ask Jasmine if Mounika said anything about her plans to her." Malathi yelled for Jasmine and Jasmine came out.
Looking Mounika's parents at that place she showed a bewildered expression. She could understand why they both were at her home then.
"What happened?"
Prameela put the note written by Mounika into Jasmine's hand.
"What this means? Where she could go?" Jasmine almost yelled after reading the note.
"Did not she say anything about this to you?" looking fearfully into the face of Jasmine, Sudhakar asked. Their last hope was Jasmine.
"If she has" Jasmine said with firm voice "I never would have let her do like this. What a foolish thing she did!"
"The only hope now we have is you." Prameela was weeping. "You are such a close friend to Mounika. If she did not tell anything about this to you, with whom else she would share that?"
Jasmine and her parents were feeling terribly pity on Prameela.
"Ragini also is a very close friend to her. She might have said something about this to her. We go and ask her."
This time not just Prameela's parents, but Jasmine and Sundar also went to Ragini's home. Hearing about the incident Ragini became aghast.
"I never have thought that Mounika would do this type of a foolish thing!" Ragini said.
"What is really happening? Why Mounika went away like that?" Ragini's mother asked looking into the face of Prameela. "I know her. She is intelligent. She never does a foolish thing like that without reason."
Prameela was confused not knowing what to say. "Er...no reason...nothing...she got angry with me."
"She got that much angry with you that she left the house like this!" there was a surprising expression on the face of Ragini's mother.
No one there bothered to say anything to Ragini's mother then.
"The next move of us must be to police station. This should not be delayed anymore." Sundar said. "Come, we go to the police station now."
Prameela's parents nodded their heads. Jasmine felt awkward to go to the police station. She never went to a police station till that time.
"Dad, may I go home now? I don't like to come to a police station." Jasmine said.
"Yes, it is the best thing that you do go home." Sundar said.
Then Jasmine went away from that place.
In the police station, police inspector carefully read the note written by Mounika and looked into the faces of the three there.
"Who are the parents of this girl among you three?" he asked.
"We are." Sudhakar said. "We both" Prameela said. Both of them said at once.
"So you both are going to take divorce and your daughter does not like it." He said once again.
"Yes" with a small voice Sudhakar said.
"What is her name and how much aged she is?"
"Mounika. She is studying ninth class and aged just fourteen years." Prameela said
"She is studying ninth class and aged just fourteen years." Inspector emphasized what Prameela said. "Did you remember it when you took the decision for taking divorce?"
Prameela felt it like a whiplash. She felt a pang deep in her heart. Anyhow her face reddened with anger. "Inspector, this is entirely our personal affair."
"Yes, it is your personal affair." Inspector nodded his head. "Did not she say anything about her idea to go out like this to anyone?"
"No, she did not." this time Sudhakar said.
"She might have told about this to some of her friends, did you inquire with them?"
"We enquired with all her friends. No, she did not."
"Can you say at what time your daughter would have left home?"
"Early morning five I think. She could not dare to go out in the night." Prameela said.
"She dared to go out like this. Why could not she dare to go out in the night?" he questioned again.
None of them knew what to say to that then.
After a pause he looked at Sundar and asked "Who are you sir?"
"I am the father of her close friend Jasmine." Sundar said.
"Did not she say anything to your daughter either?" he asked.
"No, she did not." Sundar nodded his head in negation.
"She may be planned to go to one of your relatives. Phone to them and ask them." Inspector said. "Anyhow what did she take with her?"
"She did not take anything with her." Sudhakar said.
"How she can go anywhere without taking anything with her?"
"That is what I too cannot understand." Prameela said. "She is just fourteen years old. What happens to her if she is all alone out? I am feeling very much fear." Her voice shivered.
Inspector sharply looked into her eyes. "I don't want to interfere with your personal matters. But we need to behave very carefully while we are dealing with our children."
"I never ill-treated my child. I never even scolded her not to say beating. I gave her everything she wanted. We both are just like friends all the time." Prameela said.
"The same applies to me also." Sudhakar said. Even he was also distressed to the maximum, he was maintaining his balance.
"Is it is so? Then what led her to go out like this?" once again inspector sharply looked into their both faces. "You are forcing me to say this. Your daughter is not liking your taking divorce. That is what made her go out like this. Even she comes back, she goes out again if you are stubborn to take divorce."
"I think about this inspector." Prameela said.
Sundar looked surprisingly into her face. It was the very first time she said this after they took the decision to take divorce.
"I can understand your feelings. She cannot go far. We try our level best. You are going to hear about your daughter before evening itself."
"Please inspector. Do something. I just cannot bear thinking she went away like that." Prameela burst out into weeping again.
"I understood. Control yourself. Losing your nerves like this cannot help you even a little bit." Inspector paused for a moment before saying. "You do your trails on your part also. Search everywhere you know. Enquire everyone you know. Phone to all your relatives and friends and tell about this."
"Alright inspector." Sudhakar nodded his head.
"For the present you go. We let you know if there is any news about your daughter to us."
Then Sundar, Sudhakar and Prameela came out of the police station.
***
Prameela and Sudhakar wanted to go to their home but Sundar compelled them to come to his home. "This is something that we need to attend with cool minds. In the present situation you cannot think with cool minds. My wife and I do that for you. Please come to our home."
Malathi and Jasmine were anxiously waiting for those three. Prameela and Sudhakar slumped in the chairs there and Sundar explained everything to Malathi and Jasmine.
"I am feeling very much worried. Why she did such type of a thing?" Malathi said. Malathi, Sundar and Jasmine dragged chairs near to Prameela and Sudhakar and placed themselves in them.
"Even Mounika wants to go to any of your relatives' homes she may not reach them till evening. We may better phone to them then." Sundar said.
Neither Prameela nor Sudhakar said anything to that.
"There is no use in worrying ourselves. We need to be courageous in situations like these." Malathi said.
Prameela suddenly looked into the face of Jasmine. "Jasmine, even you have joined in that school only in this year, you have become a very close friend to Mounika. Did not she share anything with you?"
"She shared with me a lot, except this." Jasmine said.
"What she shared with you? Did she tell you that my husband and I are going to take divorce?"
"I am sorry aunty." Jasmine said. "Few days back you have asked me the same question. On that day I said to you that Mounika did not share this with me. I said so as I did not like to embarrass either Mounika or you. But that is not true. She shared each and everything she was feeling, with me. I just cannot understand why she has taken a decision to leave the house without telling me at all."
"Alright. What did she share with you? What does she want?" looking inquiringly into the eyes of Jasmine, Prameela asked her again.
"She does not want you both taking divorce. At the same time she does not like you both quarrelling with each other all the time. She wants you both together, happy and loving each other all the time." Jasmine said.
(..........to be continued)
(I hope you enjoyedit so far. Please don't forget to rate and review it. I update the next chapteras early as possible.)