Half Girlfriend

notice period.'
‘When did she resign?’
‘A week before writing the letter to me.’
‘So she knew she was leaving?’ I said.
‘Yes.When she told me to stay that night, she knew it was our last
night together. She had planned it.’
He grew sad again.
‘What else did you do?’
‘I asked the company for the list of assigned doctors. I met them.
They said Riya had come only once, when she first had a cough. After
that she had preferred to consult with her family doctors.’
‘In Delhi?’
‘Yes. In fact, I went to Delhi.’
‘To look for her?’
‘I had to go there anyway, to complete the paperwork for the grant.
I went to her house. She wasn’t there.’
‘You met her parents?’
‘Her mother. Her father had passed away a month ago.’
He sipped his tea and turned silent.
‘Did her mother know anything?’ I said.
‘No. She knew less than I did. According to her, Riya had called
her and said she might do a meditation course. That is why her phone
wasn’t reachable, she told me.’
‘You told her about the cancer?’
‘Couldn't. I didn’t have the guts to. I just expressed my
condolences over her husband’s death and left.’
‘And you came back to Bihar?’
‘Eventually, yes. Before that, I called every top hospital in Delhi to
ask about Riya. Nobody knew where she was. I contacted her family
doctor. He hadn’t heard from her for years. I called her old friends
from college.They had lost touch with her. I searched on the Internet;
she wasn’t on Faccbook or any other site. I tried contacts at phone
companies. I called the major yoga ashrams in the country. Nothing.’