A broken man. “You should have rested first before coming here, or better yet, you could have just called me; I would have come to talk about the industrial—”Cutting straight in the middle, Shrey shook his head in alarm before claiming, "We are off duty now. Also, I came to check on you and talk to you. No work-related enquiries," he nodded, giving a short, side hug to Uzair while they shared a smile. “I missed you.” Leaning ahead, he kissed Uzair's forehead. “You are as adorable as ever, little buddy.”“I must correct you; I am a grownup now! You better refrain from treating me like a child that I no longer am.” There was a hint of irritation in Uzair's voice, but deep down, Shrey knew he loved his attention on him more than ever. “Of course. Of course. I practically raised you. No wonder you are more like me than our father.”"Yes, brother!" Uzair apologised. “And I am very glad I took our mother's features. I am way more handsome than you.”“You call yourself handsome? You are c
Brotherhood Unbreakable. “Daydreaming, are we?”“Just hit with nostalgia.”“Hope it's worth it. Now, stop stretching the issue and tell me what's weighing on your mind.”“It's not that important.”“I can smell a lie. You know that already. Don't you? If it isn't as important as you say it is, you shouldn't be even sparing your time on it. Now would you?”“I’m not.”“Are you certain?”An unknown emotion flashed over his eyes, and he remembered why he was feeling down in the first place. “Nothing can get past you. Can it?”“Bingo.”Uzair's ears turned bright pink. “You don't need to get embarrassed about it, son. It's not unnatural to predict someone you raised yourself.”Uzair's eyes spoke volumes of what he was hiding inside. There was a mix of honesty and intensity in them; despite the darkness in his expression, his eyes had a soft look. Shrey continued to watch him to let him have some time before he answered the questions. A bad move. Uzair already had made up his mind. Hadn't
24— Web of criminals: The ties that bind. “Finally, she found solace in her own chaos.” —Saumya Tripathi “You lied.” Several words had formed in my head that I wanted to voice out but I couldn't. My tears seemed to have dried as well. Suddenly Sabba knelt before me on the floor, holding my hands in hers. “Do you feel better now?” Was I? No. My lips were too frozen to word out. “Are you crying again?” She wiped my cheeks with tears strained cheeks. “Please don't. It breaks my heart watching you hurt." She looked at me straight in the eyes, her words matching her eyes. “Don't be saddened by the facts. At least now you know the answers to some of your questions about what you have been seeking from the very beginning. Shouldn't you?” She was right. Wasn't she? But with my mind frozen, I didn't know what to say to that. “I am not crying.” She gave me a toothless smile. “Sure. Sure.” “I am not!” We fell into deep silence for a couple of minutes when she stood to go somewhere.
A nightmare: her story. Focussing intently on her eyes, I told her, my breaths coming in pants. “From what you have told me, I could only perceive one thing,” my aghast-filled eyes met her calm ones. Or was she? Because I could see her shoulders tensed up. She kept quiet however without saying a word. Waiting for a moment or two, I found the courage to speak again. “You people are criminals. Are you not?” It came out more of a statement than a question than I intended. She slid her arms and folded them into her lap. Perhaps my question took her off guard, or I was sounding so convinced with myself that she shook her head softly, mutely. I couldn't tell. My hands tensed up for the upcoming answer that would break me more. I knew that it would. Taking a strand of hair between her lean fingers, she tucked it behind her ear; a slight quiver in her hand didn't go unnoticed by me. She was tensed, in fact. Any last remaining hope I had was extinguished. Was she truly nervous about accepti
Final Terror: The Last Fright. Somehow I could empathise with her. I knew that feeling because I had felt it before. For me, the feeling of helplessness with the terrible pain of suffering and stench of death that came with it on the day of the funeral. My parent's. How small was this world? “Time could only dull the pain, but it can't ever erase the facts of the pain being there. Deep inside the psyche.”The sentence was too deep. I felt touched by it, as it was the truth. Time did nothing but make us get used to the pain once that broke us into pieces. I was in shock. I had to take time to process all of it at once. Without saying a word, I grasped into her hands for moral support. I let her hold me. She tilted her head up; a comfortable silence settled between the two of us as she stared outside, unblinkingly. A wry chuckle then escaped her lips before her eyes were trained on mine once again. “At some point after the severe emotional trauma we had to endure, we became emotio
The struggle within. Before I could even open my mouth to respond, the thoughts that were already accumulated in my mind burst out all at the same time. It sure was blinding. I could feel my heart sink in my chest. Refusing to let them control me, I tried to blink repeatedly. What was happening to me? I refused to be this submissive to my own thoughts. I won't let it control me. With that thought, I managed to get some of it under control. However, the information that was laid bare to me was so inconspicuous, immense, and profound that it made me dizzy when my whole body reacted towards it. Her horrendous past. Them being criminals. His protection. Them being my parents' friends. My life being in danger. His control over me. My lost memory from the past. It circulated in my mind like an overbearing cloud, shadowing my every move. As if something heavy and ever-present in my thoughts keeps on getting heavier with each passing second. At this moment of time, I couldn't help b
An unexpected guest. It was just any other usual day. I had no idea what it would bring with it. Nonetheless, I couldn't have known that the very day would come with an expected arrival. Only the arrival of someone, a person, I knew once but couldn't remember at all. As I looked at the clock, which was newly placed near the nightstand, I was amazed to find that I had been sitting near the window for more than an hour now. How time flies here. It was unsettling. Time came and went as usual as it gets. At least a part of me did observe the time of the day subconsciously. However, the rest of my being was suffocated by unbearable despair. When it was not? Huh. I exhaled.As hot tears ambushed her eyes, I turned away from the window, blinking away. "How is my Bambolina doing?" A strange yet soft, very unique baritone of a person asked mildly from behind me. This voice was certainly new. I couldn't have guessed who, but there was softness in it. I jumped, not having seen another new st
Father's friend. “I am afraid that I cannot bring back those precious moments or its people.” He sighed. I could hear the remorse in his tone. "I regret not being able to save them.”That simple sentence made my heart beat erratic. I gulped, biting my lower lip hard, not to cry at the mention of them. “All I could do now is just make those memories alive in my mind,” he motioned his index finger towards the side of his head, tapping it twice. “I... broke down. I mean, I think the car broke down," I murmured stupidly, wavering at my words. “They met with an accident on their way back home.” My voice broke at the end of the sentence. Only the unpredictability was left in the remainder of my voice. The man's eyes darkened slightly. His once soft, brimming eyes had become piercing. I couldn't advert my gaze from his eyes. It was a sudden change that I couldn't fathom. That look gave me the chills in my ribs. However, I felt a sense of calmness spreading through my veins watching someo