Popcorn

24. Letting go

As the alarm rang, Harshan stirred in his sleep, moving his hands to shut the source of the high pitch shrilling sound. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up staring at the blank wall in front of him. Harshan had loved Sakshi with his whole heart. When she broke with him, he was shattered. He didn't expect their relationship would take such a turn. Rakshan was the one with whom he shared his love story with. When he told his heartbreak to him, he had expected Rakshan to take his side, console him but when he put forth the point of understanding things from Sakshi's point of view, he was hurt. He misinterpreted his brother's view. He failed to realise his brother was not justifying her but was trying to remend his broken heart free from anger and hate. 

 He was once again angry and upset with Rakshan when he left to Bangalore to help his second family, his team. He knew his brother wouldn't leave him like that but the prior break up had played a major part in messing up his actions. The genuine part of him knew his brother was not wrong either with his words nor his actions but he couldn't cope up with the break up and took out his frustrated feelings over Rakshan. He never wanted to distance himself from his brother but at that time when he saw Rakshan leaving him to help his team, he took it other way. He felt his brother like Sakshi was choosing his career over him. He failed to realise neither Rakshan nor Sakshi were the same and neither knew why Sakshi chose her career over him. It was time for him to get answers.

Getting up from the bed, he smiled at Rakshan who was peacefully sleeping with his head resting on his palm like a small child. Last night, they both sat together talking and laughing at all nonsense in the world. He felt light after letting go his grudges on his brother. Realising how stupid he has been these years, he slapped his head and left to the washroom to get ready.

Dheeraj and Suchitra could not get over the sight in front of their eyes. They were on cloud nine. Their two grandsons laughing at something known to them alone, descended down the stairs with Harshan's hand resting on Rakshan's shoulder. Aditi was happy to see her friend smiling but she was surprised to see Mr Fireball beaming in joy. After giving their grandparents a big smile, the brothers sat for the breakfast. Harshan raised his head from the plate to see a smiling Rachna sitting opposite to him. He gave her an assuring smile making her heart flutter. She felt a new difference in the smile. Might be their relationship had a chance. Overall, the entire table was filled with happy faces.

After breakfast, as Aditi made her way to the living room she was stopped by a smiling Rakshan on her way.

"Thank you." Rakshan thanked her heartedly giving her a bright smile. Aditi smiled at him, she had not seen him so esculated in happiness.

"May I know what for?"Aditi quizzed searching through all the memory registers in her brain to find a valuable reason for him to thank her.

"Just like that." Rakshan beamed giving her another smile and made his way to his room to complete his work, leaving behind a clueless Aditi wondering why people were suddenly hugging and thanking her for unknown reasons.

Rakshan had given up hopes in reconciling with his brother long time back. Any attempt he made, he was either burst with Harshan's infuriated words or subtle taunts. He felt it was better to not disturb him than seeing hatred in his brother's eyes for him. However, his hopes were restored hearing Aditi's words to the little boy in the airport cafe. He understood that when he left to Bangalore, Harshan had felt neglected. A part of him agreed that he did a mistake leaving a vulnerable Harshan back home. He knew his family would look after Harshan but failed to understand that Harshan needed him the most and his action of choosing his work was similar to Sakshi's action. With a new found hope, he agreed to this vacation to sort out things, to earn back his special place in his brother's heart. Things had turned out pretty good for him and he hoped his brother makes peace with his past and looked up for a bright future in the personal front.