ETHEREAL

.20.

Instead of doing as she was told she looked at him with a challenge. She was annoyed and Randhir urge to dominate her was turning her more insane.

"Last time I remember I was noone to you." Sanyukta cross her arms.

"So logically, you are no one to me." Sanyukta pointed out.

"So why would listen to someone" she pointed at Randhir "who is no one to me?" She hissed through her teeth.

Randhir rolled his eyes but was waiting for her to obey at which sanyukta disappointed him in the exact way he was expecting.

Sanyukta ran.

She turn around and ran out from the room. Sanyukta swear she had never ran upstairs so fast in her entire life.
She didn't own a room anymore so there was only one room she can ran too. But as soon as she reached aunt Zara room she did a mistake to look behind her only to find Randhir only few steps back.

With a little panic in her heart, she throw the door open.

The people inside the room, they were disturbed by two breathless person at the doorstep. One after another.

"Sanyukta?... Randhir...?" Uncle Zayn was first to notice. "Everything's alright?"

There was a two minute silence while all of them just stared ahead.

"I was not sleepy so I thought...why not " sanyukta finally made a lie in her head and walked to the bed where they all were settled. Zara scoots to little to make space for sanyukta.

Perks of a king size bed .

Now all five of them stare at the door. Randhir was still silent. But finally he answered too.

"Me too." Randhir voice was deep as he walked into the room, getting closer to the bed. This time uncle Zayn scoots away from Zara to give Randhir space to sit. Sanyukta tensed up even when aunt Zara was between her and her chaser.

"Is he your grandson?" Uncle John was shocked.

"Wasn't he ... Small?" Aunt sarah questioned.

Aunt Zara and uncle Zayn laughed.

"You always talk about him like he was a baby." Sarah pointed out remembering the times when we all used to talk about him in old age home.

"Because he was small.. before we..." Aunt Zara didn't complete her sentence.

"And it was difficult to imagine him grown up because we never saw him after that. We had idea how he looked or how he talk. We only had one image of him in our mind, which was him as a five year old." Uncle Zayn completed her.

"But the day I saw him waiting for us in the office of old age home.. I knew its him." Aunt Zara ran her delicate fingers through his hair. Randhir lowered his head as if wanted her to do it more and more.

And aunt Zara understood. She made him rest his head on a pillow on her lap and comb his hair back with her tiny fingers.

That even looks so comforting and pleasing.

It made sanyukta want to dip down on the pillow too. But there is no way she would like to break their moment. Randhir had a very rare moments like these, when he let his emotion surface on his face. Like now, it's now clear on his face. He look so peaceful.

"So you used to talk about me?" Randhir voice was deeper now.

Yes. Yes. Yessssss. Finally.

"Everyday." Sanyukta couldn't help but say it. She wanted him to know that they love him. They ALWAYS did.

"But you still hesitated before coming back with me." Randhir murmured more to himself but we all heard it loud and clear.

Sanyukta could hear the crickets cripping in the garden.

Nobody answered and Randhir laid still with his eyes closed on Zara's lap.

"We love you so much but yet we had to leave you behind..." Aunt Zara finally answer and sanyukta was thankful for that.

"But we both cried everyday for you. To have a glimpse of you. To meet you. To wish you birthday. We prayed day and night for your safety and progress..." Aunt Zara eyes turned moist but she continued.

"Then we realised that it was a mistake to leave you alone with the people who won't love or respect their own parents and choose to send them into some old age home." Zara wiped her tear.

"But then life gave us another chance to correct our mistake this time." Randhir eyes squinted a little at her answer.

"We love sanyukta as our own kid and I couldn't even thought about leaving her alone somewhere..... anywhere. I didn't want to go through that all over again. Praying to get a glimpse of her. Waiting To see her. Craving To meet her." Aunt Zara sniffles.

"But let me tell you very loud and clear.... "Aunt Zara smiled this time. "I don't want you both fighting over who we love more." Zayn joined aunt Zara in her laughter.

"never." Randhir and Sanyukta replied at the same time.

Liar.

Then aunt Zara patted sanyukta hair and rubbed her scalp.

That's actually very very pleasing.

It made sanyukta yawn a little and her eyes began to drop shut. She didn't realise her head getting lowered until it touched the soft surface of pillow. She surely felt a head touching top of her head but she was too sleepy to acknowledge that.

While deep breaths from Randhir was a evidence that he had dozed off too.