Amidst A Thousand Suns

~a floofy newcomer~

Anamika's P.O.V.

~~~

I glanced at the wall clock in my bedroom.
1:30 p.m.
Almost half-an-hour until Aaghyaa comes home from school.

Her routine has become pretty unusual from the past few days.
She rarely comes out of her hole which is her bedroom and only comes down to have the two meals of the day or to pick up some snaks to nibble on.
Almost once in three days, Alfaaz comes here knocking and they both ascend to her room and only come out after two or three hours.
I was a little suspicious at first and so I eavesdropped on them through the closed door of her room for almost an hour, and heaved a huge sigh of relief when I heard them giggling and singing instead of intense kissing noises or moaning of any sort.
I felt disgusted at myself after that, but it was necessary.

When I had asked her about her sudden and immense inactivity and introverted-ness over dinner two days back, she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said she has to study for her upcoming exams.
I snorted internally.
I knew it wasn't the whole truth as she never, ever studies or completes her academic work before the assigned deadline.
In case of exams, she never starts studying before two weeks of the examination.
How much marks she gets in each one is a whole different thing, as I still am not able to understand how she manages to get good grades when she doesn't even study properly.

But I did not ask her much about the issue with her, for I had promised that I won't interfere in her life as long as she doesn't interfere in mine.
And I am more than willing to stick to that deal between us.

Bank is treating me good.
Although I do not much enjoy what I do to earn, I have socialised with a person or two during my working hours.
It was definitely hard for me at the starting because of my ignorance to talk with anyone and due to my mental state after Arun's death, but now after almost 7 months or so, I have made myself acquainted with a group that works with me in the bank.
So, all has been going good for me.

Fortunately, Aaghyaa has not once confronted me about what happened that day.
Nor has she tried to talk me out of it.
I guess, she is either too occupied with her 'studies' or she just wants to remain out of all this mess, which I can totally understand as I know she has her own problems to deal with.
I, myself, have given a lot of those to her.

Just as I lifted myself up from the bed to start getting ready for work, the doorbell rang.
I rushed down the stairs and opened the door to find a smiling Alfaaz with a brown basket in his hand.

"Hello, aunty! Good afternoon!", he chirped.

"Good afternoon, Alfaaz. Beta, Aaghyaa is still at school-"

"I know that she is at school aunty. But I came here to give you this.", he smiled and moved the basket towards me.

I took the container from him.
"What is it- woah!"

The shock was pretty much evident in my behavior as I motioned the basket away from me upon lifting the lid and peeking what was inside.

But before I could do anything else, a black snout peeked out of the basket and the nostrils it hold, flared and sniffed the air.
Alfaaz giggled slightly as the little baby golden retriever took his little head out of the lid to look around it's surroundings.

"What's-what is this doing here? Why did you brought me this?", I questioned him as I quitely placed the basket away from me on the floor and looked at him in confusion.