Junak Baruah wants to win the prestigious short film competition in his university. But with hundreds of participants and a stellar jury on board, winning means making a film that's never been made before.
And that means breaking the rules and taki...
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"I want to go with you," Lohor huffed. He had his hands folded over his chest and his brows were knitted into an ugly scowl.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Dikhou threw his hands in exasperation. "You are not coming with me."
"Why not?"
"Because." He turned to the younger boy, massaging his temple. His bag was packed on the bed in front of him, with the dhool sitting next to it. "I'm going to Guwahati for work."
"Please. You'll play the dhool, someone will record it. That's not work."
"Lohor!" Dikhou cried, close to strangling the kid. It was bad enough that he was walking around with a huge pang of guilt pressing down on him, he did not want Lohor to add fuel to the fire.
Lohor hmphed and stomped his foot.
Dikhou sucked in a deep breath and went to kneel in front of the ten-year-old. "I'll take you to Guwahati next month, okay? We'll go to the amusement park together."
"You always say that but we never go!"'
Well... that was true. Lohor had been asking to go to the amusement park for a long time now. Being an orphan, living with his uncle's family who weren't too generous towards him, Lohor did not have anyone except Dikhou to fulfil his whimsical wishes like these. And Dikhou wanted to take him, he really did, but something or the other always came up.
This time, he was refusing to take Lohor because he was desperately hoping to get some alone time with Junak.
It was extremely selfish of him.
He hated himself for it.
"Enough, Lohor." Both Lohor and Dikhou looked up as the latter's mother walked in, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Lohor made a face and said, "But bor-ma–"
"He's going there with an outsider. And we don't impose on outsiders."
Dikhou tensed at her word choice and what she was implying, but he did not say anything.
"Dikhou says he'll take you next month, I'll make sure he does. How about that?"
Dikhou's mother's words apparently held a lot more weight because Lohor nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you, bor-ma." He flashed the woman a toothy grin, then turned to Dikhou and scowled. "I'm still mad at you."
Dikhou smiled and flicked his forehead. Lohor raised a hand, in warning, then ran out of the room.
Which left Dikhou alone with his mother.
And it terrified him.
Ever since that night, he had been living with a bomb clogged in his windpipe. He felt like he had committed a terrible crime and it was only a matter of time before someone found out. And once the truth was out, everything would explode.
