Nature's Comeback

49- Siblings

It took a while but both the twins had managed to calm down. Their hearts were still hurting, but the hardened barrier was back.

Along with remembering the past, they also addressed how far they had come in the present, while looking up at the age-old statue.

"Now we are again going back on our decision to join the researchers," Neer remarked with an underlying questioning tone as he stared up at the statue.

"Can we really leave them after they did so much for us? You saw their condition Neer, they had put in everything they could to save our parents."

"So you do consider them as your parents."

Ahana and Neer turned upon hearing the voice and saw Dhara coming towards them with a smirk.

"Why are you here?" Neer asked with a sigh, while Ahana muttered angrily, "Go back and stay with the people who are like your parents."

"Jealous?" Dhara asked, raising an eyebrow.

Neer clutched Ahana's hand, before she could use her power on Dhara.

"I can use my eyes too," Ahana reminded him, before pulling her hand away.

"Don't mock us," Neer warned. Both the twins were emotionally unstable right now and there was a huge chance that they could make a mistake that would haunt them for all their lives.

"Okay okay, Sorry." Dhara raised her hands in surrender, heeding to Neer's warning.

"I was actually here to inform you that your parents do love you, they always did."

The twins scoffed at her sentence, "Yeah, that must be why they threw us away."

Dhara sighed, "You know how superstitions are. No amount of logic can make anyone understand that all this is nonsense.

"We all saw how these villagers were unwilling to use the river's water, even at the cost of their death.

"Your parents love you, but the grip of superstition is too strong. While you have faced hardships, they weren't happy either."

"Good to know," Ahana grumbled. The dark side of her mind was really happy that her parents suffered too, however, another side of her mind felt bad for them.

"What do you want from us?" Neer asked, knowing there was a reason behind all those talks.

"Two things-  Your phone number so we can be in touch. And a message once in a while to inform us that you two are alive and happy."

"That's it?" Ahana asked in astonishment. She had been expecting something more.

"What did you think I would ask?" Dhara questioned with a laugh.

"Money? You know to take care of them..." Neer trailed off.

"To never come back so you can take our place," Ahana muttered, shocking Neer too by her thinking.

"Your imagination runs really wild," Dhara chuckled, or more like tried to as she was too stunned by Ahana's words.

"Yeah, yeah," Ahana shrugged, before asking Dhara, "Just our numbers right?"

"Well..." Dhara started making the twins roll their eyes. They already guessed there was something else.

"What?" Ahana asked impatiently.

"A second chance," Dhara spoke hesitantly.

The twins looked at each other with confusion. What the hell is she yapping about?

"If I ever manage to make your parents realize their mistake, I want you to give them a second chance."

Before the twins could outrightly reject her request, Dhara clarified hurriedly, "I am not saying to forgive them in an instant. I just want you to give them a chance to apologize. Give them a chance to right their wrongs."

"Sure."

"Please just one cha—wait what?!" Dhara wasn't expecting them to agree so easily.

"We will give them a chance...if you do manage to make them realize," Neer said.

"Which won't happen," Ahana muttered under her breath.

"Th..thank you." Dhara was still shocked. She had thought of so many speeches that she would need to give in order to make them agree, but their easy compliance didn't sit well with Dhara.

"What?" Dhara asked nervously when she saw Ahana's extended hand.

"Your phone. Didn't you want our numbers?" Ahana rolled her eyes at the scaredy cat standing in front of us.

"Oh yes!" Dhara hurriedly took out her phone, almost dropping it because of her nervousness.

"Chill! Contrary to everyone's thoughts, we aren't really monsters," Neer assured her with a small laugh.

"I never said you were," Dhara grumbled, before placing the phone in Ahana's outstretched hand.

"Take care of them," Ahana requested, while handling her phone back.

"Always," Dhara promised, recognizing the yearning in Ahana's eyes.

Neer and Ahana nodded at her respectfully, before bidding goodbye.

"I will be waiting for the time when we will regard each other as siblings," Dhara said as a parting note.

"You don't need to wait until then," Neer said with a small smile on his face, "Be there for our parents," he pointed towards the three of them, "until we can come and take the burden off your shoulders, Sister."

"We will be in touch," Ahana promised, before they waved and entered the bus that had been waiting for them.

"Where are the others? They left me at another village and ran here without informing me," the driver grumbled as soon the twins entered the bus.

"Sorry about that," Neer apologized before Ahana could get into a fight, "There was an emergency."

The twins sat in their previous places, keeping the seats empty for Sameera and Avan respectively.

They looked out of the windows to see everyone slowly coming towards them.

Limping and groaning everyone finally reached and settled down with a thump. No one had energy to even speak with each other. As soon as the engine roared each and everyone dozed off with tiredness.

The bus rode off to Mumbai carrying its physically and emotionally tired passengers.