Fallen ~ The Tale Of Exploration And Love

9- The Siblings

Five years went by in a blur. The Rathore family was doing well and continued to grow in business. The siblings were now older but still cute.

Anushka turned six last week, whereas Rohan and Vaishnavi turned five. They were all roaming around in the garden when they heard a voice calling their name and raced towards it.

"All three of you come here in an instant."
Their grandmother said it in a strict tone. She has always been like that: strict. She was frightened of ruining them. She does not want them to be known as the pampered, unpleasant, and rude children of a wealthy family.

"Are you all forgetting something? Well, think fast; you have 10 seconds." She asked them, and they all started to count the assigned tasks.

"We have a break of 10 minutes, and maybe the time is over by now," Vaishnavi answered. She looked at her grandma with eyes filled with truth and innocence.

"There's still some time left; you still have five minutes. So, till then, drink this milkshake to regain your strength." Radhika said. She presented them with a platter containing three glasses of chocolate milkshakes.

They grabbed a glass each and sat comfortably on their small chairs. They enjoyed the shake, slowly savouring every bit of chocolate.

"Now your next task is to place your toys in their right place." She said this to Rohan.

"Anu, you settle your books in their right place."

"And Vaishu, you... You have nothing more to do. You are all done. So come with me to the temple." She said she was still looking at the sheet of paper.

"How can she not have any tasks left? I saw her reading some storybooks." Rohan stated with a pout, not believing his little sister was quicker than him.

"She cleaned that room after reading. I saw her." Anushka said this in support of Vaishnavi.

"Still, there would be something left. She is not some supergirl." They continued to fight while Vaishnavi was enjoying her milkshake. She felt careless.

"Don't fight!" She said it calmly and sweetly to her siblings fighting over a worthless topic.

They turned towards her but again started fighting. She just shook her head. She planned to go to her room. She turned in that direction, and her brother came running, pulling her hair. She ran after him and they were looking like Tom and Jerry. But she tripped over her feet and fell hard on the floor, making her knee bleed.

She let out a painful cry, to which Rohan turned around and ran towards her to see what happened. He saw her knee and crouched down beside her.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have pulled your hair. This would not have happened. Sorry, Vaishu." Rohan apologized.

"You don't say sorry. I should have been more careful." She explained that she did not want her only brother to feel sorry.

While their brother-sister moment was going on, Aditya arrived. Aditya stood behind them, not noticing Vaishnavi's knee. When both of them sensed someone's presence, they looked in that direction, only to find their papa standing there with raised eyebrows.

"I didn't do that intentionally. We were playing and she got hurt." Rohan said, shuttering. Fear showed in his voice. He knew that his father would not do any such thing, but still, he had a powerful and scary aura around him, which was enough to scare that poor little soul in front of him.

He looked at his son, tears slipping from his eyes. He then looked at Vaishnavi, who was holding her brother's hand tightly and looked at him with moist eyes.

Aditya didn't like them fearing him. He kneeled in front of them and patted Rohan's head, and then his eyes fell on Vaishnavi's wound. He picked her up and made her sit on the couch. Then he bandaged her knee, and when he came back, he saw that Rohan was already helping Anushka, and Vaishnavi was sleeping soundly on the couch.

He picked her up carefully, went towards her chamber, laid her asleep on the bed, and tucked her in the blanket. Seeing her he said in a soft tone,
"Rest for a while. It's been a long day, princess." and went.