ANUGAAMINI- The Boundaries

36. Indoctrinated

Anuj squirmed a little in his sleep and he found himself encased in Arunimaa's motherly embrace and smiled. 'Aaj maa itni der tak so rahi hain...', he turned to see the Manik and found him, 'Aur dad bhi.... Time kya ho ra...', she squinched his eyes to check the clock on the wall. '5 hi baja hai abhi to... Aaj main sabke liye chai bana deta hoon...', he got out of the bed and wore his spects.

He looked at his vacated space between his parents. He held Manik's hands and placed it over Arunimaa. Manik groped for a while, then slipped closer and muttered, 'Aruna...', in his sleep.

She frowned. 'Umm... Move away creep... Anuj is here...', she murmured sleepishly.

'Born to disturb me...', he removed his hand and turned other way around.

Anuj giggled standing aside. He bent over and whispered in Arunimaa's ears in a changed tone. 'Anuj is not here...', he told.

She groped beside her and Manik wasn't there. She slipped closer to Manik and hugged him from behind. "He's gone... I love you...", she expressed.

"Hmmm...", he held her hand, kissed it and set it over his chest.

"These two by god!!!", he smiled and walked out shutting the door carefully.

~

Anupamaa opened her eyes slowly. The sun was shining bright and her eyes dazzled for a few seconds trying to accomodate intense shine in. She covered her eyes with the back of her hands and turned around. Vanraj wasn't there and for a change it didn't affect her much till she realized that she was supposed to wake up before him. She got up instantly almost forgetting everything else, opened her almirah, drew out her clothes and was about to rush to the door when her eyes caught the sight of her reflection in the mirror and she halted. She got a look of her face - eyes swollen of crying, face damp of dried tears, nose red and cheek embossed with his fingerprints. She dropped everything down and stepped closer to the mirror and turned her cheek to inspect. Her fingers glided gently over the reddened portion and backed off the very next second.

"Sss...", she hissed lowly and as the her other feelings had stabilized a little, physical pain felt more prominent as she finally felt it. Everything was fresh in her memory and the night faded nothing out except the darkness around. She rubbed her cheek gently but couldn't stare at herself any longer. She looked down at the dropped items and bent down to pick it up but her body felt more fragile all of a sudden and she couldn't rise back. She sat down on the floor crushing her saaree in her hands to no effect though. She might iron out the crumpled clothe and it'll forget it had been crumpled ever. In a few hours or days, her mark might vanish too but... She's no cloth.

Nothing around made sense to her. She licked her lips and her tongue felt dry. She picked up the clothes and her eyes were teary again. In the hall, there was no one. She wondered where could Vanraj be.

"Uth gayi so ke? Accha lag ra na thoda...? Tu baith main chaii bana ke laati hoon tere liye... Chai piyegi to accha lagega...", Leela ran her hands over her open hair and shoulders. She noticed her cheeks but chose to ignore it. Anupamaa looked around.

"Kise dhoondh ri? Vanraj ko? Vo office chala gaya... Time dekh... Mujhe laga thoda so legi to accha lagega isiliye tujhe uthaaya nahi...", Leela informed.

She checked the clock and it was 11:30 am. She blinked her eyes and rubbed it wondering she actually slept till this late and she was allowed to.

"Tujhe college to nahi jaana tha na aaj?", Leela asked and her question was like rubbing salt over her wound.

Without looking up, Anupamaa said softly, "Kaise jaati aise...?", her hand automatically moved towards her cheek but stopped midway and clutched back the saaree in her arms.