Secrets Hidden In Time

11 | Family In Chaos



________________________________________

Song - Taare Gin (Dil Bechara)



Please vote and comment.

_________________________________________

11 | Family In Chaos

Four months had elapsed in the blink of an eye.

Mahadevan was away on an official expedition to China for the past three weeks. Meanwhile, Hinduja and Anirudh were over at her brother's place for a two-week sojourn. Her in-laws were coming to visit them, and hence, she was packing both her and Anirudh's clothes back in their travel bags to go to the Dogra manor instead of returning home the following day. Her brother, on the other hand, was playing with the toddler back in the garden under the crimson rays of the sunset.

The presser cooker whistled for the fourth time in a row in the lofty industrial-style kitchen of her brother's farmhouse just as she got done packing the last piece of Anirudh's Winnie-the-Pooh-doodled underwear.

"Bhaiyaaaa-----!" She called out at the top of her voice.

"Bark!" A masculine voice echoed back from somewhere outside the house.

"Switch off the gas." She shot back.

"You do it!"

Sighing in exasperation, she zipped back both the luggage bags and walked out of the room.

"Lazy bum." Stepping down from the last step of the stairs, she marched straight into the kitchen. "Only the Almighty knows how he even became a surgeon."

It was Sunday. Hence, the Rao siblings had collectively settled on preparing some non-vegetarian delicacies for dinner.

Hinduja switched the gas off and advanced out of the kitchen into the hall. She turned off the music system, which was loudly blasting - 'Lakdi ki kaathi." The volume was loud enough to wake up the dead from their graves. She then proceeded out of the confines of the house and sauntered into the garden.

Her boy was running around in the flowering shrubs behind a kaleidoscope of butterflies, with a bunch of purple dahlias and snowy daisies clasped in his left hand and a miniature plastic duckling in his squishy right hand, while her brother sat on the outdoor wooden swing, gazing fondly at the kid.

"Oy circuit, run slowly! ----nahi toh tera short circuit ho jayega!"

The toddler turned around, flashed his pearly white hamster teeth for a fraction of a second, and then took off at the speed of light again.

Her lips curled up to form a feeble smile as she made her way towards her brother.

Making herself comfortable adjacent to her brother on the swing, she circled her arms around his biceps and reposed her head on his shoulder, placidly clamping her eyes shut.

Vijaypath Rao diverted his eyes from his nephew to his sister's head lazing on his right shoulder. Gently placing a kiss on her temple, he brought his left hand up and stroked the crown of her head gingerly. "Molu?"

"Hm." She hummed, snuggling against his upper arms.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his visuals fixated on her wedding ring.

"More than I have ever been."

Vijay nodded his head, the pulsating organ in his chest finally at peace. "Does he treat you well?" He probed further.