Destructive Love (#1)

CHAPTER 28

|AUTHOR|

Anurag tilted his head towards the sky and sighed as the first rays of sun touched his face. His lips slowly morphed into one of those rare smiles.

His Ma's face appeared in his head, the memory was so clear it almost felt like she was standing right next to him. But she was not here. Today was her birthday, another year without her presence.

Every year he felt anger simmer through him along with the impending sadness that his Ma was not there with him but this year the intensity of the sadness was larger than the constant anger that he felt.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and his eyesight blurred slightly. He snapped out of his trance when he felt a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Hey, she would have been proud of us and she would not want us to be sad, especially on her birthday," Aarav said softly, Anurag sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He cleared his throat and his thumb traced a faded scar that was near his wrist.

He remembered how he wanted to get the cricket bat from the top of the wardrobe but no one was at home so he decided to climb the stool and get the bat all by himself. He was successful in grabbing the bat but along with the bat, a few more titbits that were kept on the top of the wardrobe fell on him. One of them was a steel tumbler which had a sharp edge.

The tumbler scraped his wrist as he tried to keep it from falling. About a minute later his Ma arrived and shook her head. He was scared that she would scold him but all she did was hug him and smile at him as she tended to his wounds. He still remembered the warmth of her hands and the peaceful demeanor that she exhibited as she tended to his wound.

"Anurag, be careful next time." She kissed his wound and hugged him tightly before cleaning up the mess he had created. That was one of the last times when he saw her face without any bruises. His heart pinched and his throat constricted at the reminder that he would never feel that warm and calming presence.

"We should go." He muttered, Aarav who seemed to be lost in thoughts snapped out of his reverie and nodded.

"Yeah we should, Mom is waiting for us. She insisted that we have breakfast with them today." Aarav said Anurag nodded and the two of them began walking down the peak-like structure in the huge park. This park had harbored numerous memories for them. When things got hard at home this was the place where their mother used to bring them.

She would play with them, chase them around, and sometimes help them pick flowers. Sometimes they would sit under the tree where the two of them would lay on their mother's lap and listen intently to the stories that she told them. They would eventually fall into a deep slumber in the warm embrace of their mother.

"We can take practice off today if you are not up for it," Aarav said as they exited the park.

Anurag shook his head and sipped his water. "No, I don't want to take today off. I have a practice match today with Amit Sir and a couple of matches which will be closely watched by him."

Aarav sighed and nodded. He sat in the driver's seat. He knew that Anurag had been pushing himself rather roughly since he had played in the underground match. He had noticed a weird shift between Anurag and Amit for the past week. It felt like Amit was watching Anurag more closely than ever.

"I feel like you are pushing yourself rather roughly." Anurag sighed and looked out of the window as Aarav started the car.

"Amit Sir knows that I play underground matches." Aarav's mouth hung open.