KHWAB : A Distant Dream

Chapter-10

Aru and Avi had fallen asleep waiting for Anika and their Bhaiyu to return. Rudra shifted them to their room, tucked them in and and returned to his own room and lay on bed.

Rudra was thinking about Ruhanika. That girl had managed to surprise him at every turn. She was smart and quick witted and a bit too mature for her age, yet her eyes held a sort of innocence that drew him in. The same eyes which always reminded him of his own, held a lot of pain and sadness, and that made him restless.

He had seen the look of longing in her eyes when she looked at him and his heart always told him to reach out to her, but his mind always stopped him. It always reminded him of his mother's pain and his father's betrayal.

Somewhere he felt like allowing himself to get attached would be wrong on his part, but today's incident made him question his decision. Thinking all this he soon drifted off to sleep.

Next day, Rudra woke a bit early and went down to get himself a cup of coffee. He was surprised to see Anika sitting on the kitchen slab with a water bottle in her hand. She was dressed in sports wear and was covered in sweat. He never pegged her down as someone who cared about fitness.

Shaking his head he entered the kitchen and started searching for the kettle to boil water, but was completely clueless about things. Anika watched him struggle in kitchen for few minutes and couldn't stop a smile forming on her face. She was really amused seeing the most powerful businessman of the country looking completely lost in there.

Rudra was frustrated by now and saw Anika smiling and glared at her. She quickly dropped her smile when she saw him glaring. 'Tumhe pata hai kettle kahan hai.?' Rudra finally asked her. She just pointed at the cabinet and Rudra took out the kettle and put water to boil, was stuck again.

Anika understood what he was searching for and decided to put an end to his misery. She got down and went near him, 'Aap jake baithiye main lati hun banake.' saying this she added some more water to the kettle. Rudra raised his eyebrow at her, 'Main khud bana sakta hun, aur tumhe bada pata mujhe kya chahiye.?' he said sarcastically.

Anika gave him a done look, 'Aap ki din ki shuruat coffee ke bina nahi hoti Mr Kapoor, and I know you cannot cook to save you life. Aur koi sawal.?' She answered him in the same tone

Rudra was about to say something when she crossed her hands and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He gulped down his words and sat down. He realised that she could be scary when she chose to, and decided not to push her too much. Seeing him sit down Anika turned and continued her work. After a moment she joined Rudra with two mugs and forwarded a mug towards him.

Rudra took a sip and was startled as it was made just the way he liked it. 'How do you know my preference so well.?'.

'I have been making your coffee for the past week and because we share the same preference.?' She said the last part in form of a question gesturing towards her cup.

Rudra was stunned into silence. He didn't say anything further and they both enjoyed their coffee in comfortable silence. After finishing her coffee Anika left for her room to get ready as she wanted to join Gayatri for her puja, as it had become her routine.

Soon it was breakfast time and everyone had come down. Anika greeted her dada and bhaiyu and gave a nod to Mr Kapoor and completely ignored Avi who had a bruise on his jaw. Gayatri noticed it, 'Kay hua Avi? Yeh, tere chere pe chot kaise aayi beta.?'.
Hearing this Maan, Rudra and Aru also looked at him in concern. Avi just shook his head, 'yeh issi se puchiye aap badi Ma.' he said in an irritated tone, glaring at Anika.

Before Gayatri could ask her Anika rolled her eyes at Avi, 'I punched him.' She simply said. There was a moment of silence. 'You did what?' Aru and Maan asked her at the same time, while Gayatri looked at her in confusion. She could detect a hint of anger in their voice. 'I punched him.' she calmly repeated.