A Heart of Stone with a Coat of Gold

A Gap in the Armour

Jiju - Brother-in-law

Di - Elder Sister

Bhaiyya - Elder Brother

***********************************************************************************************

By the time Neel returned from the market, it was already nine. He had a packet in his hand which, as Anu learnt later, was dinner from a nearby Chinese restaurant. Anu honestly found it very delicious. While all three sat and had their food in pin-drop silence, the tension of the evening was still palpable in the air. Neel and Reema didn't look into each other eyes even as they sat across each other on the dinner table. The whole silence made Anu so uncomfortable that she even hoped for the sound of a crying Aryan to break it, who was sleeping in his crib in the bedroom.

After dinner, Anu took Reema aside, and told her in a low voice "Reema, apologize to your Jiju. You were really rude earlier."

Reema fidgeted as she stared at her shoes. She mumbled, "Why should I? He was about to hit me back there. And I hate him. He is evil." Even as Reema said that Anu could sense the uncertainty in her voice. Reema had hurt Neel and she knew it in her heart. It was just a child's rebellion, unable to come to terms with the truth.

Anu pulled Reema on her lap as she seated on the sofa. When she spoke her voice was gentle and soft, "Look Reema, your Jiju is an extremely busy man and has a very big job. Still, he didn't go to the office today just to make you study, so you can get admission in a good school. Do you really think that an evil man would do it? " She paused letting the words sink in the little girl's mind and then continued, "I also do not like him much. Or at least his ways. The way he behaved with you yesterday, he shouldn't have done that. But in his own stupid way, I think he cares for us, even if a little bit. Now, you are a smart girl Reema, do you think I'm lying?"

Reema shook her head solemnly. She then hugged her sister. "I know Di. I don't think I really hate him," She said with tears in her eyes as she sobbed. "I just miss Ishan Bhaiyya so much. And I miss Dad too. Why did they have to die and leave us with him?"

Anu felt as if Reema was giving words to her own thoughts. Her own feelings and emotions which she had buried somewhere in a forlorn chamber of her heart were being opened and brought to daylight by the little girl. Tears welled in Anu's eyes as she patted Reema's back. Thankfully, Reema couldn't see her face as she clung to her shoulders.

When she spoke, her voice was cracking, but Anu was trying her hardest to steady it. "I miss them too. But it is not your Jiju's fault, Reema. You need to go and say sorry to him. He is outside, on the verandah. Go." She nudged the little girl to the door of the room.

Long after Reema was gone, Anu kept on asking herself the same question. Why did her brother and father had to die and leave them with him?

***********************************************************************************************

Neel sat on the verandah smoking a cigarette as he generally did after dinner. He had his phone in his hands and was scrolling through the emails updating him of the stuff he had missed that day. His forehead was creased with worries, he really needed to sort out his work. Being the VP had put a lot of additional responsibilities on him now and he couldn't afford to miss his office for such reasons. He chided himself, what had he been thinking? He had missed office two days in a row for that girl, and what had he got as a reward?

As he looked up from his phone, he saw the little girl peeping at him silently. She had tiptoed from behind and was watching him intently, twirling her fingers as she seemed unsure of what to say, trying to gauze any anger in the man's eyes. She found none though.

"What?" he asked in a low and cold sounding tone, but somehow, even though he was trying his utmost, he couldn't hide a trace of gentleness in it.

Reema was truly surprised. She gazed at the face of the man who was her brother-in-law. When she had first heard that her sister was getting married, she had been elated. It had been a small ray of hope in those dark times, after Ishan's death. She had imagined her Jiju, tall, young and handsome in her thoughts. He would come in a fancy car, as he stepped outside, Reema would run to his arms and he would catch her, laughing. It had been a good dream.

What a shock it had been for Reema when she first actually met him. Instead of the laughter on his face, she saw only a stony silence. Instead of the youth, there was only a faded man, his hairs a bit grey, his appearance serene. There was no warmth in the countenance, only a coldness which could not brighten her already hopeless heart.

He even had a moustache, which Reema had always been afraid of since she was a child. Her father had shaven off his moustache as she used to cry whenever she saw it as a baby.

He didn't seem alive to her. The only sign that pulled Reema towards the man was his eyes. His ocean blue deep sombre eyes. Which had only sadness etched on to it. Which told Reema that the man was not dead, not yet.

The tenderness, concealed in Neel's voice gave Reema courage. She had been afraid but not now. She struggled to come with the right words. She somehow knew she had to choose her words wisely, or else the small opening this man had left in his armour would soon close.

"I was very rude. I am sorry, Sir." She mumbled softly, emphasizing on the final word.

The man stared at the little girl, in quiet silence, as he kept on taking drags from his cigarette.

And suddenly as a sun in a cloudy sky, his face broke into a slight smile, just for an instant. "Thank you," He said as he shook her hand.

When Reema turned to go back, there was sadness on her face. She had lost, she knew that.

She had appealed to the man of the house. Not to the boy inside, who was seated on a cherry tree, crying. The one who was alone. The one who wanted to be heard. And the one who she wanted to hear.

***********************************************************************************************