The Corporate Monster ✅

B O N D E D

"Aruvi?" Krithi slightly tapped her cheek. "Are you alright, baby?" She asked as the fragile little girl blinked groggily up at her mother.

Aruvi sat up, crossing her legs in Indian style, and wrapped her bony arms around Krithi's neck tightly.
"Kanya Aunty hit me." She said, trying her best not to tear up.

Aniket, standing right behind his wife and observing the scenario play out, saw the parallel between Krithi and Aruvi. Aniket didn't know if Aruvi learned her behaviorisms from Krithi, but it sure looked like it. Their unselfish, sympathetic motives sometimes go unnoticed with the cold mask they wear, but behind all the falsehoods of their acts, they both have the same caring nature. They had gained a better understanding of the world after all that they have witnessed and suffered.

Aruvi had never known her biological father, while Krithi's father had separated himself from her after she flowered into a young lady, following societal traditions. Aruvi's real mother had abandoned her because of her sickness while Krithi's mother had never been behind in the first place, criticizing her every action. They were both raised to hate men, while Aruvi had witnessed the rapes in the middle of the night, and Krithi had been told about them in vivid detail.

To Aniket, every female child born in their society was harmed mentally in one way or another, restricting them against speaking their true opinions, acting as they wished, and enforcing societal laws into their heads from an early age.

Although Krithi was successful in her profession, she wasn't mentally stable with her decisions regarding society. She was always concerned about what a random stranger would think about her if she followed her heart.

It was repulsive to Aniket, knowing his twin sister, Kanya, was also deprived of the true freedom to express herself. She had also been in the control of his parents, although she was raised in the orphanage. She was punished her whole life because of her gender and Aniket found it disgusting that the males who call themselves protectors of females and the breadwinners of their households, behave this way; suppressing woman, and forcing the older generation of woman to follow the archaic principles.

"I'm okay, mama." Aruvi said, frustrated with Krithi as she fussed over her, checking her pulse and wiping her face with the end of her blue shawl.

Krithi scowled, murmuring under her breath as she backed away from her daughter. Aniket smiled faintly, picking Aruvi from the gurney. He pinched her cheek, kissing her temple. "Wanna go look how Kanya Aunty is doing?" He asked, craning his neck to face her.

Aruvi nodded, pointing towards the door, and directing her father. Aruvi climbed up on Aniket, throwing her legs on both sides of his neck. She steered him, clutching onto his hair. Aniket held her legs, securing her, as he walked towards the psychiatric ward.

Krithi followed the both of them with a scowl implanted on her face. She didn't know how Aruvi was so at ease with him, but it was good to see them getting along. Maybe she wasn't a child whisperer like Aniket, but Aruvi and the twins still loved her.

Krithi knew sometimes she strict with all her children, but it was how she was raised and no other way of parenting seeming plausible to her. Although Aniket pointed out her totalitarian ways, she knew other possible ways to force her kids to behave according to her rules.

Aniket stopped at room 407. "This is the room?" He asked, making sure with Krithi.

Krithi nodded, and Aniket turned the knob. He opened the door to find Kanya sitting cross legged, with a bandage wrapped around her left hand tightly. Aniket clamped his hand, leading her towards Kanya. His sister was glaring at the whitewashed walls with venom, as if she was waiting for the harmless wall to attack her.