The falling seasons

Part 11

Sunanda was cleaning the large golden vessel upon the mantlepiece as she remembered the 'thank you' that Azuma had said.

Why did lady thank me?

She laughed at the face of her mistress, before she had left her burrow, after a very long time.

Sunanda had pushed Haruni's mother even harder into the car as she had started to resist at the doors of the car.

"You have gotten ready for this, why are you resisting now, my lady?"

"Because I don't want to..."

"You have to..." Sunanda had given a final push and there she was, inside the car sitting beside the dance teacher who was only concerned about how much doughnut does she have in her hand.

"Yuktha, don't forget the most important thing... it's to buy the dresses..."

The dance teacher had smiled as she had gulped the entire doughnut into her mouth.

"Hmm... Hmm!"

"And don't forget, what I had said earlier..." Sunanda said to Yuktha without looking at Azuma, as she was making the most sympathetic face a human could make.

"Waafff... waffff... tthaafff...?"

Yuktha said as Sunanda eyed her with a glare that made her gulp the entire thing in her mouth all at once.

"I remember..."

"Okay, then driver... You may leave!"

"Sunanda..." Azuma said as the engine ignited "Please..."

"There's nothing I could do... It's cold, so... You need to, have a great day ahead my lady!"

Sunanda could never forget the face that Azuma had made as she had gotten away from the house that she had used as her burrow. 

I had told Yuktha to look after lady but that woman is more childish than I thought! How could a person be so much lost in a doughnut..? Was it a good thing that I made her accompany my lady or did I do a mistake?

Sunanda's train of thoughts was stopped when she heard a bang on the door.

She gently placed the cloth in her hand near the vessel as she hurried towards the door. The floor was cold and damp, and she remembered how cold her lady would get if she doesn't use a pair of sleepers at home.

When Sunanda opened the door, she saw Haruni, and she seemed a bit dull, with her head facing the cold wooden floor. There was an ocean of vastness of snow behind Haruni. As far as Sunanda knew Haruni loved the snow and she loved school, so there was no way she could be unhappy while coming from school. But her face said that she was lost in a thought, that made her look in such a state.

"Haru... What happened?"

Haruni suddenly came out of the daze that she was in and she gently shook her head.

"I was just... It was just... I was feeling cold..."

"Come on in then!"

Sunanda made Haruni come into the house and then closed the heavy door behind her. The gushing sound of the wind stopped as the door was closed.

"So what is it?"

"It was cold"

"If it was cold, then you wouldn't have your eyes filled up..." Sunanda took the bag of Haruni's shoulders as she sniffed in her tears.

You showing me that you are stronger! You will never leave the thought of being a good girl, right?

"Why don't... Why don't I have my papa, when he should have been with me and mama?"

Sunanda stood stunned as she was hit with a question that she was least expecting, as she had thought Haruni was sad because of her mother or her exams, but she was thoroughly unprepared for what Haruni wanted to know. But she looked at the dusty photo she just had a thought of cleaning, an old photo of a man behind the vessel. And she smiled and kneeled beside Haruni.

"You may not understand this for your age, but as you have asked, I shall tell you something... a lesson I learned leading this life for so many years... A lesson from your father!"