AnuPre SS ~ Peanut Butter Cookies (Vol 1)

Chapter 2: Little Girls Don't Cry

Prerna:

I was getting ready to leave for work on my first day at the Basu mansion, when there was a loud bang and my bedroom door flew open and something small and pink flashed past my eyes and went straight under my bed. I was taken by surprise; as I bent down to have a better look at my trespasser. She was a vision clad in baby pink, light brown hair with soft curls and large doe like eyes – she turned to face me and raised her eyebrows high up in surprise, then she mouthed quietly, making sure no one heard her and followed her here, "Who are you? And what are you doing in my Baba's room?"

As fast as her sight played an affectionate smile on my lips, her question snuffed the light out of my heart. Of course, she was pretty, she had Komolika's features; and eyes, of course I had fallen hard for those big doe like eyes that reeked innocence; she had her father's eyes. There are those brief moments in life, when one can literally feel time stopping, I had felt that, in that moment – and it was also the first time, I saw a baby and felt so outraged, intruded and furious – I will always regret that moment in my life – in that moment I wasn't any better than Anurag or Komolika; instead of seeing a child who'd have been younger than my Sneha if she lived, I saw betrayal, I felt Anurag compromised his love for our daughter and gave it all to this devil's spawn – I felt so thwarted that I went livid on that innocent child and shouted back at her, "Get out of my room, and never come back!". She didn't need telling twice, her eyes had welled up with tears and she came out from under my bed and dashed outside my room; those tears had tugged at me and instinctively I followed her outside my room to see her bumping onto Anurag who was in the corridor.

My eyes followed as Anurag picked her up and held her closely, hugged her and tried pacifying her, asking her what's wrong. The little girl couldn't talk in between her sobs but pointed her fingers at my bedroom door – then she turned around to see me standing, and started sobbing harder. I was feeling really bad by now and was almost about to reach out to her, but then I noticed Anurag holding his precious daughter protectively in his arms, as if he was about to fight the world for shedding her tears, for the first time I saw the father in Anurag and although I thought I wasn't capable of feeling this anymore, but my heart broke one more time, to see him – see the father I always wanted him to be for Sneha – he was that man today – only for his other daughter, the one who was destined to be loved, unlike my Sneha who received hate from her father to the point of her death.

There was so much I wanted to say at that point, but I kept quiet, I struggled to stay composed, I couldn't give Anurag any leverage, I had to defeat him for my Sneha. Anurag on the other hand seemed to understand what the little girl had said, and when he looked at me, I saw a disgust so deep that I shuddered – I always knew he hated us, why else would he do what he did to us, but whatever he did to me or my girl, he always staged care, affection, love, up until the last moment when he pushed me over that bridge – today for the first time that mask had dropped and I could see what he really felt for us, sheer hate – while it knocked me out of my senses, I was too paralysed to move – I knew he'd confront me now, and since I was truly guilty of misbehaving with a child, I might not be able to hold fort – he'd be able to chip me and he'd see my weakness – I prayed hard for some miracle to happen and it did – as livid as Anurag looked, his expression changed to slight softness and then after a long piercing glance he left with his little daughter in his arms, all the time pacifying her with comforting words.

As I ran back to my room to shun the door behind me, all I felt was monumental disappointment – only I wasn't sure who it was more for – me, for screaming at an innocent child or for Anurag for being so unfair to our child.

***

Anurag:

It was a Tuesday evening, when I had come in early from work to watch over Diya, Tuesdays my whole family goes to the temple to offer prayers and usually Diya and I go too, but she had some project the next day at school and since Komolika couldn't leave work, I had decided to stay home with Diya and help her – by the time I beat the rush hour traffic and had reached home, all others had left, so I had quickly reached Diya's room only to find her missing, I checked my room and the other rooms too, but she wasn't around, I was about to call her out aloud when I heard her voice in the kitchen – I rushed to the kitchen to check on her, but the vision that unfolded before me, tugged at my heart and I decided to hide by the shadow and witness the scene unfold before me.