Rosa's Affair

CHAPTER 22

Kiran Love Paul

When I saw the picture drawn by Rose I didn't know what sensation I should endure at those two ticks. I planted a banyan tree picturing me and him whereas he had drawn a picture of him and Jacob along with a Ginkgo tree.

Now I am wise to take on board why Rose gave much prominence to the story of Salim and Anarkali. In the tail end, I don't know my place in the story. I don't know who I am. But I am sure Anarkali gave freedom to Salim. She herself made a path for Salim and moved on with her life. I have chosen the way Anarkali had chosen, I had given upon Rose whom I loved so much. I desire my Salim would be happy for the rest of his life. Literally I was able to experience what the woman in the story had felt at that point. Giving up...is hard but it has to be done for the welfare of everyone around us.

Love! How complicated it sounds, at least in my life. The day I have become Kiran Love Paul from Kiran Leo is still unwilted in my mind. I hate Leo, my surname because I don't have a first-rate impression on my father. He didn't save my mother. Well, he was never a father figure to me, afterall I am not his legitimate heir, am his mistress daughter who unfortunately holds his name. The day I was brought to his home was still fresh in my mind, my mom was dead and I was brought to his well-furnished mansion by my step-mom. She is a benevolent woman who showered her love on me the same way she loved her sons. In the early stages the whole kit was great as my half brothers treated me well. The fact is they didn't consider me as a threat to their positions as I am very young compared to them. My first brother was seventeen whereas my other brother was one year younger than my first brother whereas I was only four years old at that time, so having two elder brothers seemed very appealing to me. Everything was fine, until the kind woman passed away the same year leaving me alone with my brothers and dad.

I started growing on my own as my family had other problems to attend. Everyone had their own whack of miseries. It was on my sixth birthday I met Rose Love Paul. He was my dad's partner's son who came to my house to congratulate me on my birthday. It wasn't a birthday party, but my dad took it as a chance to meet his business partners in the name of a birthday party to his little girl. My brothers hate birthday celebrations and they didn't attend.

Rose Love Paul, somehow caught my attention on that eve. He was playing with a boy with some balloons. I walked towards him and introduced myself and he showed me his teeth widely. That was the day I marked him as 'mine'. It may sound silly that a six year old would mark a boy as hers, but I did it and I took a vow to marry him when I grow old. I liked him and liked him very much. 'Like' is a word which I don't use often as I know it won't hold any value if the 'like' changes into hate. I didn't hate my dad and brothers, but I also don't hold any memory of them holding me or...laughing with me which wasn't a problem for me as I had my stepmom with me for an year. But later on, I wanted more and she was gone. The next person who took the place of my stepmom was Rose. He was a nice boy with a gold heart, however the setback was...he was an introvert. A complete introvert which scared me at times. He doesn't verbalize much and he doesn't cry much which made it difficult to understand him. My first meeting with him didn't end in a good way, but by fair means I got an understanding of him. There was a clash between Rose and the boy who played with him. When the adults came into the set of the young boys, the other boy lied saying Rose hit him. When the parents asked Rose, he didn't say anything and remained silent. The problem was... Rose is different, he takes time in responding, but no one considered it and blamed Rose. Again he didn't try to justify himself nor cried his heart out when his mom had beaten him for misbehaving with the other kid. He silently took it without any complaints. That was the first push inside me about Rose Love Paul. Though I was six years old, it somehow stirred me to protect him every time. That night I couldn't sleep thinking about Rose. He was so tender, that even a woman's heart would melt listening to him and I listened to Rose.