Chapter 6

InkedImagination

@Queen0fDarkness

Chapter 6: Dark clouds

"You look lost, baby girl" Prem looked at his sister concerned.

Geet's attention drew to her brother, she attempted to offer a smile but failed to do so. She couldn’t pretend she was fine after Maan had told her what happened last night. He hadn’t gone into details; he had just told her that he was beaten for 'interrupting' his father and his new girlfriend.

Kabir glanced at her from across the table, he'd been waiting for Prem to rain down on him like a ton of bricks assuming she'd have grassed him up but Prem hadn’t acted differently.

"It's just school" she waved off nonchalantly. She couldn’t spill the words that she'd locked up within her, she couldn’t tell her brother that Maan was being abused by his father, she couldn’t break the promise she'd made to him.

"If you need help with anything, let me know" Prem answered, though he was concerned. This didn’t seem like his sister, he guessed she wasn’t telling him the full truth but he also didn’t want to push her. She was a teenager and probably needed to figure some stuff out for herself, so he'd accepted her reply.

Guilt festered in Kabir as he realised Geet had not told their brother how he acted like an arse.

After they finished eating, Geet had retreated to her room. She had just closed the door ready to lock it when the door was pushed open, she frowned seeing Kabir. "What do you want?" she stropped over to the bed and slumped down on the edge.

Kabir leaned against the doorframe watching her for a moment, a small smile curved on his lips seeing his sister acting so much like a child.

"Are you done staring?" Geet scowled.

"Yeah" he shrugged and walked inside, Geet frowned and raised her brows when he crouched down in front of her and took her hands into his. "I'm sorry" he pressed a kiss to the back of her hands. "I'm a shit brother" he looked at her apologetically and sighed heavily. "You know I love you, right? Geet, seeing those b*stards just pissed me off".

Geet cringed hearing her brother swear but she was quickly mollified as Kabir looked truly apologetic.

"You're our baby sister, only sister. I hate seeing another guy eyeing you like a perverted prick" he rested his head on her lap. "And I only treat you like shit because Prem bhai always favours you" he added teasingly.

Geet nudged his shoulder before laughing, "I forgive you".

"You sure?" he lifted his head and looked at her.

Geet nodded, she slipped off the bed and sat on the floor in front of him, "I know you love me, but you need to stop acting like a baboon" she replied. "You don't need to worry about me, okay? Prem bhai has scared boys away enough times. You've had a string of girlfriends, I haven’t had any guy ask me out" she pouted.

"You want a boyfriend?" Kabir quirked his brows.

"I'd like the option of having one and experimenting" Geet answered.

"Forget Prem Bhai not letting you date, I wouldn’t let you date" he told her.

"Hey!" Geet mockingly punched his arm.

"There's only thing a guy our age wants" Kabir shrugged and leaned against her bedframe and stretched his legs out.

"You're such a hypocrite" Geet scrunched her nose disapprovingly. "You're dating".

"Well, I haven’t done anything yet with them" he informed as a matter of fact. "I don’t think I'm big enough yet" he wiggled his brows.

"Eurgh! You're disgusting" Geet laughed shaking her head.

"What's disgusting?" Prem entered looking between his siblings.

"Nothing" Both Kabir and Geet replied quickly and laughed.

Thunder

Geet jerked up wincing as she heard the crackles of the skies, the dark clouds obviously opened, and the liquid oval thudding against her window.

She turned around pulling her blanket closer to chest and snuggled deeper into the blanket trying to sleep, the crackling sound vibrated and sent a shudder down her spine. She squeezed her eyes closed trying to ignore it, a moment after she jerked upright and jumped off the bed.

She rushed to the window pushing the curtains aside and squinted trying to see if Maan was outside tonight, with the heavy rains she couldn’t see.

She glanced over her shoulder and was glad she'd locked her bedroom door, she grabbed her coat and shoved her feet into her boots and snagged the umbrella.

Her heart pounding as she snuck through the old exit in her closet and descended the steps, the musky scent of rain wafted through the air, her boots sloshed through the puddles, she walked out of her garden and made the short walk to Maan's. She winced as her boots sloshed and made noise in his garden, she squinted and searched for his sleeping bag form, but it didn’t seem he was there. She sighed in relief and turned to leave when she jerked around hearing a coughing sound. She glanced around but couldn’t see anything, was she imagining it? It didn’t help the rain was so loud.

She heard a thud and looked over at the small shed, was he in there?

Geet tiptoed over and knocked lightly, "Maan" she called softly.

"Geet" his voice vibrated through in alarm.

Geet winced as he pushed open the small shed door, she swallowed hard seeing his chair and the small space he was crouched inside of.

"What are you doing here?" he pulled her into the shed saving her from the assault of the heavy rains.

"I… I just heard the rain and…" she shuddered, her teeth clattered, and she pulled her coat around her tightly, her fingers curled around her umbrella.

"F*ck" he cursed and looked apologetically when she winced. "I never should have told you anything" he shook his head.

"No, I…"

"Geet, you shouldn’t be out here. Go home now" he pointed.

"But you shouldn’t be out here either" Geet reasoned. "Its freezing and it doesn’t look like the rains going to stop anytime soon. You'll fall ill" she added.

"I promised to tell you, but I don’t want you to be doing this, Geet" Maan sighed heavily. "I'm fine, I'm dry and I'm not outside in the rain" he shrugged nonchalantly. "Go, please" he urged.

"But…"

"Geet, please" he intervened holding her upper arms gently. "I appreciate it, I really do. But you need to go, this is my life and between my dad and me. You need to go home, its past midnight. Go".

Geet chewed on her lower lip battling with herself, she wanted to stay and argue, but his eyes were urging her to leave. He didn’t want her here tonight. "Will you tell me what happened tomorrow?"

"If you go" he replied.

Geet sighed heavily, "Okay" she swallowed thickly nodding her head. "Keep warm, and make sure you come to ours for breakfast tomorrow" she ordered.

Maan smiled faintly, "Yes, boss" he nodded and watched her as she stepped out of the shed. He winced in concern and hoped she'd make it home quickly, the rain had slowed at this point which he was ever so grateful for. He sighed in relief when her bedroom light flickered on and she stood by the window giving him a wave, he nodded and closed the shed door sitting back down pulling her thick scarf she'd given around him and tugged the sleeping back to his neck.

In the dark between stars

I searched for you

In the dark between stars

I found you

Geet's eyes wandered to the front door as she sat for breakfast with her family, she glanced down at her phone, she was due to leave in a bit for school and Kabir was soon going to be leaving as well for college. Maan had not yet come. She swiped her phone hovering over the messaging icon wondering if she should send him a message asking where he was, she placed her phone down quickly when Prem joined the table and offered him a smile.

"Bhai, can I start my driving lessons?" Kabir inquired.

"Have you gotten your provisional?" Prem answered with a question of his own.

"Yeah, I also did the theory test" Kabir replied nodding his head.

"Alright, if you find someone let me know. I'll give you the money" he agreed and glanced to Geet. "Baby girl, have you applied for your provisional licence?"

"Hey, that's not fair. You didn’t let me apply for my provision until I turned 18" Kabir complained.

"Because you're reckless" Prem rolled his eyes.

"I'll grab a form on the way home" Geet replied and stuck her tongue out at Kabir.

"Mama, did you hear that?" Kabir hollered for his mother.

"I did, and Prem did correct" Shivani agreed with her eldest. "If he let you get it at 16, you'd be driving around recklessly and having late night parties all night".

"Great! It's pick on Kabir day" he rolled his eyes. "Nani, you could be supportive of me" he glanced over at his grandmother curled up on the sofa with her sewing kit.

Aparna glanced over at her grandson and scoffed, "Son, the day I support you would be the day I sneeze out rainbow glitter. You keep picking on my baby girl".

"This is why I hate you" Kabir narrowed his eyes at Geet.

"Of course, that’s why you came and told me you looovvveed me" Geet laughed.

"I hate you"

"I love you too" Geet smacked a kiss to his cheek grabbing her bag. "Bhai come on, I'm going to run late" she tugged Prem's arm dragging him out.

"I don’t love you" Kabir yelled out.

Geet laughed rolling her eyes, "When can I see Kiara again?" she asked eagerly as they walked towards his car in the driveway. "Are you going to bring her home now?" she fired off another question not giving him another chance to answer. "When are you going to propose?"

"Breathe, baby girl" Prem held onto her shoulders laughing at her giddiness.

"I am! Wedding season is only like half a year away, so you should totally propose, and we'll have a big fat indian wedding" she grinned widely.

"We're dating and we'll see where it leads" he chuckled. "Though, she is more than likely going to be the woman I bring home" he smiled.

"Will you let me date?" she asked.

Prem released her and walked around the car climbing inside, Geet joined in the passenger seat and stared at her brother.

"Bhai" she prompted.

"What do you think?" Prem arched his brows.

"That isn't fair, Kabir is going out and you've got Kiara. I want a boyfriend as well".

"We'll talk more when you're 18" he promised.

"I want one now"

"Fine" he sighed rolling his eyes. "It has to be someone your age though" he added as his condition.

"Really?" Geet grinned.

"Of course," he nodded in agreement. Geet wanted to experiment dating and his condition of dating only guys her age, he knew will put her off dating, he smirked inwardly. 16-year-old boys were immature, and his sister was mature more than an average 16 year old. He did ponder though who'd ask his sister out.

Maan peeked through the curtains, he smiled faintly watching Geet happily chattering with her brother, he curled his fingers around the curtains. His stomach muscles clenched, a heavy ache settled on his heart, he rubbed his chest where his lay underneath as if trying to soothe the ache.

He straightened, a shiver ran down his spine as the door creaked open, his lips trembled, and his fingers tightened around the curtain harden.

He heard his phone vibrating and noticed Kabir stepping out of his house and on the phone, he figured Kabir was calling him to ask where he was. The vibration of his phone was drowned by the sound of his whimpers that racked his body.

Thank you for the wonderful comments, I loved reading everyone's thoughts and the suggestions. I'm not going to divulging too much on Maan's bit right now but what he tells Geet. You can take guesses, I will leave that bit to you.

The focus would be more on developing Geet and Maan's friendship in the dark.

[NOCOPY]

[MEMBERSONLY]