ArHi FF: Sweet Escape UPD 2/17/12 P31 - Page 5

Her nimble feet glided down the stairs before she rushed into the kitchen. "Good morning jeeju," she shouted to the only other person in the room. He calmly set down the newspaper he held, amused as he watched her run around their kitchen, managing somehow to make toast and chow down a bowl of cornflakes before running to clamber back up the stairs. Just as he assumed reading his paper again, she flew in again, "jeeju, Jiji says that she'll be down soon. Ok I have to go!"

"Khushi!" he finally exclaimed, "calm down! " Getting out of his chair, he followed her to the hall. "It's 8:30 in the morning, where are you rushing off to?"

She pouted at him as she perched on the bottom steps to fix the straps on her shoes. "New client jeeju! Remember, I told you just yesterday! If I get this party perfect, then all I need is that woman's tongue to get me more customers." She grinned up at him as he gave her a fond smile, "ok, fine. Be careful," he warned.

"I know, jeeju!" she groaned, "I'm not a little kid!"

"Could of fooled me!" he jested with a grin. Rolling her eyes, she swung on her messenger bag, doing a mental checklist for anything she might've missed.

"You have your cell phone right?"

"YES. Jeeju."

"Just checking'"

Rolling her eyes again, she disappeared out the door, "you're getting to be worse than Jiji," she muttered loud enough for him to hear.

"It's called caring!" he shouted after her.

"GOOD BYE MR. MEHTA!"

The house was still the same, yet it was so different; no longer did it seem like a home. No matter how hard they tried, it seemed like they could never seal the cracks that split their family apart many years ago. It still held the grandeur and magnificence it had held four years ago, a cold beautifulness lay in its sorrow. The great halls hadn't held a party in years or served eager guests in ages; it was a house of shadows, its members creeping silently throughout, softly as if afraid they would awaken a beast.

Arnav took in a deep breath for courage before entering the large double doors to the infamous Raizada mansion. His house, it no longer held the warm embrace as it had once did, somehow life had become bleak and cold; so cold even his precious Di couldn't bring out the liveliness and happiness that had once echoed through its halls. He nodded grimly at Om Prakash, the elderly servant who had chosen to stay when the other Prakash's, Jai and Hari had left. Arnav still wondered why OP had stayed despite his obvious agreement with the other Prakash's sentiments; what had happened here wasn't right, the reaction to it was worse. Arnav supposed more than anything it was because of the loyalty OP had to his Nani, he had been with them even before Arnav had earned enough to hire a servant, for years OP been nani's second in command, always on top of things in the Raizada household.

Arnav attempted a small smile at the elderly man before trudging up the stairs, a feeble attempt as the man turned away before catching the ghost of an expression. Halfway up he was met by his Di; she wore a simple sari, a small bindi the only color adorning her forehead, a small necklace the only object around her neck, she searched his face for the answer to the question she asked every day. His downcast eyes told her all, but still, she asked, "did you find anything?"

He didn't look up to meet her eyes, "no," he said softly, shaking his head side to side, "nothing." The siblings quietly slipped past each other not another word exchanged between the duo. Arnav's jaw clenched at the distance that had grown within their relationship. In some ways they were closer than ever, yet in others they couldn't have been further apart, maybe they both knew the "what if's" that clouded the others minds.

Like every day Arnav had to pass the empty room that sat beside his own, perfectly preserved despite four years of vacancy. Akash's books still lay strewn over his table, a shirt tossed on a chair, his brush lying on his bed. All untouched, all lying they way it had been when he'd left four years ago. Left to never come back to his home again, leaving his family falling apart with no understanding shade to stand under. He had been the linchpin, Arnav mused; he had always thought it was Di, but it was Akash, and he found that out only in the worst of situations.

Just like everything else.