*A Tale of Two Brothers*by Aditi & Jhanvi *Stopped* - Page 8

Originally posted by: _UptoNoGood_

Jhanvi di ek question hai... Kal kitne baje update karoge?

P.S. Autocorrect made "babe" out of "baje" 😆

Hi people... sorry we are slightly late with this update... will try to make the next ones on time 😃 Here's the first chapter, hope you like it... Please leave your feedback! Aditi & I would be looking forward to it eagerly...

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Chapter 1
New Beginnings

Vasundhara had woken up to the same nightmare. Clammy, with beads of perspiration rolling off her forehead, she picked up the glass of water kept on her bedside table.
Frame by frame, her nightmare played in front of her eyes.
It began innocently enough, it always did. She was laughing with Viraj when Arjun came and presented her a rose. As she delicately sniffed it, Viraj presented her with another rose.
He smiled at her hopefully, and she drew him close.
The frame changed, she was asking Ram Singh to clean the store room. While supervising the cleaning, she came across a treasure chest there. She unlocked it and found a diary. Her expression changed from curiosity to horror as she went through the contents. She quickly hid the diary and the chest away...
This was the memory which always haunted her in her dreams. Constantly reminding her of something she could never forget anyway.

Her thoughts turned bitter when they turned to Vikram Singh Rathore. The lying manipulative man had destroyed her life. If only she could --
The sound of a groan followed by a yawn broke her reverie. Kabir must have woken up, she thought.
Pushing aside the disturbing thoughts, she donned her motherly role and went out of her room. Allowing two cups of coffee to brew for Kabir and herself, she checked the mail. Going through the bills and promotional letters, she suddenly saw an envelope that had fallen down. Picking up the colourful envelope, she slit it open. It was a letter from Ecole Polytechnique, France. A smile slowly adorned her tired face as she read the letter. Happiness and pride made her feel light headed.
Thinking of going to Kabir's room to give him the good news, she kept aside all the other mails. Just then, faint chords of the guitar reached her ears. She smiled knowing Kabir was in a contemplative mood. She decided to surprise him later at the breakfast. Deciding to make it a special meal, she got to work.

***

Strumming his fingers across the strings of the guitar randomly, Kabir marvelled at the sweetness of the melody produced. He looked outside the French window and saw the sunlight tickling the blades of grass. His eyes followed the stretch of grass till it ended near the building. He sighed. The small natural pleasures that the Brompton Road provided were insufficient for him. He needed an open sky, green life all around him. A chance to lie in the prairies and gaze up at the blue expanse, tall blades of grass hiding him from the world, the sweet and rich smell of the earth combined with the fragrance of flowers. Oh, what wouldn't I give for that!
The ringing of his phone made him jump. He picked up the phone and saw the caller ID. Receiving the call happily, he answered.
"Hey Mike! Wassup man!?" Whatever Mike said made Kabir extremely happy.
"That's amazing Bro! You get a chance to go to India man! And IISc is an amazing place to be!"
"I wish I could go to India someday." Kabir made a face, which Mike guessed across the phone too.
"Bro, you know me too well. You know my Ma would never let me..."
"Oh no, I haven't received any letters till now. They probably didn't find my application interesting enough!" Kabir laughed with Mike, he knew it was a ridiculous idea. He was one of the best students of his university that the mathematics department had.
"I'll let you know when I reach the campus, yeah?"
After saying a good bye, he hanged up. A mixture of happiness and sadness engulfed him. His friend, who was more of a brother to him, had a chance to visit India, something he wanted dearly. Shaking his head at himself and smiling, he said aloud, "Kabir, you seem to want too many things."

After finishing his phone call, Kabir walked to the kitchen, only to see his mother humming an old tune and working.
She looked younger than she had ever before. Kabir couldn't help but ponder over the contrast between her and her surroundings. Somehow, she always reminded her of a Lioness, regal in her being. There was a certain grace in the way she held herself, the way she talked and moved about. He had never seen other women as elegant as her. Simple, yet sophisticated, with a presence that made people feel humbled.
He had tried to ask her about this many times, but she always smiled her enigmatic smile which never could belie the grief in her eyes. She never answered. As an ardent devotee of Sherlock Holmes, unanswered questions bothered him and he had too many of them for now. Like his family...he was tired of asking about them. Whenever he spoke of them, Vasundhara's face contorted with pain and some emotion that Kabir could not place. So he avoided referring to the matter after a while. Kabir loved his mother very much and that he never rebelled against her many restrictions was a living proof of that.

When he finally went to the breakfast table, Kabir said chirpily, "Good Morning Ma! You look happy today, anything special?"
Vasundhara beamed at him, "Go get ready fast. I have a surprise!"
That cheered kabir. He loved surprises!
"What is it?" Loving them did not mean they didn't make him curious.
"Son, we are talking of a surprise. How will it remain a surprise if I tell it to you?" Vasundhara laughed. "Go get ready quickly."
She pushed him towards his room. Kabir came back after a few minutes, ready with his backpack. He sat on the dining table with anticipation and sniffed. It smells Cake! He looked at Vasundhara eagerly, "Have you been promoted?"
She worked as a manager in the Bank of London. Vasundhara shook her head and served him a slice of cake, "Even better!"
Kabir dug into his cake and said, "'Mazing! Mum, you should open a patisserie. That's how amazing it is!"
Vasundhara smiled warmly at her son's compliment and served him his breakfast with coffee. The cake had already alerted Kabir that the occasion was special. It was a family tradition to bake cakes at any important event. Vasundhara went to the drawing room and came back with a letter in her hand.
She waved the letter in front of him and said, "My Son has got a chance of internship in Ecole Polytechnique, his dream school from childhood, with full scholarship and you ask me what happened?"
Kabir was so happy that he almost flew and hugged her tight and many exclamations of joy were exchanged.
But after a moment his expression soured. "You wouldn't let me go..."
"Who said that?" Vasundhara asked in mock amazement.
"You mean you'll let me go?" Kabir felt his jaw dropped in surprise.
His mother had never before allowed him to go anywhere that did not come under the geographical boundaries of London. Vasundhara stroked his hair and smiled. She couldn't let her son miss this chance. She would do anything, fight anyone, but not let Kabir down this time.

Nisha woke up to the alarm with a start. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight gushing in the room; she then looked at the clock and sighed. As was the routine she got out of the bed and dragged herself to get ready for office with the enthusiasm of a zombie.
Even though she had been working in Lakshya Academy as an Office Assistant for two weeks now, she still wasn't habituated to the getting up early' part. Some habits die hard, she thought.

Her joining the academy was Saurav's idea, he had been working in the Academy for a long time and felt that it would give Nisha a better platform to figure out what she wanted to do in life.
Every person is unique in their own way, so was Nisha. She wanted something big from life but she didn't know what. She had been a very promising sportsperson in the earlier years of school-life and Saurav thought (or rather hoped) that being in a sports academy might bring back that spark.

Nisha, while brushing her teeth, looked into the mirror with a rueful smile and remembered when her best friend had come up with this idea. She had been hesitant, had refused but Saurav wasn't one to step back that easily.

"Ha! You're saying no because you know you can't do this!" mocked Saurav blocking Nisha's way, "Hence proven I'm the smarter one!"

"Buzz off Saurav, I'm not interested!" grumbled Nisha trying to wave him off as if he was an annoying house fly. When he did not budge she stomped his foot making him jump aside, she then made a dash into her room and sat on her bed.
Saurav followed and stood in front of her with lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

"Oh, would you give it up already? Please?" said Nisha exhausted with him.
"You know you can't get Dadaji to agree to let you work. You don't want to try and spoil your reputation, do you?" said Saurav.

Nisha didn't have it in her to argue with him any further. He had been at it for a week, growing crazier with the passing time as the last day to apply for the office assistant post was nearing.
He had advised her, tried to convince her, pleaded with her, and now he was trying to provoke her into proving herself by saying yes. She decided that she would play along. For how long would she live in the shadow of her past? And he was right, she had to get out of her little world to figure out what was it she really wanted to do.
Marriage wasn't a lucrative prospect for her, and to avoid or atleast postpone that she had to get involved with something.
She gave in to Saurav's stubbornness, and eventually Dadaji had to give in to hers.