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The Girl With The Paratha
He didn't know when he had escaped the stifling area in which his brother was currently in, but he did know why. He knew he couldn't just sit there and wait for the doctors to rush out of the room just to inform him that his brother was d-
No.
After Omkara had reluctantly left him, alone and helpless, he had wanted to stay away from that particular fear. He couldn't face it alone. He wasn't that strong. Not without his brothers.
Now he found himself sitting in an empty corrider on the dustless surface, his knees drawn up to his chest, staring unblinkingly at the Ganpati idol that sat in front of him. Rudra closed his eyes, his calm demeanour contradicting his internal fury. He could feel his heart pounding rapidly against his chest and a wave of guilt washed over him as he realised how slow his Shivay Bhai's would be beating.
This was all his fault, no matter what Om Bhaiya said, this was all his-
"Water?" Came soft voice nearby. He turned around and saw a water bottle thrust near his face. When he looked up, he saw a young and abundant looking woman with an empathetic expression on her face.
For a moment, he imagined how he must look like; pale faced and weary eyed from his breakdown earlier, to have been offered help from a stranger, but then he realised he hardly cared because he didn't have enough energy to feel embarrassed.
He wiped his eyes and whispered hoarsely, "Black coffee?"
She smiled slightly and nodded at him. She returned after a while with a coffee cup in one hand and a - paratha? - in the other. Nevertheless, he took the cup of coffee and nodded gratefully at her. The Girl With The Paratha sat beside him as he took a sip of the coffee, the caffeine doing its job effectively as his body instantly felt more alert and aware of his surroundings since he had first arrived in this wretched hospital. When he looked back, The Girl With The Paratha offered her paratha to him and he shook his head instantly, the politest way he had ever rejected the deleterious nourishment. She awkwardly withdrew her hand and they both fell into a comfortable silence before he spoke.
"Shivay Bhaiya is really nice..." Rudra started, his voice still a bit scratchy, "My Mum, Dad... He's my everything." He didn't exactly know why he was confiding in her. Maybe it was because she didn't really know him and so it was safe to talk about his feelings without the fear of being judged because even if she did, it's not like he would ever meet her again.Or maybe it was because he had been bottlings up his emotions and feelings for so long that it all became overwhelming. He wanted some kind of release and she seemed willing to listen.
"When I was young and my parents would have a fight, my brother always used to take me away to his room." Rudra continued, remembering all the things Shivay had done for him and how he had managed to take them all for granted. Then he let out a wry chuckle, "I spent more time in his room than mine..."
"Whenever I used to get into a fight, he always saved me - Still does." He took a deep breath, his voice shaking with emotion, "He gets me protein shakes, facial packs and helps me with my relationships..." It might've not seemed much but it all meant a lot to Rudra. It showed how thoughtful his brothe-
Brother.
"Everyone thinks we're brothers," He turned back to look at her and he could've sworn he saw tears in her eyes, "But he's my first cousin."
Then a defiant expression came across Rudra's face, "But he's more important to me than my real brother."
He was.
Rudra would never ever forget how his brothers had sacrifised their own childhood for the sake of his happiness. How they had tried their best to protect him away from all the evil and hatred in their family. And now if something happened to his brother-
No. No. No.
"I love him, a lot." He choked, the air around him suddenly becoming stifling. "He thinks I'm immature and stupid, but I'm not."
He saw the way their family was too, he just made sure he never showed how it affected him in front of his brothers. After all, they had both dedicated their whole lives to prevent the same exact thing happening to him and for them to find out that it hadn't really worked and that Rudra did, infact, miss being pampered by his parents sometimes- No. Hiding his emotions was the least he could do to make them happy.
"I'm not stupid Bhai... I'm not stupid... I'm not-" His words caught in his throat and his shoulders started to shake as his hands covered the tears that fell down his anguished expression.
"I can understand how it feels to lose a brother..." Came a small, shaky voice. Rudra looked at her startled, forgetting for a moment she was even there.
"You don't believe it at first - I mean it only happens to other people, how could it happen to you?" She sniffed, her face was covered in tears and her eyes, red and swollen. "But when you do - the tears don't stop... It becomes hard to even breathe." She described, as she took a shaky breath.
It was exactly how he felt at that moment.
He knew he should've felt guilty for making her go through this all again, but he couldn't help but feel glad that atleast there was someone else that knew how it felt and the knowledge that he wasn't in this torture alone, somehow made him feel better.
"But you know what?" She asked, wiping her tears furiously, trying to compose herself, "We're much stronger than we think we are." He looked at her uncertainly and she nodded, "When we face the problems, we gain strength. I don't think you'll need it, though. Your brother will be fine." He looked at her, amazed that after everything she had lost, she was still able to find that strength.
"And when he does get better, I will sing my brother's favourite song for him," She seemed very keen on doing so and he couldn't help but smile at her thoughtfulness. "And I'll bring you parathas, okay?" He nodded, even though he hated parathas. Right now, he didn't feel like refusing her. Not when she had asked so kindly.
She stood up abruptly and started making her way down the dark corridor, but before she could leave he stuttered, "My brother- He- He'll be fine, right?" He asked nervously, desperately needing her assurance. She smiled at him and said something in Marathi that he couldn't quite grasp his head around, but she had motioned towards the idol that sat next to him and he assumed that she must've said that Bappa would make everything alright and somehow, he believed her.
He then watched as The Girl With The Paratha turned her back and left. He tightened his grip on the thread, the ache in his heart, inexplicably decreasing.
Anupamaa
