AnuPre SS ~ Peanut Butter Cookies (Complete)

This is my story forward post the 8 years leap.

I think there is a very big potential in the track where Anurag finally comes to know about Sneha's death (before finding out that she is actually alive of course)

I want this track to have some really hard hitting scenes and hence I created a short story that reveals the truth to him and he reacts.

I feel unless AnuPre reach this point,clear the misunderstanding, there is no place for AnuPre reunion - they need to accept this loss together and heal together as parents, only then their story can move forward.

I hope you like this!

Chapter 1: My Little Cutie-pie

Prerna:

“Enough” I had thought to myself, while sipping my chamomile before going to bed that night. I was standing next to my window and looking at the night sky, it was a windy night, with patches of fluffy cloud sailing above the Calcutta sky, occasionally letting me glimpse at the perfectly round and mesmerizing full moon that use to be my friend at some point in life.

The moon wasn’t my friend anymore, not since it befriended Anurag too – the murderer of my child. The same Anurag who I could see then, was sitting in the garden swing right below my window and looking up at the moon with a peaceful and radiant smile on his face.

“Enough Prerna, stop looking at him, and go inside before he sees you.” I told myself again, but my feet wouldn’t move. There was peace in his expression, as if the moon was calming him down – this riled me up – anything that made him happy, smile, warm, positive or peaceful had started to make me angry, so much so, that I felt like I would lose my calm over it, even make a mistake and Anurag would take advantage of that and win against me. I literally shoved myself away from the window before I dragged his attention towards me.

 It was the time I was living in the Basu mansion again – only this time it was by force, my force. I had arrived in India and successfully thwarted all the growth plans of Basu Industries led by the trio Anurag Basu, Komolika Basu and Ronit Chaubey – we were not only competitors in the market but we were better than them, we were driving them away from the market slowly – this was my revenge plan all along, and it was going well. However, this didn’t quite destroy Anurag Basu – nearly not as much as I expected – he was bruised but still fighting – this bothered me – he had to kneel before me, and if he was fighting it meant all was not lost as yet – it had taken me sometime to figure out where this hope came from – of course, it was Basu Wide Publication that was chaired by Moloy Basu, my beloved Kakababu. He had seen that I didn’t attack it so far, and thus he knew, even if all was lost, he’d still have the huge empire of BWP to back him and finance him.

Despite all that Kakababu’s family had done to me, I couldn’t see him in light of hate, I couldn’t get myself to destroy the empire he built along with my Baba, hence I couldn’t bring down Basu Wide Publication – that was Anurag’s hope – but I had decided I wouldn’t let his hope win either – even if I didn’t destroy BWP, we built so much pressure on them, that they were about to crumple, and we sought out a hand to them at the same time as chief financiers trading for 51% of their shares. Now I  had control over BWP and thereby share in their key assets and investments,which included the much talked about Basu mansion of Calcutta.

I had won again, BWP was saved, Anurag’s hope were crushed; I had rightfully moved to the Basu mansion and claimed my room; and had once again thrown Anurag and his wife out of his room – all this gave me immense satisfaction – I felt every time each member of the Basu family would shed a tear because of me, it would serve as my prayer, offering for peace to the soul of my long lost Sneha.

As time passed, I noticed one thing, no matter what I did to him, Anurag was hardly affected. It is true I have cracked open Komolika, she is livid around me, trying every way possible to ambush me,with the help of his sidekick Ronit – but Anurag? I thought me and our daughter were animals raised for slaughter to him – for sacrificing at the right price for his business – then when the same said business was being plundered by me,how was he not destroyed – I kept asking myself, what was holding him together– whatever that was, I needed that leverage.

Anurag’s calm had started affecting me, and he had started to see through that – I was not as cool and as composed before him as I was when I had started these chain of events by coming to India –that’s why I wanted to avoid meeting his gaze at the window today – whatever I did, I wasn’t giving him leverage over me.

As I lay in my bed with my eyes shut, I asked myself what Mr. Bajaj would advise me if I told him this, I was sure he’d ask me to keep looking for clues, keep looking till Anurag drops a hint at what his strength was, what kept him fighting – I pleaded to God for just one sign,so that I could mess with it, break his strength, remove the smile from his face, take his peace away forever, make him kneel before me for destroying my child, and then leave him to rot and go away and finally find peace in my own life.

***

Anurag:

I was looking up at the moon from the garden, it was the onset of summers, and there was a cool breeze playing in the night; I felt oddly light and I couldn’t place it – I had no reasons to feel happy with a malicious Komolika and Ronit not leaving any opportunity to hit back at Prerna – not only that, under Mr. Bajaj’s tutelage, my Prerna had become quite the ace woman, and she was brutally defeating us at our own turf –her company was new, but much ahead of us, her decisions were so sharp that she could cut through Komolika’s strategies – every time she defeated us, I was secretly proud of her, and in the moments when she met me to rub her victory on my face, those were my moments of respite; I never said anything, I would just stand there, reveling at her presence, she would unknowingly soothe my senses– my Prerna.

There was something about the way she looked at me, whenever she came to meet me - it was not rage, it was not just hate, her eyes whenever it caught mine, it scorched me, it seemed to want to punish me for something much worse than abandoning her – I wish I knew what that was, but as entwined our lives were, I couldn’t ask without showing that I cared; and I couldn’t show that I did, not only was it unsafe for her, but now it was much too late.

Today was different, while having dinner with the family, my six year old daughter Diya told me all excitedly that her summer vacations were due to start in two weeks’ time and she wanted to go on a holiday with me and her mother, while we were chatting about the various places we could visit, a sudden thought came to me. If it were the time for the vacations to start, surely my Cutie-pie’s break will start too, I hadn’t seen her in eight years and never thought I ever would – but for the first time in life, I felt there was a possibility here! If Prerna was staying at the Basu mansion, surely Sneha would come too? The feeling was so exhilarating that I had stopped speaking for a moment to imagine how it’d be to finally have my eyes on my baby girl, my cutie-pie, my Sneha.

So far I had assumed, she’d be studying in London where Prerna and Mr. Bajaj were based so far, and now Prerna was here,surely she’d not stay away from her mother for her entire vacation – that’d mean my baby girl was finally going to come home to her Papa? The feeling was so overwhelming that I realized I had tears in my eyes, and before others’could notice, I had ran out to the garden to compose myself, to control my excitement – if Prerna had any hint of how much this would mean to me, she would never allow Sneha to come to our lives. I looked up at the sky to see the full moon beaming down at me – I made a silent wish to my long time friend,please bring my baby girl back home to me – the thought was so overpowering that in that moment I forgot all the worry in the world, and was in peace – I was going to see my most prized gift from God, my Sneha soon – nothing could take that happiness away from my face then.

Chapter 2: Little Girls Don’t Cry

Prerna:

I was getting ready to leave for work on my first day at the Basu mansion, when there was a loud bang and my bedroom door flew open and something small and pink flashed past my eyes and went straight under my bed. I was taken by surprise; as I bent down to have a better look at my trespasser. She was a vision clad in baby pink, light brown hair with soft curls and large doe like eyes – she turned to face me and raised her eyebrows high up in surprise, then she mouthed quietly, making sure no one heard her and followed her here, “Who are you? And what are you doing in my Baba’s room?”

As fast as her sight played an affectionate smile on my lips, her question snuffed the light out of my heart.Of course, she was pretty, she had Komolika’s features; and eyes, of course I had fallen hard for those big doe like eyes that reeked innocence; she had her father’s eyes. There are those brief moments in life, when one can literally feel time stopping, I had felt that, in that moment – and it was also the first time, I saw a baby and felt so outraged, intruded and furious – I will always regret that moment in my life – in that moment I wasn’t any better than Anurag or Komolika; instead of seeing a child who’d have been younger than my Sneha if she lived, I saw betrayal, I felt Anurag compromised his love for our daughter and gave it all to this devil’s spawn – I felt so thwarted that I went livid on that innocent child and shouted back at her, “Get out of my room, and never come back!”. She didn’t need telling twice, her eyes had welled up with tears and she came out from under my bed and dashed outside my room; those tears had tugged at me and instinctively I followed her outside my room to see her bumping onto Anurag who was in the corridor.

My eyes followed as Anurag picked her up and held her closely, hugged her and tried pacifying her, asking her what’s wrong. The little girl couldn’t talk in between her sobs but pointed her fingers at my bedroom door – then she turned around to see me standing, and started sobbing harder. I was feeling really bad by now and was almost about to reach out to her, but then I noticed Anurag holding his precious daughter protectively in his arms, as if he was about to fight the world for shedding her tears, for the first time I saw the father in Anurag and although I thought I wasn’t capable of feeling this anymore, but my heart broke one more time, to see him – see the father I always wanted him to be for Sneha – he was that man today – only for his other daughter, the one who was destined to be loved,unlike my Sneha who received hate from her father to the point of her death.

There was so much I wanted to say at that point, but I kept quiet, I struggled to stay composed, I couldn’t give Anurag any leverage, I had to defeat him for my Sneha. Anurag on the other hand seemed to understand what the little girl had said, and when he looked at me, I saw a disgust so deep that I shuddered – I always knew he hated us, why else would he do what he did to us, but whatever he did to me or my girl, he always staged care, affection, love, up until the last moment when he pushed me over that bridge – today for the first time that mask had dropped and I could see what he really felt for us, sheer hate – while it knocked me out of my senses, I was too paralyzed to move – I knew he’d confront me now, and since I was truly guilty of misbehaving with a child, I might not be able to hold fort – he’d be able to chip me and he’d see my weakness – I prayed hard for some miracle to happen and it did – as livid as Anurag looked, his expression changed to slight softness and then after a long piercing glance he left with his little daughter in his arms, all the time pacifying her with comforting words.

As I ran back to my room to shun the door behind me, all I felt was monumental disappointment – only I wasn’t sure who it was more for – me, for screaming at an innocent child or for Anurag for being so unfair to our child.

***

Anurag:

It was a Tuesday evening, when I had come in early from work to watch over Diya, Tuesdays my whole family goes to the temple to offer prayers and usually Diya and I go too, but she had some project the next day at school and since Komolika couldn’t leave work, I had decided to stay home with Diya and help her – by the time I beat the rush hour traffic and had reached home, all others had left, so I had quickly reached Diya’s room only to find her missing, I checked my room and the other rooms too, but she wasn’t around, I was about to call her out aloud when I heard her voice in the kitchen – I rushed to the kitchen to check on her, but the vision that unfolded before me, tugged at my heart and I decided to hide by the shadow and witness the scene unfold before me.

Diya was trying to pour water from a glass jug, and just as it was about to slip from her hand, another pair of hand caught hold of it, and poured her the water instead – it was Prerna. She looked at Diya sternly, but I knew that look, she wasn’t being tough, she was justtrying to help without being too familiar with my child. Diya sipped from the glass once before looking up at her shakily.

“Thank you, aunty” she said meekly, as Prerna looked at her for a moment and nodded mildly in acknowledgement, before turning around and getting busy in the kitchen. Diya on the other hand, instead of leaving the kitchen, stuck around, she opened the refrigerator and tried pulling out something at which point Prerna intervened again.

“Do you want something?” she asked stiffly

“Cupcakes” Diya replied meekly.

“But there are no cupcakes inside” she replied after looking inside the refrigerator.

“I know, I need to make them for class tomorrow” replied Diya not meeting Prerna’s eyes.

“You will make them? Aren’t you too young for that? Where are your parents?” Prerna inquired, clearly forgetting to mask her concern with her fake stiffness; I smiled at this, the Prerna I knew could never be rude to a child.

“Mom is busy and Baba is late, if I don’t take it to school tomorrow, all my friends would make fun of me” she replied sheepishly.

“Typical irresponsible parents” Prerna muttered to herself, before tucking the end of her saree to her waist, and clutching Diya by the waist and making her sit on the kitchen slab.

“Kids can’t make cupcakes, it’s difficult,I will help you this time. How many do we need?”

“20 of them, but aunty why are you helping me, you don’t like me nah?” asked Diya innocently.

Standing slightly far from the kitchen,Diya’s innocent question and Prerna’s expression broke my heart. This was all Komolika’s doing, had she not blackmailed me with the Viraj related video, this could have really been us. Prerna baking cupcakes for Sneha’s potluck lunch at school;them having a fun time, I would come from work and join them and together Sneha and I would annoy Prerna. That was the life I dreamt of, was it too much to ask for? But here I was hiding in the shadows to see my Prerna and Diya exchange formal and distant conversation and hoping to find some joy and normalcy in this.

I was dearly wishing for Prerna to accept Diya, somehow it was important for me. Komolika was never a doting mother to my Diya, in her presence the fanciest cupcakes would be made and sent to Diya’s school but she wouldn’t be involved. Diya was a sensitive child, she needed affection, and even in Prerna’s stern demeanour, her spending this time with Diya felt affectionate for me.

“Who told you that I don’t like you?”Prerna asked, her voice was less cold now.

“Mumma” Diya replied quietly.

“It’s not true.” Prerna replied quietly.

“But you scolded me that day” Diya asked earnestly, in her friendly tone, now that she knew Prerna didn’t dislike her. I smiled, Prerna Sharma there is no escaping now, my girl will win your heart.

Prerna stiffened for a second, and then she looked at her and smiled a little.

“I am sorry for scolding you that day,okay? I was new in the house, I didn’t know you and you suddenly came in,that’s why it happened” she replied softly looking into Diya’s eyes. She looked genuinely upset and could somehow reach through to Diya, who then did the most unexpected thing ever – she hugged Prerna tightly and said, “It’s okay aunty,we are friends now!”

The hug was so unexpected that it took Prerna by surprise, and suddenly her eyes welled up in tears, but she hugged Diya back and silent tears were rolling down her eyes. Every inch of my body revolted to see her in tears, why was she so upset, was she missing Sneha? But the melancholy around her seemed deeper than that, an unknown pain groped my heart and I wanted to reach out to her, but I knew I couldn’t – I hoped Diya would hug her a little longer on my behalf.

“Okay, we have chatted enough now, let us work on the cup-cakes!” Prerna said after a while wiping away her tears and breaking from the hug.

While Prerna and Diya were at making cup-cakes all evening, I hid myself from behind the pillars and watched,realising this could have been my life – but somewhere I ensured that this couldn’t ever be us – maybe Prerna bakes for Sneha when they are at home, while Mr. Bajaj joins them for a banter – I will never know.

Later at night as I lay on my bed trying to relive the memory from the evening, I also remembered the incidence from a few days back when Prerna had scolded Diya – when I had realised what she did,for a moment the father in me hated her – hated her for bringing tears to my angel’s eyes – but it took me a few moments to realise why she lashed out – in her eyes this was Sneha’s place too, but my cutie pie never got her share of happiness from me – was it so wrong for her to feel irked then? No she wasn’t,and hence I had decided to not confront her – knowing Prerna, I knew that the warmth and love she has in her will win over her hate for Diya, I didn’t need to intervene – Prerna might have changed and returned for revenge, but somethings don’t ever change.

Chapter 3: The Cookies Connection

Prerna:

I was sitting at home and going through the papers that Mr. Bajaj’s private investigators had sent me on Diya Basu. It didn’t take me too long to realise if Anurag Basu had ever loved someone truly and not from a place of greed, it was his parents Moloy & Mohini Basu, andnow his six year old Diya. Out of respect for Kakababu, I couldn’t cause him any damage, Kakima was my natural target, I hit her where it would hurt her the most, her inflated ego, she was very proud of the Basu’s sponsored Durga Puja,it was supposed to be the best in town, the most extravagant place of worship in the city of Calcutta, all the who’s who in town attended it – that is where I had attacked.

I had attacked the sponsorship on grounds of converting black money to white, and with the help of Mr. Bajaj, even provided evidence of money laundering – the scandal was so malicious that the Basu’s were dragged to court, Mohini Basu, committee chairperson had to be bailed out, the whole city spoke of the debacle, and until the final court hearing, the Basu’s were restricted from sponsoring any public event – suddenly Mohini Basu was no more the woman, that people in high society parties looked up to, and out of shame and malign she decided to recoil from public appearance, until her name was cleared. I thought this was enough to break down Anurag Basu, but it didn’t, in fact Komolika seemed more upset then Anurag about this – I was surprised, so much for the mother whose words were the gospel for him, he didn’t even break down for her?

I was now left with my last target Diya, I wish I didn’t need to involve her, she was just a child, but Anurag left me with no choice; I wasn’t going to harm her, but being the doting father that he was to Diya, I was sure he’d have big dreams for her; I was only going to crush those dreams. It felt right too, an eye for an eye – he crushed all my dreams for Sneha, it seemed befitting I would do the same with him. I just wanted to make him feel the same pain that I was feeling because of him – there was noway I’d stop until he kneeled before me and apologised for Sneha – I wasn’t going to forgive him, but I’d stop tormenting him then – and deep down I felt,this would bring my Sneha peace.

As I sat on my bed, going through the papers,little Diya ran into my room – although I still wasn’t completely comfortable in her presence, she surely was. Off late whenever I was home and her family wasn’t looking she would sneak into my room and hang out with me – I felt deep down she was lonely and Komolika wasn’t doing her justice, but I always stopped myself from showing too much care, I couldn’t help myself, it felt like if I accepted her, Sneha will move away from me – hence, what I started developing with Diya was not maternal affection but a strange kind of friendship where she came and shared her stories with me and I’d hear and respond here and there.

Today Diya jumped onto the bed beside me,with a jar of cookies safely tucked in her small palm. As she kept talking about school and her activities, she offered me a cookie, which I took a bite of - but the taste hit me like a rush of nostalgia and I almost found myself choking on my snack – It was a peanut butter cookie – during my pregnancy phase with Sneha, I used to have huge cravings for these and when Anurag and had heard about it, he had baked some himself for me. I had loved them so much,that then throughout the pregnancy he’d bake them in batches for me. Strangely after the delivery I never liked them much – hence I had a theory that they were Sneha’s favourite – one of the small things that Anurag did for her, maybe the concern was fake, but the cookies were real and probably the only doze of affection Sneha received from him.

These cookies after all these years, tasted exactly the same as those; I knew Anurag had made it for Diya – a strange jealousy erupted in me, maybe I thought at least these cookies were just reserved for my Sneha? I was about pull out the cookie from my mouth in repulsion while still lost in my thought when I heard Diya speak again.

“What, you don’t like them? These are my favourite! My baba makes them for me, with his own hands!”

Those words played strangely to my psyche,for a moment I thought Sneha was saying that, and the deep dark hollow inside me had ebbed again, making its presence felt, telling me, Sneha is not herewith me – Anurag had seen to that.

“Thesewere her favourite too” I found myself telling her; my own confession caught me by surprise, after losing Sneha in two days after birth, I had developed this strange habit of trying to understand her likes and dislike depending on my choice of food and other things pre and post pregnancy –anything I liked during that phase and wasn’t concerned about later – I assumed I liked it then because Sneha did – these were my feeble attempts of staying connected with Sneha, trying to guess her possible traits if she lived; I hadn’t ever said this out loud, but today here I was sitting next to the child who has literally usurped Sneha’s place in this family and told her this without thinking – what was happening to me, was I getting too close to Diya,no I couldn’t care for her. If I cared for her, I wouldn’t be able to hurt her father, but I was going to do that no matter what – it was for my Sneha.

“Who’s favourite?” she asked indignantly.

“Sneha” I replied curtly, it felt good to talk to somebody about Sneha, pretending that she was still with me, it was oddly satisfying.

“Who is Sneha, your friend?”

“My daughter”

“Aunty, you have a daughter? How old is she?”

“Little older than you”

“Where is she?”

“Far far away” that was all I could muster, the little ray of happiness I felt after being able to talk about Sneha out loud, vanished as reality came crashing at my feet – Sneha is long gone. I had had enough, I wasn’t going to be able to talk any further hence I had walked out of the room leaving Diya behind – trying hard to hold back the tears that were now threatening to overflow any moment.

***

Anurag:

I was sitting with Diya in her playroom,trying very hard to get her homework done, but she was oblivious to my effort,munching away her peanut butter cookies.

“I made them just yesterday and the jar is already half? You must not eat so much sweet, Diyu!” I coaxed gently

“But I didn’t eat all baba, I shared with Dadi, Dadu, Mumma and Prerna aunty” she replied innocently, as the name churned some old memories for me – Prerna loved these cookies.

“Oh, you did. Very good. Did they all like it? And Prerna aunty, did she like it?” I asked trying very hard to be subtle.

“No, Prerna aunty didn’t like it. She made a strange face” giggled Diya; it hurt me, these cookies were a small connect I was hoping, would have survived the fall of our relationship.

“But they are Sneha’s favourite” quipped Diya again as my head shot up at the name.

“How do you know Sneha? Did Prerna aunty say something?” I asked, unable to mask my anxiety anymore.

“Sneha is Prerna aunty’s daughter, she is a little older than me, she stays far far away and she loves peanut cookies” answered Diya innocently.

If there was some way we could save a moment and replay it in our head forever, I would have done just that with this memory. Eight years after I saw her last, I was hearing about her, her likes,dislikes, a small glimpse of who my cutie pie is. I was so overwhelmed that I had tears of joy running down my eyes. I had to be careful, lest Diya noticed them. There was a perpetual heaviness in my heart from the time I stopped seeing Sneha, suddenly that had lifted with Diya’s words, Sneha felt more real than she ever felt in all these years – I was dying to meet her now, no amount of self-restraint was working, I was her father, she was the relic of mine and Prerna’s starstruck love – I couldn’t stay away from her one more moment.

“Diyu, why don’t you ask Prerna aunty to bring Sneha home for the summer vacation, isn’t it starting from next week? You will have so much fun to have a sis-I mean friend at home to play all the while”I suggested carefully. Diya seemed to love the idea – I was praying to my stars that Prerna didn’t see my manipulation here, and actually got Sneha to stay here with us. If Sneha, Prerna and I got even one day together under one roof,my life would be considered complete.

“Okay baba, I will ask her!”

Chapter 4: Defeated For Life

Anurag:

I was so thrilled that I couldn’t hold my smile back, even Komolika noticed my glee today and asked me what was the cause, I managed to tell her I was excited because Diya’s summer vacations were starting and I was looking forward to spend more time with her. Truth be told,I was excited because, I was hoping to see Sneha today, I had overheard Prerna talking to her over the phone, telling her she was going to pick her up from the airport; I realised my plan had worked and Diya had managed to convince Prerna into bringing Sneha home.

I had my plan set, I was going to go home from work by afternoon today, bake the best batch of fresh peanut butter cookies and keep it ready – when my cutie pie would walk in, I would give them to her myself, feed her myself – no matter how Prerna or Komolika reacted, no one would be able to stop me today, I was going to be with my baby girl today.

I was taken aback in the evening when Prerna came home, I was sitting in the hall all evening impatiently, trying to catch the first glimpse of Sneha, but when she walked in I was surprised. I was expecting to see a little girl with her, a girl slightly older than my Diyu –but the girl that walked in with her was much older – she seemed like she was fifteen-sixteen and she looked strangely familiar. Before I could process further, I saw Diyu run towards Prerna and ask the same question that was going on in my mind.

“Aunty, is this Sneha?” Diya asked excitedly, but I saw Prerna’s smile falter immediately and what replaced it was torment and grief, somehow I couldn’t place those emotions with regard to Sneha, I was confused.

“No Diya, this is my daughter Cookie” she replied stiffly as my jaw dropped in understanding – of course she seemed familiar to me. Diya’s attention was rapt on Cookie and she forgot to probe further on Sneha as they left for their rooms, leaving me to deal with the sense of my heart crushing inside me. Of course she would never bring Sneha here– what was I thinking, why’d I even hope?

Prerna:

I was with Cookie in her room while she was arranging her wardrobe, she was going to stay with me for a few weeks, it was on Mr. Babaj’s insistence and I had agreed – Cookie was after all my only source of happiness and distraction from the glum pain of losing Sneha. However today my mind was wrapped around Anurag – Diya had mentioned Sneha before him today – he didn’t so much as bat an eyelid, didn’t he even feel a little remorse for killing his own daughter? He didn’t space a second in pain or remembrance – was he even human?

Later that day Diya had come to me again,it was oddly endearing to see she was a little jealous of all the attention I was giving Cookie, she wanted my attention solely for herself.

“Aunty, when will Sneha come? Her summer vacations have started? I want to meet her!” her innocent question was tearing open my heart but what could I tell this little child, she knew nothing.

“Diya, Sneha won’t come here, ever. I told you nah, she stays far away? But whenever I meet her, I will tell her about you”I said trying hard to let my voice crack. She looked disappointed first but her eyes lit up again.

“Wait, I have something for her, let me get it – give it to her from me when you meet her next!” she said and suddenly dashed out of my room with a broad smile.

Anurag:

I was in the study when Diya came rushing to me.

“Baba, baba, where is the cookie jar? The one you kept for Sneha? I need it now..” she asked earnestly; my eyes went wide!Did Sneha really come here, did Prerna really get her?

“In the kitchen, let me get it for you” I said as I jumped out of my place and dashed to the kitchen. As I handed her the jar, I asked her for Sneha’s whereabouts but she just ran to Prerna’s room and in the first time in eight years, I let go of all plans, masks and inhibitions as I ran behind her to meet my cutie pie – my hard was thumping so loud in excitement and exhilaration that I was finding it hard to breathe! We didn’t need to reach Prerna’s room, she was out there in the corridor and she looked surprised when she saw us running to her. She looked at Diyu questioningly and asked, “What?” before she turned to look up and eye me – she must have been confused to see me smiling from ear to ear.

“Aunty, this is for Sneha, baba has baked them especially for her, when I told him she likes them – please give them to her when you see her!” Diya said gleefully and handed her the jar which Prerna held out of reflex, but one look at her face and my heart froze, for I saw death in her face – a very unholy feeling started to seep in and for some reason an unknown fear was clutching my heart – I would have understood the look of rage, betrayal, dismissal at our gift, but this? For the first time a dreadful question came to my heart, was Sneha alright?

“Diya, go to your room” was all that came out from her mouth as her eyes began to smolder and turned unusually dry, she didn’t seem alive and her voice was icy cold. Diya must have sensed something too,since she dashed away from there without another word – now it was just her and me.

“How dare you Anurag?” she whispered spilling hate, her voice made a chill run down my spine.

“It’s just a jar of cookies Prerna” I tried to respond.

“Are you really a human?” she asked again,disbelief clear in her eyes, and tears welling up in her eyes.

“Prerna…I thought it’s okay to..” I began but she cut through my appeal midway.

“You actually thought it is okay to get back at me this way, just because you aren’t being able to beat me professionally? This is how you decided to play the game? Involve Sneha!? Anurag I know she meant nothing to you, but for me she was my life, she still is – Anurag how can you be so damn miserable?? You are such a monster Anurag Basu, an abhorrent monster” she was choking as tears flowed incessantly and before I could respond, she left right after tossing the jar of cookies on to the floor.

As I saw the jar smash and the cookies crumple, something in me broke, I couldn’t control my tears either, as I called after her.

“These were just cookies Prerna, I just wanted my cutie pie to have them, to know I love her and that her Papa misses her – I haven’t seen her in eight years Prerna, I just wanted to be a little closer to her” but Prerna was gone by then and I was alone sitting on the floor of the corridor with tears that were now out of control – my hopes of seeing Sneha was shattered. I don’t know how long I sat there, before a light palm touched my shoulder, I turned around to see Cookie looking down at me, her eyes were glistening with tears – I quickly rubbed off my tears and tried to get up but she pushed me down and sat in front of me on the floor.

“Cookie, what are you..” I began.

“Anurag uncle, you really don’t know?” she asked unable to mask her curiosity.

“Know what?” I asked surprised.

“About Sneha?” as soon as she said that,my heart stopped.

“What about Sneha?” I asked now not being able to meet her eyes, I dreaded hearing it, something was surely wrong with her, something I never knew, for the brief few seconds I waited for Cookie to talk, I must have offered a thousand prayers to keep Sneha safe, but when she spoke, my whole world collapsed before me in a flash, and I knew nothing else will ever matter in my life.

“Uncle, Sneha never survived. She is gone for eight years now, there was a fire in the…” I never heard further, I couldn’t,the first sentence had wiped light out of my life. My Sneha, my cutie-pie never made it? I didn’t know this for eight years now? Prerna was dealing with this loss alone? And she really blames me for this loss? She thinks I killed Sneha?Now her deterrence, her unexplained hate, her unquenchable thirst to destroy me made sense – it finally made sense. But she didn’t need to go through all this, she just needed to tell me the truth – what can be a bigger defeat for me? What can be worse than being a father and silently loving and praying for a child for eight years without knowing that the child is not alive?

I, Anurag Basu was truly defeated that day. Nothing mattered, no one mattered. I didn’t care about anything in the world – I was kneeling today – Prerna had won

***

Prerna:

My tears flowed all the way to the venue I was driving to. I knew Anurag didn’t care about me or Sneha, I always knew that– but this gesture was beyond indifference it was cruel hate. Baking cookies for Sneha his dead child just to humour his loving daughter? So far I was in two minds, I was in a dilemma, whether to involve Diya in this game of hate but today I was sure – Anurag made that choice for me – He involved Diya in this –now there was no looking back.

I had learned previously that Anurag’s dream project was the construction of a kid’s exclusive mall in the heart of the city and to open it on Diya’s seventh birthday as a gift to her. I was going to ruin that, and that was exactly what I was out to do today – freeze the commercial land and declare it as a SEZ, then let the media and the court bring down his thousand crore dream for Diya – I was sure Anurag hadn’t seen that coming. I knew he’d break at this, I was finally aiming at his heart, he would kneel and Sneha would face justice.

That day when I had returned home, I went into Anurag’s bedroom – I wanted Komolika to be there, but she wasn’t there unfortunately. He was alone and I think he already had gotten the news, his face was dark, eyes red, shoulder drooping, it looked like he was in shock,much to my delight he looked defeated.

“Anurag” I called, and his head lifted up a little in response, he was still looking at the floor. I continued, “Judging by your looks, you already have the news, but here is the official file – the commercial plot for Diya’s mall is now officially SEZ, come out of this one and show me. And this time, I won’t even trade to help you out, I promise” I smiled broadly as he finally got up to look at me, his eyes had dried tears around it,lips were dry, seemed like he had wept to the point of dehydration; my smile faltered, why wasn’t this making me happy? I was about to say something when he finally spoke.

“Prerna…” but he couldn’t continue further

“Prerna..” he tried again, but again nothing else came out, in the next moment he crashed down on the floor and knelt before me and wept like a part of him had gone missing, he clutched legs and wept into my knees. A voice inside my head spoke out loud this time, I have finally hit him in the right place, he was kneeling and weeping at my feet – it didn’t give me happiness at all, neither the peace I thought it would – but in my heart I knew, Sneha had received her justice today, the mother in me was at peace.

In Anurag’s ugly game of money and power,where I lost my Sneha, I had defeated him today, my mission was over. I silently closed my eyes and whispered, “This was for you my baby girl, Sneha” then I jerked myself away from Anurag’s grip and walked out of their lives, leaving him defeated, kneeling, broken and dead from inside, like how I have been for the last eight years.

Nice story yaar👍🏼

Very nice..pls continue writing.