Reincarnated into a world of modern magic

Each with their own thoughts(3)

Having freshened up and wearing new clothes, Divya, now full of energy, bounced down the stairs in excitement, as she couldn't wait to finally be able to eat some palatable food. After all, for as long as she could remember, she had never eaten anything other than rice and some sort of soup. As she reached the living room, she saw Asha setting up the dining table. It wasn't a big one like you'd expect a rich person to have, but a small, round one that gave off feelings of warmth and cosiness; or maybe that was just what Divya felt from Asha.

Seeing her setting the table like that reminded Divya of her mother, who was also always busy doing something in their house. Whenever she told her mother to take a break sometimes, she just replied,

"Divya dear, looking at you working so hard to feed this family, how can I take a break? Even if I can't help you in your work because of your father, the least I can do is make sure that our house is properly maintained right? After all, my precious daughter is working so hard at such a young age, I can't fall behind can I? Now, why don't you sit down and eat?"

"Come, sit down and eat," said another voice, overlapping with a figure of her mother. Snapping out of her reverie, Divya looked at Asha, who was calling out to her from the kitchen, and said,

"Coming!"

'Even though I need to make sure to stay on guard, it's fine if I can relax once in a while right, mother?' Divya thought, as she slowly sat down at the table. Looking down at the plate in front of her, Divya questioned as she lifted a roti,

"What is this?"

Noticing what she was talking about, Asha was surprised for a second when suddenly, a voice rang out,

"That's a dish called 'roti'. Have you never had it before? Then, why don't you try it today? I'm sure you'll love it. Aunt Asha's food has always been good - although I haven't had one in a long, long time."

Turning around at lightning speed, Divya stared at the place from where the voice came, only to realise that the person who spoke was already seated opposite her, and was now helping himself to the food on the table.

"You - you, why are you here?!"

"Hm? Ah, I just sensed that Aunt Asha was setting up the dining table, so I rushed here immediately. After all, even I haven't eaten for quite a while now."

"Alaukik?! You finally came back? Don't you dare run off again!" came Asha's voice from the kitchen, followed by the sound of her footsteps coming closer to the living room.

Entering the living room with a bang, Asha immediately went to Alaukik and hugged him tight. Patting his head lightly, she said,

"I'm sorry my child, I'm sorry for everything I said earlier. I don't know why I said all of that, it was horrible of me to vent my emotions at you..."

Hearing this, Alaukik's face showed surprise for a second, before he stood up and hugged her back, saying,

"It's fine aunty. I know you didn't mean any of it. In fact, I should be the one apologising, after all, I said so many mean things to you too.."

But just a second later, Asha separated herself and said,

"Now, don't you dare leave again, do you understand? Sit down, and I'll be out with the sabji in just a moment."

Smirking, Alaukik replied,

"Fine, fine. I won't leave again without informing you, I promise," after which he sat back down, continuing what he was doing before Asha suddenly came and hugged him while Asha went back to the kitchen.

On the other hand, while the two were having a mother-son moment, Divya just stood there, as if in shock. Now that Alaukik was back, it seemed like she had gone back to how she used to act around him: Unfeeling, as if she was but a doll. Noticing this from the corner of his eyes, Alaukik sighed internally, thinking,

'Yup, she's back to how I found her. How am I even supposed to get closer to her..?'

Sighing once again, Alaukik decided that he couldn't just wait for her to get used to him naturally, as Chaos knows how much time that would take. And so, he tried to initiate conversation with her;

"So ... I don't think we've been introduced properly yet. My name is Alaukik Khoda, and I'm uh ... Right! I'm 11 years old. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Saying this, Alaukik paused for a moment, hoping to get a reaction from Divya. However,the only thing he saw was a slight movement in her eye. Sighing, he continued,

"Before I begin talking, I would like to tell you that I'm sorry if I've done something that has hurt you in any way. I will not lie, I rescued you because I need your powers for something - something very important to me. However, I will not force you into doing something you do not want to do, and I hope you understand that. Saving you was my decision, but you do not necessarily have to repay me for it. If you decide that you want to live a normal life and not be connected to me in any way, then I will respect your wishes and not disturb you."

Noticing Asha returning, Alaukik quickly wrapped up his spiel saying,

"I really do hope you consider it Divya, after all, you're probably my only hope at this point."

"Oh, what are you guys talking about?" asked Asha, as she placed another bowl in the centre of the dining table.

"Well I was just talking to Divya about how the food you made last time was out of this world," looking at what was in the bowl, Alaukik's face turned black as he said,

"We're having aloo* today? The only thing I've eaten for the past few years is aloo, aloo and more aloo!"

"Well guess what, I didn't have any time to prepare anything else, you got it? Now be grateful and eat up. I'll make something nice for dinner, alright?" said Asha.

"Really? Thank you!" exclaimed Alaukik, as he immediately started to dig in, eager to fill his empty stomach.

Seeing him eat with such speed, Asha smiled while shaking her head. She then turned to Divya, and said,

"Divya, why don't you start too? The food will get cold if we wait too long."

However, to her regret, there was no major reaction from Divya. Sighing in her mind, even Asha realised that helping Divya attain a normal life was going to be a very hard task. However, her kind heart did not allow her to ignore Divya; Asha had decided that she would do everything in her power to help Divya live again. Suddenly, Alaukik got up from the table and said,

"I'm done! It was really delicious, aunty. I think I'm going to go and choose a room too!" Saying this, Alaukik immediately teleported upstairs before Asha could say anything. But, she quickly realised what Alaukik was trying to do, to which all she could do was give a sad smile, before turning towards Divya once again and asking,

"Would you like to eat, Divya?"

"Y-yes, please..."