The Inseparable Princes

46. The Tiger

"LAKSHMAN!" yelled Rama in a fit of rage. Lakshmana looked back with a shudder only to face the wrath of his otherwise doting elder brother. His Sita Bhabhi had gone to pick some flowers, which she had specified that she'd want to do it herself, so now, he couldn't be saved. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Lakshmana frowned a little at first, before raising his left eyebrow confusedly, as he walked towards his brother unsurely. "Wh-What have I done?"

"That is what I asked you, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" yelled Rama again.

"I-I really do not know what you're talking about, Bhaiya! What have I done? This is a genuine question!" said Lakshmana as Rama raised his eyebrows and laughed dryly. "Why are you laughing!" asked Lakshmana angrily but Rama's eyes suddenly had innocent tears filling in them, and Lakshmana's heart wrenched upon seeing them, but Rama continued.

"Y-You broke this. You!" said Rama accusingly, pointing a finger towards Lakshmana's face.

"Broke what?" asked Lakshmana with a hint of fright in his voice.

"This! I-I got this, a gift for Sita and-and you broke it! Don't try to act smart, like-like you don't even know what happened!" scowled Rama, wiping away his tears.

"Okay, what was in there? Where was it? And how and when did I even break it? God, I do not know!" said Lakshmana, stretching his hands out to the package, but Rama pulled it close to himself. Lakshmana sighed, before inching closer to his brother, trying to reassure him that everything will be fine. "Show me that, please,"

"I-No! You'll not have that, I'm very sorry!" said Rama.

"Bhaiya, I'm really sorry, I didn't even know when I broke it or how I did. I didn't even know where it was. I-Just tell me where it had been kept. And what is in it?" said Lakshmana apologetically, but Rama refused to show it. The package, however, fell from Rama's hands, and when it broke open, there were a few wooden bangles that seemed like handmade ones that Rama had most certainly made for his lovely wife, and oh, the box was also a handmade one. Lakshmana crouched down and picked up the box and the bangles and held it securely in his hands, before giving it to his brother. The bangles had broken, not because of that fall, but because of Lakshmana supposedly. Rama took the box filled with bangles and walked away, heart broken, but the dominant emotion being anger; anger aimed at his brother.

★★★

Lakshmana had been trying to investigate everything ever since the incident. When did he even break it? It was more of curiosity than anything else at all. He went through the whole scene in his mind a thousand times, and would do it even a thousand more times, but he'd do it until his curiosity had been quenched.

(Flashback)

Lakshmana walked into the fenced region around the cottage, a hefty load of burdening logs on his shoulder. Walking towards the side of the cottage where he usually kept the firewood, he dropped, literally dropped all of that wood, all in an instant, freeing himself from the painful burden. Something about it, it was just hurting his shoulder too painfully that day, and he himself wondered how he didn't just end up collapsing in the middle of the jungle, somewhere, to never be found again.

(Present)

"Oh no! Did I?" Lakshmana murmured to himself before running to the same place beside the cottage. He had indeed dropped those pieces of log there, but was the gift placed there? Had he, in his exhaustion, forgotten to see that there was an actual package, the bangles on top of the box? He squatted down to see if he could find any evidence but only the images of his angry, hurt brother flashed before his eyes. He banged his  clenched fist on the closest thing he could find - a rock, this time.