My Nepenthe

Chapter 66

The next morning,

"What did you say was his name? Did he call you Chutki?" Anika asked.

"Do you remember him jiji? Sidharth Shukla." Gauri questioned.

"I vaguely remember that name. Papa's friend who was supposed to save us that day," Anika said, her voice trembling at the recall of the morbid memory.

"Jiji," Gauri whispered and hugged her sister tight.

The sisters clung to each other to support and comfort themselves. More than a minute passed and none made an attempt to part.

"From the day I saw Papa's picture, the memories hit me like a storm Chutki," the elder one revealed.

"Ones which gave me nightmares. The ones which I tried hard to forget..."

"I am lucky that I barely remember anything except getting separated from you," said the younger one.

"You were small then but I was old enough to get them imprinted in my brain. The fire, the bare escape, our separation, everything kept me awake for years Gauri. I feel so lucky to get you back," Anika said kissing Gauri's cheek.

Her sister smiled with teary eyes.

"Bade bhaiyya might get jealous that you are giving me so many kisses," she tried to joke.

Anika laughed and nodded.

"Your husband must be sulking too, that I kept you away from him last night."

"Definitely," Gauri agreed with a smile.

"Papa would have loved Shivaay and Omkara. from wherever he is, he must be happy for us Chutki. Or should I call you Arni?"

Anika grinned when Gauri looked at her confused.

"Our mother's name was Punam. She was very fond of the moon. She pestered Dad to name you Arni which means moon," she explained.

"For that reason I like the moon and stars too. Look at my chand," she said showing her beloved bracelet.

"Arni," Gauri spelled out the name given to her by her parents.

"Yeah. Arnika is what they used to call us."

*************************************

"Great, are we back to square one now? We don't know if the guy is Jaivardhan or Girish. How are we supposed to know what he wants out of all this drama," Karan huffed on the phone.

"I know this gets worse day by day. I asked Bhavya to get the details of both the men. We didn't get anything on Girish, maybe we might get lucky with Jaivardhan."

"Shivaay, he can even have an entirely different name for heaven sake."

"No man, please don't bring down my hopes."

Karan inhaled a lungful of breath and let it out slowly.

"Listen to me, we are going in circles. I think you should make a list of your family's enemies and see if we could link any of them to this current person."

"The list would be a never ending one, thanks to my parents."

"Not everyone really. This one must be very devastatingly affected. It should narrow down the search."

"How did you get to that conclusion?"

"He has been after your family for two decades. He wants your destruction. In that case, he must be someone your parents wronged and didn't apologise. He must be important ," Karan said and Shivaay nodded.