|| ENIGMA || Editing

♣️32.

" Not when it keeps coming back and stands  in your way " He muttered bitterly 

" Huh ? "

" Nothing " He looked away. His mind going through everything new he had discovered in the past days. It wasn't time to confront her right ?

" There's no one else " He heard her mutter after a few minutes.

" Huh ? "

" In my family,  you asked right. There's no one else other than me and pra " She said not meeting his eyes and playing with her cup .

" So whom did you guys stay with when your parents ... Um you know..... were gone " He asked measuring his words carefully as not to offend her

" Alone. It was only the two of us until maasi became a part of our family too " She said and he could see her eyes reminiscing  the past with a pained look .It pained him too to learn how she had lived alone taking  care of pratik when she herself was a child .  He cursed himself . What was the need of asking ? Idiot ! She just got into a better mood

" It would have been difficult to handle pra no ? Didn't he trouble you , usually kids do " He tried to divert the topic. Only pra can bring a smile on her face

" He did . A lot actually" She chuckled remembering the past

" Even though he was a smart kid , he was very active and naughty. I would come back home to a messy house . Sometimes he wouldn't listen to anything i say. You know once he was craving ice- cream and i had promised him to buy next day  but i forgot. He had cried the whole day . " She smiled and he did too . His heart went out to her . She took all the trouble to grow him up when he wasn't even her real brother . Who did that anymore ?

" Every alternative day , i would get a call from his school informing me of the new mischiefs he did . I would be so embarrassed  in front of his teachers " She shook her when she rememberd she once had to leave a job because they wouldn't let her go to his school .

" Ask me ! I was in principal's office every other day. That's how naughty kid i was . My teachers always complained about me . Every teacher i swear. " He added laughing and she smiled.

"I was always late to shcool . Always. My baba used to say that one day they'll even change the bell timings just for me " She threw her head back laughing . Oh How much she missed him . The memory of him clogged up her heart. She realised she had freely talked about him and laughed. Her expressions grew grim  

" My dad you know already was always strict. It was always Meenu di that used to save me . But one day i decided to leave the house in my childishness  as he wasn't letting me do what i wanted . Guess where did i go ? " He asked cheerful glint in his eyes. He wanted to shift her mood from gloomy

" No idea. " She shrugged and he made an annoyed face

" Arrey guess na " He pushed

"Umm Poonam Di's house ? " She tried to guess

" No . So we had this tree house made on one of the trees in  the garden of our house . Me , Ayu and Madhu had built it . So i went there with my bag and imagine my plight when no one came to call me back .I was a kid back then so i didn't  realise that i was way too close to house for them to be not bother about me " He shook his head laughing and she giggled too .

"I am sure you must have imagined yourself as independent  corageous kid who had the guts to leave his father's age " She pointed out

" Ohh , You won't believe it but i really did "

" Oh god , i can totally imagine a huffed face Karan leaving the house like you did mine whenever we had arguments. But then you would come back 5 minutes later " She laughed and he stiffened at the mention . She realised a moment later too what she said .

" yeah , it was kinda difficult for me to stay away from Pra. I couldn't live without seeing his face for even a minute " He scoffed and She tried to hide her smile at his sarcastic remark .

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