Suit And Surrender

In his arm, her home

A hand caressed my hair lovingly, I looked behind to see Mrs. Patel, sitting beside me.
I put my head on her lap and cried my pain out.
The tears of not having a good childhood.
Tears of my own mother kidnapping and almost killing Aarna.
Seeing Aarna in ICU.

"He only takes exams of the best of his people."
She said once there were no tears left in my eyes.

"Aunty, I am sorry, Aarna is here because of my mother, and indirectly I am the reason behind all of this."

I know Aarna for a few months, but she is the woman who has given birth to her,   brought her up, loved her, and compromised for her, I can't even imagine her pain.

"Jayraj, It was not your fault and everyone here agrees with that so come out of that guilt."

Here she is a mother whose daughter is. in a coma because of me and still comforting me.

Mothers are supposed to be like this.
Why I got the bad share of it?

I looked behind Aunty and Ria was standing there, with a shocked look.
How much did they hear?

"I will leave you both to talk."
Aunty said and left.

I stood up and motioned Ria to come outside.
"What you said inside, Khushi being Ria, I think there must be some misunderstanding."

In reply, I removed our childhood photo from my wallet and passed it to her.
She observed it for minutes, with shock then disbelief, then acknowledgment.

"You are my brother?"
She asked with what seemed like awe.

God, she is not angry.
Yeah, she is accepting this.

"Yes, I believe so."

"And I forgot you existed."

"Mrs. Yadav tried her best to make sure of that." My expression tightened at the mention of her name.

"She can not take away my memories. I have always blamed my family for not loving me, but the problem was me, I did not remember you."

"Hey, childhood trauma does that. It's called infantile amnesia. And it's very common. So don't blame yourself for things that are not in your hand."

"Aarna told me you missed your sister a lot and you were looking for her for the last twenty-two years.
God, I was in front of your eyes."

"This little girl grow up into a fine woman that I can not recognize."
I touched strands of her hair,

"It's the same,"
I whispered.

"Sorry?"

"Your hair. Your silky hair took lots of my time to keep them in proper choti."

"Do you used to complain about my hair?"

"Every day. If they were a little rough then my work would be easier."

"Oh, hello, I love my hair okay? Don't even try to say anything against them."
She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I would not dare."

I stroked her cheek,
“I should’ve found you sooner. I thought I was trying my best but I guess it was not best if you were in front of my eyes and I was not able to"

"Hey, it's better later than never, right?"

Isn't she the epitome of positivity?

"So I will have designer dresses as my birthday gift."

"You will get designer dresses every day, and whatever else you want, Khushi."
"I mean Ria,"

I know it will take time for her to get comfortable with being Khushi,
Ria or Khushi doesn't matter, what matter is she is my baby sister.