Barriers fall down, the ice around her heart slowly begins to thaw, and the sixteen year old girl starts to resurface when an unexpected series of events take place, resulting in Aakriti Singh Rathod to reunite with the siblings she once left behind...
The shrill echo of my ringing cell-phone woke me up and I jerked open my eyes, realizing that I had slept in my office itself. My gaze went to the clock - It was just shy of six in the morning. I stretched myself and a hiss escaped my mouth. Yup! That's what you get after sleeping on a chair - A GOD DAMN BACKACHE.
The phone had just stopped ringing, when it started to flash again, displaying the same number.
Kisko itni aafat aayi padi hai? I picked up the call without bothering to check who was trying to call me at such an odd time - “Hello, Kaun bol raha hai?”
“Aakriti se baat ho rahi hai?” A familiar voice responded from the other end. It was her. Again. This time, back with a sharper voice.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I answered - “Yes?”
“Meet me tomorrow at 8 a.m.”
Wait. What?
KAHAN?
KAB?
And most importantly,
KYUN?
“Your highness, will you PLEASE show me some mercy, and bless this peasant by telling her the reason for this meeting?”
“I’ll text you the address.”
And before I could say something or ask any other questions, the phone beeped, indicating that the call had been disconnected.
Almost immediately, my phone pinged with a text and an attached location, which was of my home, from an unknown number.
Cursing under my breath, I wrapped a shawl over my shoulders and got off the chair to brush my teeth and brew myself a coffee.
Bangalore, Karnataka Wednesday 7:00 a.m.
“Bhaiya kab aaoge aap ??!!” - Na hi, na hello, na good morning, seedha kab aaoge. Such weird children I have in my house.
“Good morning to you too, beta” - I answered sarcastically.
“Are haan, haan, good morning. Ye batao na aap kab aa rahe ho ? Ek hafte se aap Bangalore mein hi ho!”
“Agni, bas thoda sa kaam aur reh gaya hai mujhe. I promise I'll return today. But ghar aate-aate aadhi raat ho jaegi."
“Bhaiya kya hai yaar! Itne din se kaam hi nahi khatam ho raha aapka! Ek to aapke laadle ne bhi mujhe pareshan karke rakh diya hai! Archit ko to roz phone karte ho na aap , mujhe phone karna bhul jaate ho? Sach batao, aap bhul gaye ho na mujhko? Mai na-”, he paused for a moment and I knew, he was very seriously thinking about what to threaten me with.
I shook my head in disbelief.
Itna dimaag agar school ki padhai mein laga liya hota to aaj college mein differential equations ke peeche na mar raha hota ye ladka.
After almost a minute, I heard his voice - “Haan, mai na aapse gussa hu.”
Such weird and cute children I have.
I decided to tease him a bit - “Thik hai, reh le gussa. Mai to wapas aake tujhe long drive aur shopping pe le jaane wala tha. But” - shifting on my sofa, I paused for a second to munch on a biscuit, and continued - “thik hai, abhi tu naaraz hai to kyun hi le jaaunga mai.”
I could hear him whining from the other side, and a chuckle escaped my mouth.
“Yaar aisa thodi na hota hai bhaiya!! Dekho, ye na-insaafi hai. Sorry na, nahi hu mai gussa. But aap aisa nahi kar sakte. Aapko-”
I cut him off before he could speak some more - “Shaant gadadhaari bheem, shaant!”
I have been using this dialogue with him for years, considering how much, and how often he gets angry, and he clearly did not like it the first time I used this dialogue, so I stuck to it, to tease him, which often lead him to whine, like he did now - “Bhaiyaa!!”
“Beta!!” - I said, mimicking him.
“Achha-” - I had just started to say something when a knock on the door interrupted me.
“I’ll call you in 5 minutes beta. There's someone on the door. Bye, Love you!”
“Bye bhaiya, Love you too! Apna dhyaan rakhna.”
And with that I disconnected the call and moved towards the door to unlock it.
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