And Then He Came (ATHC)

43. Monsters

Agasthya chewed a small piece of that dry-dusted bread with great effort. It tastes like paper and was hurting his throat but at least gave him the energy to breathe.

That was all Agasthya was trying to do in those days- to breathe... to survive... to live long enough so that he could meet his brothers once again... So that he could be held by them one more time...

Why is it so hard? He just wants to go home.

"Looks like you love it..." smirked Varun peeking at the food and mocking the boy in front of him.

Agasthya didn't reply. Varun was towering over him and it made him feel so small. But this time he didn't crawl back.

Agasthya was afraid of Varun. He knew that the man would hurt him in every way, torture him till he hit the bottom, and maybe kill him if his brothers couldn't make it in time. But the boy became too much familiar with the misery that he didn't panic the way he used to. His body was shutting down and his mind was a pretty mess but Agasthya choose to fight till the last moment. That quality of his even surprised Varun.

Varun wanted Agasthya to suffer, to break, to fall apart. He wished to find solace in revenge, a way to end the unbearable agony that he have been dragging along for the past 18 years in silence. It has to die off. And Agasthya wasn't making it any easier.

Agasthya finished the slices of bread that Varun gave him blaming himself for never appreciating the food Aaryan made for him just because they blocked his way to Macdonalds. And again the urge to go home covered him like anything.

"You want more?"

"What? This dry Rottie or did you mean the never-ending torment you gave me for something I do not fault in?"
Hissed Agasthya under his breath.

"Perhaps both!"

"Go to hell..."

"Already been there..."

"Yeah. You are the devil..."

Varun grabbed Agasthya by the collar and shook him violently till the boy lost his balance and fell to his knees.
"I know what you told Diya about me..."

Agasthya's eyes dilated in horror. Diya was his only friend and now Varun might hurt her too. All because she tried to help him. That can't happen...

"How did you know that?"

"This is my place Agasthya. What were you two kids thinking?"

Now Agasthya is confused. If Varun knew, then why didn't he stop her?

"I didn't stop her because I want her to know my truth..." said Varun. "How your father ruined my happiness again and again. How he destroyed both of my families... The one I was born into and the one I was trying to bring in... How her elder sister died in the streets of London just because she was in love with me..."

Agasthya couldn't believe what he heard.

"My papa would never..."

"But he did." Screamed Varun, a single teardrop threatening to fall from his eyes.

Agasthya felt his world turning upside down. He knew his father more than anyone. Agasthya was raised by a generous and rightful man. And he, Rajeev Thakur was nothing like the monster Varun talks about.

There are some misunderstandings... Some terrible ones.

"Varun believe me... My father would never do anything like that. I know him. He wouldn't even hurt a fly."

Varun scoffed at Agasthay's stupidity.
"Then you don't know him at all..."

Memories flashed into Varun for a moment. The day he met Rajeev Thakur after 18 long years. How he just walked past Varun in the courtroom, clearly not recognizing him, after winning the case against his company.