Dhadkan (Book 1 - Singhania Brothers)

Part 14 : Healing

"Bhaiya?"

Arnav gulped and looked at him. "Tujhe kya meri chot thik ho na ho? Meri chinta karne ki zaroorat nhi hai."

Aniket gave him a sad smile. "Mujhe chinta karne ki zaroorat nhi hai par mujhe chinta ho rhi hai. Jaise aapko har baar mujhe bhookha dekh kar apna khana mere tiffin me daalne ki zarurat nhi hoti par aap dalte ho."

Arnav looked away.

Aniket's eyes filled up. "Aapki chot dekh kar mujhe bura lagta hai, Bhaiya, isliye fikar hoti hai. Pata nhi kyun bura lagta hai par lagta hai. Aap yeh le lo. It really works. Bina ointment lagaye bohot jalega."

Arnav looked up suddenly. "Tujhe kaise pata?"

Aniket's tears threatened to spill. He wiped his eyes and turned to leave. Arnav stopped him and pulled up his tshirt to see his back. Arnav gasped when he saw those marks. His eyes blazed. He knew for a fact that children working at mines were not subjected to abuse as he was. His fate was just crueler than others that he had ended up at Mittal's home. He felt furious when he saw the belt marks.

"They hit you?"

Aniket hugged him and cried. "Pehli baar tha, Bhaiya, isliye bohot dard hua. Sayad agli baar se Kam hoga."

Arnav gulped hearing the reply. The child had picked up from him that when they hit you so many times, it stops hurting after a certain point. But Arnav only said that as defence mechanism. He knew it hurt more and more with every blow on the already wounded body and soul.

"Kyun maara? Factory me toh kabhi nhi maarte na belt se?"

Aniket looked down.

"Bata na, chup kyun hai?"

Aniket didn't say anything. He was trying to steal the food for Arnav. He had tried saving some from his own but it was too less to satiate even one person. Arnav made sure to give him extra food from his own whenever he was hungry, he didn't want to see Arnav starving like that.

"Bata na, kya hua?"

"Bread lete dekh liya tha." Aniket mumbled.

Arnav was about to blast him off but stopped as the realisation hit him. He had taken the food for him. He looked at the boy refusing to make eye contact. He gently wrapped his arms around him. "Kyun Gaya tha chori karne?"

"Chori nhi ki maine." Aniket frowned. "Aapne kabse khaya nhi aur inta kaam kar rhe ho. Mujhe chinta ho rhi thi. Next time se mai dhyaan rakhunga."

"There will be no next time, Ani."

Aniket looked at him with his tear filled eyes.

Arnav nodded. "I promise they will never touch you again."

Aniket hugged him again. "Aap kuch mat karo, Bhaiya. They will hit you again. Mujhe ek baar maara toh mujhe itna dard hua, aapko toh jyada hota hoga na. Aap please kuch mat karo."

"Maine kaha na tujhse, meri fikr karne ki zaroorat nhi hai."

"Maine bhi kaha na, fikr karne ki zaroorat nhi hai par mujhe hoti hai." Aniket pulled back and held his hands in his own little ones. "Aapse pehle kisi ne meri bhookh nhi dekhi thi, kisi ne mujhe apne saath sulaya nhi tha, kisi ne kabhi mujhe rote waqt gale nhi lagaya tha. Aap Bhaiya ho na mere, aapko chot lagegi toh mujhe bhi dard hoga."

Arnav's eyes filled up to see the love shining in Aniket's eyes. He had called him Bhaiya. That made Aniket his younger brother. His family! But didn't his own family, his mother trade him off? If she couldn't love her own son, why would the boy love a stranger like him?