Aadhya-Dev:- A Sacred Bond

17~ A little part of Dev's past

" Come here."

And pulled her some step forward then made her face the wall. Her eyebrows furrowed, seeing a huge photo frame of some family. She could not recognize them, but the family is big. There are three young couples, an old couple with 7 children.

Oh, she might have failed to notice this frame in this room when she was in this room, well because Dev had lights OFF most of the time when she came here. She had come here only twice or thrice, perhaps. But this is not the thing to discuss- Aadhya looked at Dev whose's eyes sparkled and small smile appeared on his lips.

" My family."

And, Aadhya snapped her eyes at the photo frame again as soon as he said. Dev took a deep breath to control his upcoming emotions, cause this is not the right time to get emotional. He has to tell a little part of his story to Aadhya.

" This was the only photo my Shiv was able to take before running away."

Dev spoke with a soft chuckle at little Shiv's antics. Aadhya showed no expression nor said a word making Dev to continue.

" You see her?"

Dev pointed at a particular young girl's photo after saying and Aadhya turn her gaze toward her. The girl is smiling so widely, so cheerfully. She seems less than 15 but pretty.

" She was our elder sister, or only elder sister after an elder brother. Just like you, she was the only girl in our family until the birth of Kaju. She was so loved by our elders but was protective for her younger cousing brothers like me, Shiv and two more brothers of mine. I remember, Nobody could deny her wish in our family and if she try to save us from scoldings, then our parents would surely spare us. So you can say, she was our protector."

He smiled a little by talking about his sister but the smile slowly fady away and his expression got all gloomy.

" My sister went through a very traumatizing thing. She was our protector but we brother failed to protect her. Our eldest brother, tried saving her but failed. He died while saving her, my brother was only 15."

He gulped after completing his sentence, Aadhya turned his gaze at him and her eyes softened seeing his expression. She didn't initiate any movement to hold him yet,

" Imagine a girl, getting raped in front of her own family members, some dead, some alive. Unfortunately, among alive- I was included too. I could not save my sister neither any of my family member. She was getting harassed, humiliated, raped right in front of our eyes. Those monsters ruined my sister, they didn't show any mercy. My...,"

Dev look at her with tear filled eyes then continued.

" My sister showed little effort to save herself when second person was coming to take her. She.....She killed herself. That was the only option she had. She took her own life, using Knife. I was near to her when she was thrown after a man abused her phsyically. Before she killed herself, she asked me, took promise from me that I need to take her revenge, not only her but whole family. For that, I had to be alive and my sister was ready to do anything to save me. Somehow she gathered everybody's attention and gave me enough time to run away."

Till now, tear stream down from Aadhya's eyes too because of two reasons, 1st was obviously his sister's story while the 2nd reason- was her own theory. She didn't want to believe what her inner self was trying to tell her. She did not dare to ask him, For what reason his family was unable to save her? And such more questions because she could not think about much right now.

Her heart beat raised out of fear while Dev grabbed her hands tightly, not in a hurting way but- in a way to give himself strength.

" Your..."