Unrequited

Chapter 2

Watermelons

Nine year old Shivaay Singh Oberoi's hawk like eyes watched out as his brothers of seven and four years ran around the lawn, playing with that stupid loud-mouthed girl.

She giggled as Ru tried to catch her but failed. Once again, Rudra stretched out his hand and tried catching her, his feet taking him as fast as they could. He almost did catch her but she twisted her body a bit and let Rudra fall flat on his face. Anika cracked in laughter as Rudra lay still.

Immediately, Shivaay ran towards his baby brother, tension seeping through him. When Rudra managed to balance himself on his arms, Shivaay saw a sheen of tears in his eyes and that was it. The girl was still laughing and Shivaay failed to notice his little brother sniffing but smiling nonetheless as he stared at her angrily. Om who had hidden himself safely, reached Rudra and checked to see if there were any scratches, lest he should get infected. Typical Oberoi Brothers.

Shivaay in a second pushed Anika by the shoulder, who fell on her back and winced in pain. Om and Rudra looked on, shocked as they saw their loving brother getting enraged.

Anika had stopped herself from even smiling, the moment she had seen the cat-eyed boy look angry. He was so different from his warm, welcoming and most important of all, happy brothers. For some reason, he seemed to hate her and Anika Trivedi didn't like that.

"How careless of you, Anika! What if Rudra had fallen harder, broken his bones or his nose or even worse!" Shivaay was beginning to vent out his pent-up frustration. All from the last few days.

"Shivaay, it wasn't her fault. Rudra failed to get his hands on her and tumbled. He is clumsy and you know that."

"Yech, Bhaiya, Ani isn't the one who made me fall. This shlippery grass is." Rudra grinned. He was completely awestruck by the 'only girl he had ever met'. She was so 'happy-happy, just like O and Shivaay Bhaiya.' As Rudra claimed.

Shivaay claimed he knew better. Anika was trying to 'steal' his brothers. And Anika, she would not even give a penny for his thoughts, given the amount of stupidity that shone right through them.

"Ae, don't you dare raise your voice on me. We were playing a game and he tripped. Not like I purposely made him fall. He is my friend as well!"

"You should have just gotten caught. See how hurt he is! Is this how you look after a friend?" Shivaay tried justifying his accusation which sounded baseless, even to him now. Not that he'd accept...

"But Shivaay, Ru didn't even cry for God's sake!" Om reasoned.

Somehow, Shivaay acted extremely stupid around Anika. God knows where his brains were when he interacted with her! Om thought.

"Om, he didn't cry because he wanted to save Anika from everyone's scolding. She is at fault and this idiot is trying to protect her."

"Shivaay, how unreasonable do you sound right now." Anika showed him her tongue. She had long ago stood up and dusted off the grass and mud from her jeans.

"O!" Rudra whisper-shouted. "I know why Bhaiya is always angry on Ani!" This caught all the older kids' attention.

"Why?" Anika curiously asked with wide eyes.

"Because he's burning!" Rudra clapped his hands excitedly at his new-found discovery.

"He's what?" Om looked at his brother incredulously. Now that he thought about it, may be the fall did damage his brother's brain after all.

"Rudy, I don't see any fire." Anika scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Didi, not that one. In the morning, Dadi was telling Choti Ma that she was burning because Mom cooked really good food." Rudra explained.