His Angel, Her Treasure (UNEDITED)

Chapter 2

"You speak Kannada?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've basically lived half my life in India," Sharanya answered.

"Where in India?"

"Bengaluru."

"Oh nice! Where do you live here?"

"10 minutes away, by car."

"So you drive?"

"No, I walked over. Around 20 minutes."

Just then, they heard a shriek that made them turn to its origin.

"Sharu Akka!" a little girl shouted as she looked at Sharanya in awe. Sharanya turned to Aditya and mouthed 'Akansha,' to which he nodded.

"Kanchi, you know her?" Sneha asked.

"Obviously Mom! She's like Anna's best friend!" the little girl squealed excitedly as she made her way to sit in between Aditya and Sharanya on the couch.

"Wait, so you are THE Sharanya?" Sneha asked.

"I guess..." Sharanya said with uncertainty, not knowing what Sneha exactly meant.

"Let's go out!" Akansha said suddenly, but once she looked at her brother, she pouted and whined, "Why? I really wanna go!"

"Because there is a snowstorm outside right now," Aditya said sternly.

"But I want to go!" Akansha complained. Instantly, an idea struck her little mind and she immediately verbalised it. "Sharu Akka can come with me!"

"But Kanch, she didn't get her hat or gloves. Do you want her to be sick?" Aditya asked ever-so-politely, trying to make his sister quit the idea of going outside in the snowstorm.

"She can have mine," Akansha said innocently.

"But won't you need them?" Sharanya asked her.

"Then you can't play with me," Akansha said dejectedly as she slumped on the sofa she was jumping on.

"Of course I can play with you! I just have to get... my gloves and hat out of my pockets!" Sharanya exclaimed as she took out her hat and gloves from the pockets of her coat, making her seem like Mary Poppins.

"But Shar, it's snowing really heavily out there. Kanchi's still a kid, but you're older than her," Aditya argued.

"Some times, it is good to become a child no matter how old you are... Ten minutes," Sharanya begged. "Aunty, just ten minutes. Please?"

"OK, just ten minutes. Come on Kanchi, let's get you dressed," Sneha said as she led Akansha into the cloak room to get her ready.

After Sneha and Akansha were out of earshot, Aditya looked at Sharanya and said, "You didn't have to do this!"

"Adi, she's a child!" Sharanya started before turning her gaze to where the mother-daughter duo had left. "She's not going to get this time back again... And neither am I."

Although the last part of her sentence was said in a considerably low voice, Aditya still heard it and questioned, "What do you mean?"

Sharanya looked at him and said, "I'm leaving." It was as if the world around Aditya had stopped for a brief moment.

"Where to?"

"Back... to Bengaluru," Sharanya said instantaneously.

"When?" Aditya finally asked after a long pause.

"In June..." Sharanya said as she looked away, out of the windows.

They stayed like that for five whole minutes, each second seeming like an eternity on its own. Just as Sneha and Akansha were coming back, Sharanya quickly wiped the tear she didn't know had made its way out of her eye and onto her cheek. She hadn't felt this emotional the last time she left London two and a half years ago, so why now?