कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stvakarmaṇi
You only have a right to action (karma) and not to the fruits of your karma. Do not become a person who constantly meditates upon (gets attached to) the results of one's karma. Do not get attached to inactivity (no karma).
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aaron's POV
Aisha left the room like air mixed with smoke. There was no trace of hers. But, her scent lingered in my blood and around my heart. I could smell her as much as I could feel her in my arms. Not a second passed between us when Rahul decided to barge in and ruin the moment I was having with her. For the past two months, I had been going berserk because my best friend was giving all of her time to her long-lost brother.
I was days away from kidnapping her to listen to her non-stop bantering. That crazy little hummingbird.
Rahul came forward from the doorway, one of his hands in the pocket of his pant. He looked at me with narrowed eyes, ready to kill and eat but too bad. He had no idea what I was capable of. That I was raised by a devil, and an angel.
"I warned you to stay away from her," Rahul said, gritting his teeth.
I raised my right brow, folding my arms around the chest. Rolling the tongue over my teeth, I straightened my back. "And I told you I am not gonna do anything like that,"
He took a step closer to me, his nose flaring in anger. One of the vines on his neck popped out. "You know nothing, Aaron. Stay away from her."
I unfolded my arms, and tugged the palms into the pocket of my pants."Can everyone stop using that phrase? I know more than enough about my best friend. The irony is, that she has told me more than enough. And, what is your problem?"
He snorted, as he shook his head, taking another step in my direction. I held my chin high in the air. "MY problem? My problem is her safety. My problem is that she is naive and doesn't know what she wants. And, I don't like the way you look at her."
"First of all, Rahul, she is not a problem. And as far as her safety is concerned, you have no idea how far I can go. And keep your personal opinions to yourself. Among us, it is you who don't know anything about your sister. Not me."
"Really? Then tell me, can you take a bullet for her?"
I clenched my jaw. "I will fire a bullet for her."
"Smart thing, but that does not guarantee her safety. You have no idea how difficult it was for me to save her and send her here. What I had been through just for her."
"And still, Rahul. Still, you forgot to call her, to tell her that you miss her. I hope you realise how alone she felt months back. What she did to get away from that loneliness," I said.
His brows knitted in confusion. "Make your distance from her."
"I would rather die before doing that,"
His eyes softened a bit, the frown on his face relaxing as he smirked. "You are falling in love with my sister. Don't you?"
"None of your business. We are best friends and she needs me, that is it."
"I am a politician in the world's biggest democracy. I know when people are faking their emotions, Aaron."
"Well, then good for you. It shows how pathetic of a brother you are to Aisha. You did everything right but forgot to cherish the girl. You let your father touch her even when you were away. You sent her-no, you threw her away like an insect from your drink. What the fuck do you expect from her and everyone around you? She worships the ground you walk. And yet, you came here after years. You called her for what? One or twice a year? She needed the confirmation that she is not alone for the past four years, and you failed terribly at assuring her, Rahul. So, don't give me this attitude and ask me to keep my distance from her. I will go insane. And insane me is dangerous."
Rahul looked like he was going to burst out with anger. I might have hit the right nerve. It should give him immense pain. When I saw tears in her eyes every time she talked about her family to me, my heart burned with flames of anger. Though I kept all those feelings to myself, and never said my true thoughts to anybody, this was what I felt for her brother. He saved her. Thanks to him that he sent her here, for how else I would have met Aisha and be with the girl I was so in-
Rahul stood a foot away from me, looking in the eyes as the muscles of his cheeks moved. his chest rising and falling. "Stay. Away. I don't know what she has told you, but she cannot risk coming in the public with you."
A cracking sound escaped from my throat, my laugh diminishing the silence of the room. "You might be the politician of the world's largest democracy, but I rule over the business world, Rahul. I have the whole of France wrapped around my finger. Media does not even breathe without my signal, and you think I would let go of Aisha's pictures or any news in public without looking at it. You are so delusional. So much so that I can't believe a sensible girl like her is your sister."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. Rahul looked at me for the longest ten seconds of my day. What a waste of time. I wanted to go back into the living room, and join the nonsense conversation my family was having outside. Their occasional laughs were like a song to my ears. Except for Riri. She was laughing like an over-excited monkey meeting someone for the first time in the zoo.
"I-I care about her. Whatever I am doing, or will do in future, is for her. She is the only family I have Aaron, and I cannot risk losing her again. I know I have not been the best of the brothers, but you don't know how it feels to be under constant observation. It is suffocating. I knew I had to come here sooner than before. But, I was bound. It took me four years to meet her, and when I saw her next to you- to someone as famous as you- I lost my mind. I want her safety, and as much as it pains me to say, I am trusting you with her. Keep her safe and away from any danger while I am gone."
It took me a moment to grasp the depth of his words, but when it did, I nodded. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I squeezed it. "I will keep her safe. Even though I believe she can keep herself safer than we both think, you have my words. Every danger or dangerous man has to come across me before touching her."
He smiled. Rahul looked at me for a second before storming out of the room. I stood there, for what felt like minutes until Aisha shouted from the living room to threaten me with no kheer for a month if I won't come out of the den. I wasted no breath to run out of the room.
Everyone was sitting on the sofa, looking light-headed and drunk on the non-alcoholic drinks Aisha made. Munching over the Indian sweets, papa received a slap at the back of his head from mom. I sat beside Aisha, resting my hand on the headrest and wrapping her in my embrace with our thighs touching each other. My eyes locked with Riri, as she wiggled her brows. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to Aisha.
"-and then I went in the grocery section, asked the help if they have this particular item I want. but, she looked at me like I asked for her blood. She looked at me up and down as if I was some joker. And then, hahaha, she corrected me hahaha, I was hahaha pronoun-haha-using the name in bhawhahah,"
And, I never got to know what she was trying to pronounce and how. Aisha kept laughing at her lame incident, without thinking that to make someone else laugh she needed to complete the joke. I looked down at her, a soft smile pulling at my lips as she rubbed her jaw with the back of her palm.
"Stop laughing. You are annoying me."
She took a deep breath. "Then stop listening to me. Talk to someone else."
"There is no one to talk to."
Rahul cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention as silence fell over.
"Since I am here celebrating Diwali with my little sister, it makes sense if we keep the tradition alive at all costs."
I heard Aisha gasp beside me, looking wide eyes at her brother. Rahul was smirking as he looked at her with a shrug of his shoulder. "No. No, we are not doing that."
"yes. yes we are."
"Umm- what are we supposed to do?" Mom asked.
"Aisha is a trained classical kathak dancer. Every Diwali she used to have a solo performance. Now that everyone is here, I guess she should perform something for us." Rahul said.
I raised my brows. Dance? Her? The only solo performance I had ever seen of Aisha was the day I moved here, on her window. God, that memory felt like ages ago. How fast did the time move with her? No freaking idea.
Riri clapped her hands, "Fuck, yes!"
"How many times do I have to tell you that you are not allowed to swear," Dad commanded.
But Aisha looked at Rahul with pleaded eyes. As if her puppy did not do the charm on her brother, she stood up and went inside her room. After twenty minutes, I heard the bells ringing and saw her coming back in a red long fit and flare gown, which I assume was some dress for the dance, with some bells wrapped around her ankles. She was wearing pants underneath that.
Rahul beamed from ear to ear, showing his teeth with a smile as he stood up. My heart drummed in my chest like a crazy rockstar rocking his hair in a concert. Why was I nervous? Or excited maybe. The music started with a beat of the drum, sending shivers down my spine at the bass as Aisha leaned down and touched the floor.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, tilting her hands in a horizontal line, close to her chest. The song grew steadily fast with different instruments ringing and beating in a fast rhythm. Aisha's feet moved from left to right, her hands flowing like a wave of calm water at the shore of a river valley. She played with her fingers. Even though the lyrics were foreign to me, I could tell she was changing her expressions based on the lyrics.
At one point she was in the centre, dancing like a diva and at other, she rotated. The gown spreads in a circle with grace and beauty and the most beautiful circle of life. My eyes were glued to her face. The pouty lips parting in a smile, the big round eyes going wide then soft then narrowed, her brows twitching in a frown then relaxing as if nothing happened. Sp many expressions.
She was an enchantress and I was under her fucking spell.
The beat of the song slowed down, and then the heavy drums rumbled. There was only the song and the music Aisha created by the movement of her ankles. I Was hypnotised by how fantastic she was dancing. Through, my peripheral vision I could see Riri's open jaw. But that was it. Everyone was silent, looking at the goddess before us moving her body, her face like an angel straight down to earth from heaven.
My Goddess.
She was mine. Completely, utterly mine.
And I would fucking rotate this world upside down if someone take her away from me.
The song progressed in dramatic nodes, her spinning going faster and faster and faster. At one point, Aisha rotated so quick that I felt my brain going numb.
But, then, she rotated in her position with a drop of blood painting the white floor red. One drop. Two drops. Three. Four. And then it was red everywhere.
I looked up at her. She Was spinning with her eyes closed, one of her hands close to her ear and the other in the air. "Aisha, stop. You are hurting yourself." I said.
Standing up, I moved to her, holding her arm as I stopped her in my arms. Aisha opened her eyes in slow motion, a tear falling on her cheek. With hazy eyes, her gaze met mine, her chest moving up and down as her chin trembled.
"Aisha," I whispered, covering her cheek with my palm as I wiped the tear with my thumb.
"Aaron," She said in a soft, low voice before exhaustion took over and she passed out in my arms.
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Glossary:
Kathak: An ancient Indian dance form originated in 200 BCE. Some text and Sanskrit draft say that it originated in 500BCE. The word 'Kathak' is derived from Sanskrit word 'Katha' which means 'story'. Kathak is a dance form of telling a story by moves and expressions.
A/N
I know she is healing, but I feel some wounds are too deep to fill.
Honestly, I did not like Rahul's attitude toward my boy. Dude! No one talks to my baby like that!!!!!
What do you think about this chapter? Tell me in the comments below.
Ps: Follow me on instagram. I need 3 followers to make it to 100. Y'all are my will to live.