Unkept Promises

That planned attack

"Ahhhhh"

The two of them screamed in unison. Now, I take back what i had said earlier, if these two were crazy about those street foods, they were even more crazy about these types of sour foodstuffs - raw mangos, imli (tamarind), starfruits, jujube - you name it, and they would devour it.

And whilst they were now arguing over who is going to get more number of raw mangos, I could not take my eyes off my Avi's face. It glowed with delight, and I could see that missing twinkle sparkling in her eyes. Her smile was the brightest, and the truthfulness in that smile radiated all around our living room.

I must thank Dev later. His gestures brought out this gleeful Avi in front of us after a really long period. My carefree Avi with her captivating laughter.

'And who had stolen that laughter?', my subconscious taunted me, but I did not mind those harsh words. That was the truth and I deserved it.

"Oh hey, grumpy inspector.", Dev called out to Pratik, after he was done sharing those raw mangos with Avi and had made plans with her to devour them later.

As expected, Pratik scowled at him.

"Man child.", he spoke with an unamused face.

Avi and I stifled our laughter looking at Dev's annoyed face after listening those words.

"But Aaru loves me more.", Dev grumbled. As if on cue, Aaru must have heard his Dev's loud voice, and he rushed into the living room.

"Deeeevvvvv."

"Mera baccha.", Dev squealed the same and picked Aaru up in his arms. And then the two of them giggled boisterously like the kids they were.

(Mera baccha - my child)

Dev now had a smug smirk on his face, and he turned to face Pratik, Aaru still in his arms.

"See.", he gestured towards Aaru and stuck out his tongue to tease Pratik.

"See, manchild.", Pratik was not far behind his archnemesis when he pointed at the way Dev had stuck out his tongue.

"Okay, that's enough you two. Pratik bhai, you please continue with what you were saying.", Avi interjected.

Pratik gazed at Dev and then at me. I understood what he was saying. While Dev knew about my injuries and fussed over them, we had hidden what had happened from Dev along with the rest of the family. The sole reason was, before telling Dev, Avi and I wanted to know the reason behind this accident or the planned attack. Dev was very protective of the three of us, and the both of us thought that it would be sensible to just speak with him about this when we would have something concrete in our hand, lest he were to get disturbed. There was no doubt to this - he would get disturbed.

I think, after Pratik informs us about his conversation with inspector Dave today, we would be able to share this all with Dev. I know he would be upset, angry even, knowing that we had hidden such a crucial thing from him - but the thing is, we all at times do a lot of things to protect our loved ones. This was one of them, and my dear brother would understand it.

"Dev, please take Aaru with you for sometime in his room.", I threw him a subtle gesture.

His eyes registered that gesture, and with a knowing look his exited with Aaru. And while he didn't have a clue about what we were discussing, he knew when to give space. As much as one might think of him to be frivolous, he was not. Yes, he loved enjoying his life, he was like a ball of sunshine all around us, but the sensitivity and the sensibility he bore within, was something different, and I was very lucky to have him in my life.

"Bhabhi, please listen carefully.", his voice was somber.

Avi shared a look with me, and took a seat, her face anxious.