River & Desert

Part 25

"Please forgive me, Gudiya. I'm responsible for your current situation because of my greed." Anurag knelt beside Mitali's bed and said, "You don't have to do this," but Mitali had turned her head to the opposite side. "We will pay their money back. There's someone who can lend us money, and I found them. Please, stop torturing yourself."

The journey from realization of his sin to guilt was not an easy one; multiple flips of emotions had found their way into his mind like satisfaction turning into detachment, elation transforming into disappointment, and disdain led to debilitating worry.

Anurag found it tougher than he ever imagined dealing with the continuous swing between such contrasting emotions. He had failed her in numerous ways, beyond what any brother would ever do. Nevertheless, he persisted in hoping for the chance to be forgiven and make restitution for his transgressions.

"Mr. Gupta..." Mitali began, only to stop when devastation marred the features of her foster brother in a way she had never expected. "Why don't you call me bhaiya anymore? We were best friends, remember?" asked Anurag, running his fingers through her hair with tears stinging in his eyes.

As a child, she loathed when he messed up her hair. Her innocent pout had become etched in his heart without him realizing it, only to resurface and contrast with her current stoic demeanor.

During their childhood, they were the closest of friends. As time went by, the seed of awareness within them was pollinated by the cruelty of their surroundings, leading to vices that damaged their innocence. In the throes of poverty, when realization struck him that Mitali was not his biological sister, and yet she enjoyed the best of everything they could afford, being the younger one, started to trouble him.

"We're not children anymore, and you don't think of me as your closest friend. It does not even appear than you care about me, so it doesn't matter, Mr. Gupta," said Mitali, blinking back the tears which strung her eyes at the mention of their childhood.

The memories, both bitter and sweet, evoked nostalgia and a desire to relive them.

"Why do you say that? Even now, Mitali, I care for you as much as I always have. It is just.."

"You just found more profit in swaying towards making a deal out of your sister's dignity than caring for her, so you did that, isn't it?" asked Mitali, an insulting smirk dancing on her chapped lips.

Anurag whispered to Mitali, stating his inability to convince her about himself, and his wish to do so. His guilt fueled the flame that burned his soul as his conscience weighed on him. "Take care, Gudiya. Someday, I'll show you how much I love you," he murmured, planting a tender kiss on her forehead, but her lack of reaction brought him great anguish.

"She still says nothing, does she?" asked Adhrit, who has been observing the exchange through a window, when Anurag walked out of the door and towards him. It was Adhrit's plan which had made the guilty Anurag speak up to the vengeful Mitali, but as it seemed, like many things related to her and unlike anything before her in his life, he had failed. Once again.

They claimed words were more effective than a knife in piercing a heart, but Adhrit disagreed. Adhrit observed Mitali's icy demeanor through the glass window and reflected on how the silence of someone who held a special place in one's heart could be more lethal than any weapon.

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"Ms. Pathak's behavior change may have resulted from a paradoxical mix of vengeance and remorse. Her way of punishing those who pushed her into surrogacy, I believe. According to Mr. Gupta, she hoped for a fairy-tale romance, a luxurious wedding, and a joyful pregnancy, but she received none. The mental instability that you see today results from that," explained Nisha, the psychologist, while looking at the two men seated in front of her.