"You have intertwined our destinies. You involved her into this mess from the beginning of it all and now it's my time to intervene." He challenges.
"You have taken away everything from me and I never questioned you. I never bothered. But now I know...
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The white colored four wheeler stops infront of the bakery. The deep black eyes move upwards to find the bright pink alphabets glowing through the prevailing foggy weather: Flora. A smile of admiration tugs at Pihu's lips.
"She named it." She thinks to herself. She immediately looks beside her to find Brinda asleep and curled up to her. She already covered her with the shawl she was carrying in her backpack, but that won't be enough for her because she isn't habituated here yet.
"Bhaiya, we will be getting down here for some time. You can park the car there and then please come find us inside the bakery. We all need to eat something, it has been a long drive." She smiles and points toward a clearing on the right side at the end of the road. The man smiles back and nods in response. Then she very carefully shakes Brinda who immediately wakes up rubbing her eyes.
"Have we reached?" She asks excitedly.
"Not yet. But we are at a place that I keep very close to my heart. Would you like to see that place?" Pihu asks smiling at her. Brinda nods immediately.
"Fine then. Let's get down and bring out something to keep ourselves warm. It's truly very cold here." She says and gets out of the car.
Going behind she brings out her light blue turtleneck chunky sweater and Brinda's green jumper with a striped muffler. She hands those over to Brinda who hurriedly wears those and saves herself from the growing cold. Pihu wears her sweater, takes her backpack, then rubbing both of her hands she moves towards her favourite place.
An old woman sits on a couch behind the pink and white desk. The bakery is not very crowded but there are still some customers talking and laughing amongst each other. The first thing that perks Pihu up is the known fragrance of coffee and cookies. She is indeed home.
She stealthily walks behind the woman who was instructing a staff about cleaning a particular table. The woman's kind eyes widen with surprise when someone all but hugs her from behind.
"I missed you July." Pihu whispers and the surprised eyes immediately turn glassy as the woman turns around and holds Pihu's face in her old wrinkly but extremely motherly hands.
"Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me in the morning when I called you? Oh my God." The woman pulls her into a bear hug.
"I wanted to surprise you and see your reaction. I needed to make sure you still love me the most or not." Pihu says nonchalantly to which July pulls her by her ears.
"Do you have any doubts?" The old woman asks her while laughing. Brinda stands beside Pihu looking at the scene unfolding infront of her with a smiling face. Pihu stands straight and looks at Brinda.
"July meet Brinda. I already told you about her hence not explaining any further." Pihu says. "Brinda, this is Julian Hensman, my July." She adds smilingly.
