Seize Her And....

Chapter : 27

My Hero.

It has been ten days since their last visit to the Barman Villa. Aswini Dev Barman has always been the obedient younger brother to Akhil Dev Barman. While Aswini was good and comfortable with his academic skills, Akhil chose the daring, challenging route. He preferred short cuts and made money way more and before Aswini. That's when the dynamics changed. Akhil kept moving upwards and Aswini settled at a point. He has always been a man too calm and collected to compete. They became distant but kept in touch nonetheless. Aswini never wanted to become an obstruction in the way of his brother's success and Akhil was too focused in building his career to spare any thought about his younger brother Aswini.

Time went by and both of them got too involved in their own family. Akhil and his wife gave birth to the twins, Pratap Dev Barman and Aditya Dev Barman. His wife passed away while giving birth to the twins. With that Akhil lost the last straw of emotion that was left within him. He kept Pratap with him but sent Aditya to the Barman Villa with his sister Savitri. Both Pratap and Aditya grew up differently, with different reasons to dislike each other.

On the other hand, Aswini and Abha gave birth to Aniruddha and Irabati. The Barman Villa was set at the highest part of the mountain, not too far from where Aswini lived with his family. Even then, instances of visiting each other without some important matters at hand, were extremely rare. The only other exceptions were the Shiv temple that was set within the Villa premises and the twins' birthday. The grandeur of the Puja ceremony or the birthday celebration was  huge. The entire village used to be invited, resultantly Aswini and his family received invitations every year. They had to visit that two times no matter what. But as they grew older and Aniruddha invested himself into his studies and the wellbeing of the villagers around, they started skipping the ceremonies as well. Sometimes they visited, sometimes they couldn't. Aniruddha was in better terms with Aditya, his cousin brother but he rarely met Pratap because he was the one who handled his father's business and stayed in the capital with Akhil. He hardly visited the Villa.

Just like every other year Purohit ji came with his son Ashok to invite them but the only difference was that he brought his daughter Ambika with him this time. Aswini always liked Ambika. The girl was extremely kindhearted. They stayed in the Villa because Akhil had immense belief on Purohit ji, he wouldn't allow anyone else to take care of the Temple. So they were given the privilege to stay inside the Villa and with time Ambika and Ashok became a part of the family. What Aniruddha didn't expect though, was Purohit ji to consider marrying off her daughter to him. He was enraged at his father for ever considering that, knowing very well that every cell in his body belonged to that one woman he can turn the world upside down for.

He didn't go to the celebration this year out of fury and his father didn't force him after understanding the mistake he very knowingly committed. But none of them expected or wished to confront what took place in the Barman Villa.

Aniruddha was deeply focused in his fighting practice when Tashi came running, informing him about the horrifying incident that took place in the lives of his cousin brothers.

He ran the moment he heard Tashi uttering "Your brothers are...." He couldn't let him finish, he was too scared to hear the rest but he broke into pieces the moment he reached the Villa. The decorations were still fresh but the house wasn't cheerful, it was filled with cries, earth shattering cries. One particular voice drew his attention and his eyes fell on Ashok.

Nobody needed to ask the reasons behind the deaths of three young, burning souls, because that's what the society is for. You just have to stand there as still as a statue to hear them gossip about how a girl named Ambika lured two men with her beauty and eventually led to this mess. But not everything you hear is true after all. So when Ashok screamed back like a manic to some of those fake well wishers the truth became as clear as crystal.