Broken (Wattys2016)

CHAPTER 3

Sushant, Jay and Priyansh had known each other ever since they were kids as they lived in the same neighbourhood and because Sushant's parents, Jay's mother Lalita and Priyansh's father Rishab were best friends since school days. Anthony and Suchitra had found love in each other while Rishab had lost his heart to Riddhima and Lalita had to Nakul. It was when the three boys turned five did Rishab and Riddhima welcome Aarav into their small family. Six months later, the Fernandes' welcomed their daughter Aaliya. Everyone rushed to the hospital as soon as Anthony told his friends that the couple had welcomed a daughter into this world. All the boys now had a little sister to pamper. It was when all of them were in the hospital room that little Aaliya started crying in her father's arms and just then the six month old Aarav who was in his father's arms kept his hand on Aaliya's small pale forearm and she calmed down. Just then all the adults in the room knew that there weren't going to be three boys who were going to be wrapped around Aaliya's fingers but four.

But as Aarav and Aaliya grew up they never bonded. They'd always start throwing their toys on each other the minute their mothers would turn their backs. The boys would always have to come and pull the toddlers apart every time. Even though the two toddlers fought for the majority of the time, something they couldn't ignore was that Aarav had helped the one year old Aaliya to get up on her feet and take her first three steps before she fell down and started giggling. And even though everyone knew that the two of them always fought, they knew that Aarav would always be there with Aaliya whenever she needed him.

Ever since they started attending the same preschool together, they just seemed to drift further more. They'd taunt and fight with each other all the time; it seemed to be their favourite game. Even their teachers had given up on the two of them. The whole school knew that they used to love to pick on each other and the students actually liked witnessing it. Initially their teachers used to pair them up for competitions, projects and duties so that they could talk and try to gel up but that never worked. They would end up ruining it all by fighting all the time. Aaliya would submit her individual projects and score great marks and Aarav hated her all the more for that.

Aaliya had always been a bright kid. She was pretty different from rest of the girls. Dolls and kitchen sets never fascinated her; it was bikes and cars that caught her attention. Some girls found her weird as they grew up because she never behaved like one of them. She was a complete tom boy. She was carefree and outgoing. She'd roam around wearing her pyjamas not caring about what people would think.

Aarav on the other hand had always been the cute notorious boy, but notorious in a good way. He never disrespected anyone or hurt anyone intentionally. The only reason he used to pick on Aaliya was because she was different from the rest of the girls and he wanted to get her attention. He didn't really hesitate to pick on her because he knew Aaliya never took it to her heart.

As they grew up, somewhere Aarav started to pick on her because he knew he was getting on her nerves and not really to get her attention.

It was a little after their ninth grade had started that Aaliya had completely stopped responding to him. Earlier if Aarav threw a tantrum on her then she'd go on with her sarcastic comments and taunts, but in ninth grade she had started to ignore him, not just him but everyone around her. Her grades had started to fall and she'd spend most of the time alone either sitting in the back corner seat or in the school ground. She had lost interest in everything and it seemed that she was mentally dead.

In tenth grade their school organised a Christmas Carnival and Aaliya's friends forced her to tag along with them. As she roamed around in the huge Carnival she was reminded of how her family used to celebrate Christmas every year in Goa. She'd go to the Church early morning with her maternal grandparents, sing Christmas Carols and then have a grand feast at the Community Park.