The Village Girl

Chapter Twenty Nine - [Seetha]

I was writing in Aaryan's room for most of the day. It seemed that Aaryan managed to get people to actually leave me alone today and it felt nice to finally have a moment to myself. And writing seemed to make me feel even better, helping me spend some time out of my own head. I have not really thought much about how I haven't told stories in so long.

As I wrote, I nearly did not notice the door open, and when I did notice it, I didn't turn around right away because I thought it was Aaryan. But when I did turn around, I was surprised by Aayu.

I was going to stand up, but Aayu shook his head. "Sit, sister-in-law," he said kindly. However, almost immediately, his brows furrowed and his face scrunched up, a look of shock filling him. "Your face...:

I frowned. "I know, you don't need to rub it in."

Now he smiled. "Sorry," he said. "I just..." He seemed to be thinking of what to say, but then gave up. "I'm sorry for just barging on... Aaryan mentioned you wanted to be alone so I thought you wouldn't answer if I knocked."

I chuckled. I probably wouldn't have.

Aayu leaned against the desk and looked at me. "How are you?"

"As well as I can be... I suppose I could be better."

He smiled. "I heard you were roaming around on your own yesterday?"

Of course he had. "I needed to think."

"You're okay with Aaryan now?"

"We worked it out..."

"And you're going home?"

I hesitated. I suppose it did look like I was leaving because I was mad. "It's not like that... Aaryan agreed that seeing my family would be a good thing."

Aayu nodded thoughtfully.

"And what do you think?"

"About you going home?"

"No, about... what happened."

"What I think does not matter–"

"I would like to know."

He looked at me for a moment, thinking carefully about what he was going to say before he said it. "I think my brother acted impulsively but Aarun also deserved it."

I let out a breath.

Aayu reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. "Aaryan is right. I think going home would be good... you look unbelievably tired... and I think it does not have much with your sleep. So forget all of the nonsense that is going on here and relax."

I smiled. "I will do my best."

Aayu squeezed my shoulder. "Remember that I am here if you need anything. I'm on your side."

"Thank you, Aayu."

He continued to smile. "Now, I know you wanted to be alone," he said as he pulled up a chair. "But I want to see what you are writing."

I suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "Why?"

"Because I heard your stories are good," he said, grabbing one of the pages. "Why is it that Aaryan is the only one who gets to read them?"

I grabbed the page from him, surprising him. The look on his face made me laugh before I pulled open one of the drawers and pulled out a few other pages. "This is the beginning."

---

As I had asked Aaryan, he let me get ready to leave once my bruises began to heal. By the time we got ready to leave, my face had about twelve days to heal. Most of the bruising was gone now, thankfully. What was better was that since the trip to Nandioor was a few days long, I was certain I would be completely better.