Anuj was vexed. Truly. Thoroughly. And it was because of Anupama.

They had come to Dharamshala to check out some sites for their upcoming project and Mukku had come along too, simply wanting to enjoy herself. He appreciated the company, he truly did. To spend time in the company of two most important people in his life was his idea of happiness and joy.The issue was, Anupama was not here.

She had gone off to the location, alone. Despite his vehement protests and insistences, that he accompany her, she had shot him down. Her explanation was that the brother-sister duo should enjoy themselves while she will take a tour of the site and get back in a few hours.

'The person you are trying to reach is not picking up your call'

"Dammit! Pick up the phone, Anu!" Frustrated beyond repair by now, Anuj slammed his phone against the bed and dropped onto the bed with a thump.

He would have let it slide if this was it, but Anu had been doing the same thing for some time now. Every time the three of them were together, she would conveniently find a reason to excuse herself. Not only that, the time they used to spend together had drastically reduced too.Suddenly she had too much work to do and too many responsibilities to take care of, that even a coffee with her was a luxury.

It had all started the day Mukku had run away from home, the first time. They had managed to bring her back but her erratic mood shifts between anger, happiness and jealousy had started to become more and more frequent. He, for the life of it would never have thought that his sister was suffering from PTSD and needed therapy. It had been Anu who enlightened him about it and only then did it dawn on him, that while Mukku had masked her feelings with a garb of nonchalance and easy going persona, he had treated it as her form of punishing him for his mistakes and had never thought that the trauma from their parent's death had impaled her psyche brutally.

And he was never going to be the person she would come and talk to. There was a sense of superficiality in their relationship that he had failed to mend. But Anupama was a different case. Mukku liked Anupama more than she liked him. She would easily get jealous of her too, but was in awe of her understanding nature almost every time. It had been that very gentleness and persistence that had made Mukku open up her fears to Anupama and despite her inhibitions, Mukku hadn't shot down the idea of seeking help when Anupama had offered the same.And finally, she had concurred with her idea and started seeking a counselor.

The sessions were not easy for she had to recount things shehad buried but after every session, he saw Mukku change day by day, same yet different. A sense of calmness and acceptance had started to surround her and she looked more at peace.Another welcome change was the fact that she no longer bottled her emotions out of spite, rather was sensibly vocal about her feelings. And in the case of occasional outbursts, she allowed him, Anupama, them to console her, to make her feel at ease. They had become a family in the truest sense and the distance between him and Mukku was diminishing step by step.

But while he wasn't noticing, Anu had started to enact a wall around her, the very wall he had dismantled brick by brick by being sincere and just being by her side. She was starting to distance herself from him, from them. With every passing day, she inched a step away. And when he did notice her absence that lingered longer, she simply shrugged it off as his overthinking and asked of him to concentrate on work and Mukku.

She was his emotional pillar to lean on and yet her feeling was starting to fade day by day. Post his accident, a new found intimacy had enveloped them in its warmth and they both basked in it. He had noticed the changes inher, seen the hints in her eyes and mannerisms, and allowed her to take their relationship at her pace. He would nudge her here and there and amuse himself at the expense of her embarrassment and anger, but was sure that soon she was going to spill the beans of her heart and he was waiting for that day eagerly.

But suddenly, one day, just like that, she ceased giving hima read into her heart. It was like she had donned an invisibility cloak and just like that, all those steps taken in his direction were being taken back one by one.

Therefore, he had been extremely happy when work prospect had presented him with an opportunity to sort out her misconceptions and assure her, that she was not coming between him and Mukku. She had never said the same but he knew it still.

'But she had abandoned him once again'. And this time, he was mighty pissed.

Anuj broke out of his soliloquy when he saw his phone screen light up in his side vision and quickly picked up the phone, only to see a notification pop up- an alert precisely, that the rain was going to get even heavier.

That was an even greater cause of concern because it had been 3 hours since Anu was gone and it had been raining for the past 2 hours already. The bends in mountain roads were dangerous as it is but in this weather, they were deathly.

Anuj prayed, hoping that Anupama had secured herself a shelter and would stay put until the storm died down.

"Now if only the phone would connect!" Anuj tried again but to no avail. He was very anxious right now.

"I should have gone with her!" Anuj cursed his own acquiescence and lack of disagreement. He should have been stubborn. He should not have folded in face of her pleading soft eyes

His thought came to an abrupt halt however and Anuj froze as the room shrouded in dim yellow light, was illuminated pure white for a split second before a loud boom sound echoed. Whipping his head around, Anuj jumped off the bed and rushed to the window where rain pelted across the window pane with great vigor and he watched in horror as a single bolt of lightning tore through the dark clouds with an ear piercing sound, and came down on the not so distant forest area.

Anuj felt his heartstop. And spinning on his heels, he dashed out of his room.

Urgently, knocking against the door, he cupped mukku's face as soon as she opened it.

"Are you okay, bachha?" He asked worried when Mukku nodded,her lips quivering. "Bhai..vo...bhai..."

"Kya hua baccha?" Anuj caressed her hairs, coaxing her to speak and she forwarded her phone to him, to reveal a buffering live coverage of news.

"Mukku..ye—

"There's been a landslide in Kangra region", Mukku cut him off and watched as the confusion on Anuj's face paved way to terror in a matter of seconds.

"Anu...Anu bhi...wahan..." Anuj's heart stopped as he focused on the static headline showing on the phone screen. 16 dead.

'Anu', His heart dropped as he clenched his chest tightly.

"I..I have to go...", Anuj whispered unsure but as his gaze met Mukku's, he snapped out of his state of shock, and slapped his cheeks to break out of his dark thoughts.

"I-I will have to go Mukku. You will be alright, na?"

Mukku nodded as she gave a quick hug to her brother and pulled back before forwarding her pinky finger. "Promise that you will come back to me".

"I- Anuj didn't know what to say when Mukku added, "With Anupama.I'll pray for both of you so don't worry about me".

With shaking hands, Anuj shook his pinky with Mukku and rushed out.

Malvika folded her hands as she saw her brother's form turn the corner and closed her eyes. Anupama was everything she had once lost. Her bhai had been her sole family once, but now she knew she wanted both her bhai,and bhabhi. Yes, she had already given that position to Anupama long back.

"Vo kya kehti hain...haan, dhyaan raakh jo, lord Krishna!"