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"Tell me, what on earth is going on between you two?! Tell me the truth—yesterday Oru went to her friend's house to get notes, and then you came dragging her back like that! You locked the door from the outside and went off somewhere! When I went to unlock the door and go inside, Oru wouldn't come out. When called for food, she said she'd eat later, and then you came at night and took food to her! You shouted and made a big scene, and Oru fainted! Later, I saw she hadn't even changed out of her damp clothes from the afternoon!! Tell me the truth, son... I feel like something major has happened...."
Siddharth pulled Arpana Devi into his room...
"What happened? I put the cooking on the stove! The girl didn't eat yesterday, so I'm making a few luchis for her and your father. I've kneaded the dough and put the curry on the gas!"
Siddharth looked at his mother for a moment and said...
"Alright, go turn off the curry! Then I'll tell you! It can't be done like this—you have to listen to everything with a calm mind!"
Arpana Devi frowned at her son; her mind was filled with intense worry... The girl was growing up. Orna was at a stage in life where mental stability gets easily disrupted in various situations! Such incidents happened frequently with Orna—especially when it came to her brother! Siddharth had always been possessive about Orna.
Although Siddharth was fifteen years old when Orna came into their lives, he was under immense pressure at the time because of his 10th-grade board exams! Even though his mock test results were considered good by others, Siddharth wasn't satisfied. He kept brooding silently, and right around that time, Orna entered his life. Since childhood, Siddharth had very few friends—almost none, to be precise. He could never open up or mingle freely with anyone, with the sole exception of Raju! How he even became friends with Raju was something only God knew!
Always quiet, calm, and detached from everyone, the boy who stayed away from the crowd felt like he had found the moon in his hands upon getting the newborn Orna! 15-year-old Siddharth acted almost like Orna's mother—feeding her milk, changing her diapers, changing her wraps whenever she peed! Siddharth even cleaned her when she pooped! Once he had even gone to give her a bath, but Arpana Devi didn't allow it; if she slipped from his hands because of the water, it would be disastrous...
The little girl, too, recognized Siddharth remarkably well right from infancy! She wouldn't go to anyone else; Orna was a child who loved being held, but specifically by Siddharth. From three or four months onward, as her ability to understand developed slightly, she refused to go to anyone. Whether it was neighborhood locals, function halls, or among their own relatives—if anyone else held her, she would cry her lungs out and throw a massive tantrum. She wouldn't go anywhere except to Siddharth. Even at night, when a baby needed her mother, she wouldn't sleep unless she was against Siddharth's chest!
The preliminary tests took place three months before the board exams, and Orna was born right after those tests! Siddharth couldn't sleep at night, worrying that Orna might cry or wake up! Back then, Arpana Devi used to reason with him not to panic like that, assuring him that she was there to take care of Orna.
Anyway, days rolled on in this manner. Orna grew up slowly, and her attachment to her brother only seemed to deepen! When Siddharth began studying science, his academic workload increased, and he couldn't spend as much time at home. But whatever little time he had, he made up for it with Orna! Every night, Orna would eat from her brother's hands; late at night, her brother would teach her the alphabet, numbers, and multiplication tables, give her lessons, tell her stories to put her to sleep, and braid her hair. The next morning, he would wake Orna up, wash her face, feed her milk, and take her to her morning play school on his bicycle. In the afternoon, if he was home, he would carry Orna on his shoulders to the park... At home, he would play games like Ikir Mikir with her!
Later, as she grew a little older and became a young teenage girl, Siddharth was a twenty-six-year-old young man. Arpana called him aside secretly and said, "Stay a bit distant from Oru now!" Siddharth took that piece of advice to heart. Yet, he could never truly push Orna away; rather, he held her even closer, shielding her. His responsibility toward teenage Orna had multiplied manifold! He had to protect her from this harsh world!
That was when Siddharth's excessive restrictions began... and the arrival of adolescence made Orna feel even more confused. In this modern age, her brother would always drop her off at school, her mother would pick her up, and if she had to study at a distant coaching center, her mother would drop her off and bring her back! On rare days when it was absolutely necessary and neither her parents could go nor was Siddharth home, Orna would go alone; even then, she had to inform them by calling her brother or mother from her private tutor's or classmate's phone!
When her school went on an excursion to Hazarduari, her brother had told her back when she was in the eighth grade: "Hazarduari is so close by; we'll all go together next month, okay sweetie? Right now, I won't have the time! Don't feel bad, baby! Go fetch your geography book."
That was it—Orna understood! Her brother wouldn't let her go on the school tour. Occasionally, her private tuition friends would throw small treats at outside restaurants for their birthdays—egg rolls, chow mein, biryani! Orna could never go, and now nobody even invited her anymore. Everyone knew that Orna's brother, Siddharth Sen, was a strict, formidable man, so nobody messed with her much. Orna had two close female friends who were also afraid of Siddharth—not just a little, but quite a lot! He kept such a stern, serious face; if he ran into them, he would talk normally and ask about their studies, but even then, a aura radiated around Siddharth that made people tense up in his presence.
Whenever she went shopping, Siddharth had to go along. How much could a guy understand about women's clothes and items to constantly offer his opinion? But Siddharth insisted on giving it! No matter how much shopping Orna did for herself, getting something of her own choice was purely a matter of luck. Except for gowns, salwar suits, and kurti-kameez, jeans and tops were out of the question; even if she wore jeans, she had to wear a kurti over them! As far as makeup was concerned, Siddharth believed that natural beauty was real beauty, but whether it needed a light touch-up to enhance it further was something Siddharth didn't know, or perhaps didn't care to know—at least in Orna's case!
Orna had entered class nine! There was a reception invitation for the wedding of Chayan Babu's close friend's son. The venue was a fifteen-minute distance from home; asking her mother, Orna wore a soft Jamdani saree of her mother's for the very first time. And the incident that followed right after was what caused Siddharth to drift slightly away from Orna's heart for the first time.

To be continued........