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Opening the door to Orna's room, Siddharth walked inside. Orna was busy scribbling haphazardly in her drawing book...
Near the head of the bed was a tall window draped with heavy curtains, beside which stood an antique neem-wood table scattered with Orna's books and notebooks. She was sitting in a chair with her back turned, wearing last night's oversized yellow t-shirt and black shorts above the knees, her long hair gathered and coiled into a bun on top of her head.
Siddharth swept his eyes across the room once. It was a neat and tidy room featuring a large wardrobe, a dressing table, a bookshelf, a study desk, and a queen-sized bed. Touches of Orna's handiwork adorned various parts of the walls—using DIY handcraft ideas from phone videos, she made acrylic paintings as well as wall hangings from discarded items. Plants like money plants, snake plants, peace lilies, and aloe vera were placed here and there. In contrast to her own untidy nature and habits, her room was remarkably organized. Sitting on the tightly made bed, Siddharth silently swung his legs for a while.
Orna continued drawing with quiet focus, her phone set up on a camera stand nearby, recording the process. She occasionally paused the video, drew a bit more, and then resumed recording. Orna created short videos of her artwork and posted them as reels on Facebook and Instagram, believing that her handiwork would one day earn a place among the best in the world.
Siddharth let out a deep sigh. How attentively the girl was pursuing her work! If an outsider were to look at Orna right now, they couldn't even imagine the storm that had passed over her yesterday. Looking at her, one couldn't tell that her heart had been deeply wounded yesterday—and that the cause of that pain was Siddharth himself.
Back then, seeing Orna for the first time, he had promised himself that he would never let even the slightest harm come to this little doll. Yet, he had ended up hurting her himself. Once again, he looked down at his hands—the very hands meant to shelter and protect the girl were the ones he used to inflict pain upon her.
Picking up a comb from the dressing table, Siddharth walked over to Orna, unclasped her hair, ran his hand through it, and began combing it gently. Startled, Orna turned around to see Siddharth looking at her with pained eyes. A sharp pang twisted inside Orna's chest... A suffocating pain pressed tightly against her heart, and as a lump of tears caught in her throat, she repeatedly swallowed, trying to force it down.
"What do you want? Get away from me! I don't want to talk to you, big brother...!"
"I'm sorry, sweetie. Listen to me...!"
"I don't want to hear anything, big brother! Your... explanations... I... won't listen to any of it! Got it?! Who do you think you are—God? Fate itself?! Are you going to write my destiny?!"
"Oru!!!"
An expression of disbelief appeared in Siddharth's eyes... It was as if an entirely different Oru was standing before him.
"I am no one to write your destiny. I only want what's best for—"
Cutting him off, Orna turned her back and said, "Please don't say that you do everything for my good. Please, big brother! I understand very clearly now—you just consider me your plaything. Nothing more than that! What you actually want is for me to dance to your tunes!"
Blood rushed to Siddharth's head in an instant! What did Oru just say?! That he considered her a plaything, that he wanted to make her dance at his fingertips?! Has such a perception of him taken root in Oru's mind?! Since when?!
Orna's heart softened slightly as her thoughts settled. She never raised her voice at her brother, whether in anger or otherwise, no matter how friendly he was with her. Orna knew her boundaries; there was a considerable age gap between her and her brother. Siddharth had always guided her, was guiding her, and would continue to do so in the future. Yet, Siddharth interacted with her like a friend too; most things Orna couldn't tell her parents, she shared with Siddharth.
However, one thing that hurt Orna from time to time was Siddharth's sudden sternness. If Siddharth disliked something—like the incident with wearing the saree—even if Oru loved it, Siddharth simply wouldn't let her do it. That was where a part of Oru's mind had grown defiant today, wanting to resist his restrictions by framing them as tyranny.
Yet another part of her mind, which deeply revered and loved Siddharth, refused to accept that. Why did this man act this way? He shielded her like this precisely because he loved her—otherwise, why would he bother? After working night shifts at the hospital all night, he would return home in the morning to drop Oru off at school, even when he knew her father took her every day! He would still go. In her childhood, it was Siddharth who used to take her to school. Now, due to his busy schedule, he couldn't, but on mornings when he was home, he made sure to go.
Even before Oru's 10th-grade board exams, when Siddharth was busy doing research for a seminar, he would work all day at the hospital and clinic, return home at night, and dedicate a fixed three hours to checking Oru's multiple-choice test papers. After everyone else went to sleep late at night, he would sit down with his medical books and journals. Her brother had big dreams for Oru, and just as Oru needed to contribute toward those dreams, Siddharth contributed equally. Thinking about all these things softened Orna's heart.
"What does that guy do...?!"
Siddharth turned Oru around to face him. Oru raised her eyes to look at her brother.
"Tell me! What does he do...?!"
"Listen... big brother, he... he might not be as established as you are at this moment, but believe me, he loves me very much...!"
Orna's eyes welled up with tears. Seeing this, Siddharth's jaw tightened, though a desolate smile flickered across his face...!
"What did you say? Say that again...! He loves you?!"
Looking at Siddharth's face, Orna was startled...
All the confidence Oru had gathered inside herself since yesterday, piecing it together bit by bit, seemed to vanish into thin air in a single moment upon seeing Siddharth's face!
Oru knew all too well what a ferocious beast lurked behind such a calm face.....

To be continued........