Chapter 1- The Return
After three years away, Aditya Sharma stepped off the taxi and looked up at the old house. The paint had faded, but the bougainvillea still curled over the gate the same way it had when he’d left. For a moment he almost smiled — then the ache returned.
The door opened before he could knock.
“Aditya!” His mother Meera stood there, wiping her hands on her apron, eyes bright with tears she tried to hide.
“You cut your hair,” she said instead of I missed you.
“And you still work too much,” he replied, managing half a smile.
Inside, the living room smelled of filter coffee and fresh incense. On the wall hung his father’s photograph garlanded with marigolds. Aditya looked away. The silence between him and Meera stretched, filled only by the clink of teacups.
Then came a voice from the stairs — breezy, teasing, alive.
“Look who decided to visit the living!”
Riya, his younger sister, jumped the last two steps and hugged him tight. She talked fast, joked faster, and somehow made the air lighter.
“You’ve missed so much! I learned to drive, Dadi joined i********:, and Mum still burns toast every morning.”
From the kitchen, Meera sighed. “It’s the toaster, not me.”
Riya winked at Aditya. “She blames technology for everything. Last week she said the washing machine was plotting against her.”
Their laughter softened something inside him. For the first time that day, Aditya felt he was truly home.
Later, when everyone was busy with dinner, he wandered into his father’s old study. Dust motes floated in the amber light. On the desk lay a diary bound in cracked brown leather — his father’s handwriting inside neat and careful.
The last page stopped him cold:
> “If anything happens to me, the truth is in the letter. Protect them.”
A chill passed through him. What letter? Protect who?
Before he could think more, the doorbell rang.
Riya peeked in, half-smiling, half-guilty. “Um… a friend dropped by.”
The “friend” turned out to be Karan, her college senior — tall, confident, and clearly smitten. He stumbled through polite greetings while Riya’s cheeks turned the color of tomato soup.
Dadi appeared from nowhere, eyes twinkling. “Ah, the temple volunteer! Sit, beta. We always welcome devotees.”
Riya groaned softly; Aditya tried not to laugh.
The evening ended with shared food, small jokes, and a thousand unsaid words. But when Aditya finally lay in his room, the note from his father echoed in his mind. Outside, thunder rolled over the city as if warning him — the calm he’d walked into was only the beginning of a storm.
To be continued..
