Cuts and Bonds

He had never felt this motivated to study. All the cells in his brain were pushing the gears as he consumed every page and while he did, his sister admired him from afar.

It was dream come true. Well and alive in front of her, the ultimate lacklustre in their entire family was studying!? Whatever the reason may be, she was so happy that she could lift her 90 kg / 198-pound brother in a single hand.

She had never been able to satisfy the hunger of her brain for new knowledge and infinite imagination. Like a code which is blocked from performing due to low-quality servers and engines, her mind was not as much helping as her greed for intellect.

It was like a dark pit. After a specific time of being in her zone of using her total intellect, she would fall into that pit and won't be able to come back out.

However, for Yaksh that pit was a mere pebble. He would either kick the pit or even mould it to make a weapon out of it.

That's who he was, the prodigy of their family. But who knew he lacked the motivation to use the sheer gift given to him?

So many tries. She would constantly bother him until this year when her parents told her to give up like them. It was that f-ked up day that her 'Oh so cute' brother had become like a totally strange person.

His eyes held no warmth for her nor did they have any care. He was only focused on the knife in his hand, her and his hand.

It happened only for a futile reason. She had only told him to study than waste time or else he would fail the little shame he had earned by getting awesome grades.

And in split second, he had cut his hand more many times than she could ever imagine. Each strike hurt her heart and when she tried to stop him, he tried hitting her.

Then those words rolled out of his mouth, which she still remembered.

'You don't need to care for me, I can do that myself. Instead, pray for your marks cuz I can rank highest easily but not you. And this,...' he pointed the knife towards his hand. '...You made me do this. I am like this because of you.'

The tears never stopped that day from her eyes. Yet, she urged to find out why he had changed.

She met a psychiatrist. And told him every little detail about the situation and change in her brother. And to her dismay, he was in depression. And also had hit puberty which didn't help any better in the situation.

The only way he could recover was on his own. The doc told her to give Yaksh a little space and not to bother him anymore.

She always wondered why he was the one to be in depression. It should have been her parents and her. He was nothing but a phone addict.

Soon that thought became hatred and they stopped being the adorable siblings they were.

But her fear of the situation remaining constant had now disappeared. He had changed!

"Would you stop glaring at me!?" he finally felt his frustration boiling over his head and he shouted. But surprisingly, her reaction wasn't of anger. She just smiled.

"Fine fine, I won't disturb you. But, just if you need any help, I can help you" she assured him but was sure he didn't need any help. He was smart enough to complete the whole syllabus in a day.

"Hmph" although she had already long forgotten the minuscule hatred for him, he was just a kid. He was at the age where he would forget responsibilities quicker than grudges.

She went to the small, kitchen in that very room and started preparing some Maggie noodles for him.

Though she was concerned about his weight, his behaviour was to be praised.

'Ah, he doesn't want to eat right?' she stopped before putting the mix in the water.

Then it all connected to her.

"Hey, are you trying to lose weight!?" she asked him yanking him towards her. He was startled and flustered but nodded quietly.

"Oh lord, finally!!" she hugged him so tight, he could already feel his fat oozing out.

A light kiss was showered on his right cheek.

"I will help you. So don't do something like starving or dieting. It's first for you to be so stupid!" she poked his forehead and chuckled.

He would be lying if he said this was annoying. How many months had been since she had been this happy? At that, because of him.

"F…fine, if you are being so clingy." he got out of her clutch and started studying again.

'Whatever the reason, I will talk about it later. First comes, helping him!'

As she said that, she started making the noodles.

....

"How is this supposed to help me!!" was his first reaction, though his lips and eyes were spewing the truth. He was almost drooling over the food.

"You don't need to follow some diet that will starve you to death. Also, it's not possible to suddenly lessen your eating. First, we will start with basic exercises." when he made a face of annoyance, she quickly corrected.

"Just,...little. Until your muscles get used to the training, we won't increase the number of exercises. And also, we will little by little decrease your junk food."

She was hesitating,...but still wanted to ask.

"And…maybe, since we are at it,... let's stop your excess phone usage,....please?" Yaksh felt his heart tug. As if some nail was poking his heart.

He had been so absorbed in his own lazed world, that he never saw his behaviour hurting his sister.

To say he admired his sister more would be an insult. He loved her more than anyone, anything. But how he didn't know, the addiction which he was aware of had gotten the better of him.

He thanked. Thanked Aanya to appear in his life so he changed.

'Good things keep happening because of her.' he blushed slightly, his sister misunderstanding it for anger.

"Yep, surely!" he immediately deleted all the games on her phone. But his hands trembled when he tried to delete the app where his novels and manga were stored.

When she saw this, it made her snicker since it was kind of cute.

"That's fine, You can read as much as you want. Just one hour, study for that much time and the rest of the day is yours." She told him and he brightened.

And soon he slurped all the noddles like a glutton.

And after he ate, she let him rest a bit. And then, she gave him a few exercises to do daily. He agreed immediately.

Everything went on for a while and soon he was back to studying. Since he was a bit back on syllabus than the school he had to cover that much,...and to show off, get a lesson ahead.

It took him a total of 6 hours to completely cover the syllabus.

With him, even his sister stayed awake till 1:00 the night. And when they slept, the gap between them had decreased and they were back to being an adorable pair.

The next morning, when their parents arrived, as soon as they unlocked the room, they saw their kids sleeping while almost hugging each other. The mother let her tears fall, but their father did his best to hold back.

Something told him, that many good things were on their way for the family. They could see it again. The ultimate pair of yaksh and Anita.