We sat on the sloping hill of the park. The cool breeze did nothing to calm my heart. My chest pained with the revelations that were yet to come. I could feel it. After all, my intuitions hadn't betrayed me. Maybe the revelations weren't much, or maybe they were mind blowing, but life had changed as I knew it. After twenty two years of existence, I now had a brother suddenly.

"Does dad know about you?" I asked Arjun. A thousand questions hadpopped into my mind at that moment, and this had come out randomly.

"Of course, he does. He was with us until I was four, it seems. I don't remember much." He said, in a tone which was as blank as his expression, as he looked straight at the pond in front of us.

"So, he cheated on your mother and simply deserted you two?" I said, even though it was obvious. 

But what really killed me, was that fact that my mom had had an affair with a married man. To be honest, I was a pretty judgmental person, and the implication that your own mother wasn't a very good person rattled me to the core. Yet, me being faithful to my mom, blamed only my father in my mind.

He simply nodded, and this made me feel horrible even more. I just had no words to say to him.

"So... sorry! I am really very sorry. If only I have the power to change the past, I'd do it in a moment if it brings you justice."

He laughed, quite heartily that it surprised me. "Haven't you seen Back to the Future?If you really do change the past, you wouldn't be born. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, I am." I said immediately.

"But, I am not."

"Why?" I looked at him, right in the eye, feeling quite brave.

"Because then I wouldn't have you as my sister."

I turned to look at him, in disbelief, hoping that he was making some kind of sarcastic joke, but he had sounded very sincere. In fact, it was the first time his voice had shown any sort of emotion.

"When did you know about me? Did your mother speak about us?" I asked him, quite changing the subject.

"When I was sixteen or so. I overheard our mothers, accidentally."

What!

My head hurt now, and I didn't even know if I wanted to hear anything. I just wanted to go back to the time when I was at peace and I didn't know anything. It must have shown in my expression, for he simply laughed. "What are you so shocked about? They knew each other all their lives, they were from the same orphanage, you know."

"I really, really don't understand." I confessed, ashamed to the core of brain, which was in a puddle now. Every new sentence that he uttered seemed like the beginning of a new different story and traveled in different directions.

"When he left us, I was four, my mother never told me why he'd left us. She'd only told me that they'd separated. When I was sixteen, I tried to look for him, and seek answers, and that's when I found him walking on the street, with a woman, your mother."

"Oh. And what happened after that?"

"I punched him right on the face." He said.

"Sounds like something you'd do." I said.

The light curl of his smile vanished. "And then he beat me half to death, broke two of my ribs. Sounds like something your father would do?"

There are times when you have no idea what to say. This was one of those times. He looked farther into the distance, lost in his own painful memories, as I tried to picture my calm, introverted father beat a teenager to a bloody mess. All I knew for certain was that my life was a big hole of uncertainty.

"And my mother begged him to stop, and told him that we'd never bother him again. Two days later, your mother came to our house and cried that she was afraid that he'd do something to you too. And my mother made me promise to look after you."

It was as ridiculous as it got, and I even chuckled a little. If it weren't my story I would have laughed more heartily at how stupid it was. Maybe it was my coping mechanism.

"And so, you've been in the shadows, watching me." I said, my tone getting sarcastic, intentionally.

"Yes."

"Very good."

"Oh you don't believe me? Should I highlight to you, the best moments of safeguarding of dear sister Anu? That Anglo-Indian guy particularly was such a hassle to deal with. I had to make sure he was gone before both of you were..you know...Before you got more involved. He seemed like a good guy, and I was beginning to like him myself, and one day I find out he takes videos of girls secretly. And then I destroyed his future."

My heart stopped. There had been such a guy who had shown an interest in me, in college. He had been one of the most handsome guys I'd ever met, and I remembered having been flattered to have had his attention. But he'd simply disappeared on me. 

Who'd have thought this guy to be the reason behind that incident? "Neil was that kind of person?" I asked him. "Surely you are lying right?"

"Evidence doesn't lie." He said.

"What did you do to him?" I asked him.

"You really want to know?"

"No."

He laughed, and somehow, I felt suddenly reassured, in a strange, weird, inexpiable way. Though it was completely unethical and wrong, it was, to be honest, the nicest thing any one had ever done for me. Though it was completely wrong. I felt overwhelmed.

"I don't know if I should be saying thank you or not. But, thank you."

"No problem."

We sat for some time, and he didn't say much, he was probably aware of how overwhelmed I was, and kept to himself. And then I asked him the question that had been bugging me for a long time.

"So why are you in my life now? Weren't you always in the shadows? No offense, but what is the reason behind you forcing yourself into my life, now?"

"That is a story for another day."

"I think I have a right to know." I said.

"I think this is enough for today. Don't want to scare you much." He said, and stood up to go.

I remained steadfast, I wasn't going anywhere until the entire picture was shown to me.

" The person who your father beat up half to death didn't want you to experience the same thing as him." He said, his voice becoming a little solemn, and he stood up, as though he didn't want to talk about it.

"But he's never laid a finger on me. And he's never ever been abusive." I said in disbelief.

"He's a psycho. A total utter psycho. Who knows what he's going to do next? You can never know." He said.

And then I lost it.

"No. You're the psycho. The utter psycho. He beat you once several years ago, so what? It was because you punched him! A lot of people have several wives and multiple children, are they all psychos? Granted, he doesn't talk much. Granted, he's a horrible father. But is he mental? No. You are. You are the one who's been spying on me, andyou are supposed to be my brother and I don't even trust you completely!"

He kept quiet for a few seconds before he spoke to me.

"Listen, I am just going to keep quiet because you are obviously worked up and overwhelmed right now. Let's just talk about this later." He said, saying it like how one would say it to a little child, aggravating me even more.

"You know what bugs me the most? Aside from the stupidly ridiculous story that you told, which obviously has so many plot holes. The fact that you'd simply look over me? What gives? Aren't I supposed to be the one you should be hating the most? Why would you simply accept to take care of me, no questions asked?"

He looked at me properly for the first time that day. "You are curious about the reason?"

"Obviously."

"Remember a few years ago, when you had saved a boy who had been knocked off from his motorcycle in an accident? It was me."

"Huh?" What!

"Not only did you stay with me, though it was the middle of the a hot afternoon and the road was completely deserted, you even begged, in the nearby houses, to help me."

I remembered vaguely, for it had been such a long time. All I could picture was a teenaged boy with blood gushing from his hands and head in big open wounds. A car had hit him. I'd once wondered, what had happened to him.

 He'd turned out to be my brother.

"Ironically." He continued. "At that time, I'd come to give you a warning to be careful and for your father to not mess with my mom once again."

I stared at him, though I didn't mean to. I'd gotten a father while he hadn't. It was obvious I had had the better life. His life had been tough as it could get.

"So, why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He said, his voice regaining the life it previously had, and his face becoming happy in a fraction of a second.

"What is?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He repeated. "It was very clear to me that day, that you were like the none of us. Everyone in the family is messed up, Anu. You are good to a fault. In a family of psychos, you are like the light, and I made up a decision to protect you with my life from that day on."