Ram ki Lakshman

Chapter 6 - Forgotten

Rama was confused, disappointed and mostly sad. Sita was barely talking to him and Lakshmana, he didn't even look at Rama! Every time Lakshmana noticed Rama approaching him, he would go away. Did he do something so wrong that his wife won't talk to him and his brother won't even look at him?   

Yesterday, he had gone to talk to his brother, who was carving wood, which surprised Rama. When Lakshmana saw Rama, he quickly put it behind him, as if worried the Rama would take it. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he ran away from there. Rama sighed, he needed to talk to them. He decided to talk to Janaki.

"Site," he called out, "tell me what I've done wrong?" Sita looked away, then looked back at him. 

"Nothing, Raghunandhan." she told him with a smile, then walked away. Rama watched her sadly. She was definitaly mad at him. He turned around and saw Lakshmana.

"Lakhan!" he ran and held his brother's hand before he could walk away. With tears in his eyes, he asked, "Why are y-you mad at me Lakhan? W-what did I do wrong?" Lakshmana looked at him shocked.

"B-bhaiya, I'm not mad at you!" he said, putting his other hand top of his brother's hand, looking at him lovingly.

"You clearly are." he replied stubbornly, Lakshmana then quickly ran away shaking? Or was it crying? Rama was confused, he couldn't clearly see with all the tears in his eyes. All that was in his mind was that he had done something to disappoint his wife and his brother, and that something was so bad that they wouldn't even talk to him about it! Rama sank down, leaning on a tree, hiding his face on his knees. He tried to think of all the things that he had done the last day, and this day. Nothing came to mind.. except.. surely Lakshmana and Sita can't be bad at him for eating the last laddoo! He had asked them and they had said they didn't want it. Maybe they did and he was too stupid to realise it. Surely that must have been it, and he was going to apologize. He'll even make new laddoo's for them! 

He walked the way Lakshmana went, and saw his brother coming back. "Ah, bhaiya, come wi-"

"No." Rama said, "Listen to me, I need to apologize." he said as Lakshmana tilted his head slightly, looking at his brother confused. 

"Bhaiya- what are you saying..?"

"I'm sorry for eating the last laddoo! I didn't think it meant so much to you and Sita, if I knew, then I wouldn't have eaten it!"

"Laddoo?.."

"You know what, I'll make new laddoo's for you, and I-I won't even eat one!" Lakshmana looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Lakhan?"

L-laddoo? No-no bhaiya-" he started, then continued to laugh, falling on the ground. In the end, Rama had to help him up, and beg him multiple times to stop laughing and speak. "Sorry, sorry.. bhaiya, the laddoo, no uh need to make new laddoos or anything- just, come with me. And close your eyes!" he grabbed his brother's hand and guided him to where Sita was. "Alright, open them!" he opened his eyes, and smiled widely.  

"W-what is this?" Rama asked, looking at the beautiful painting in front of him. It was done on a thick and long piece of wood, and the colours seemed to be made out of various fruits and flowers. It showed Rama, next to Sita, who were both laughing, as Shatrughna and Lakshmana where hugging each other while Mandavi was trying to calm a panicking Bharata, who was wondering if they had gone mad. Urmila and Shrukeerti were pointing at them excitedly to their parents, who seemed pleased and awestruck. Rama teared up, pulling Sita and Lakshmana into a tight embrace. "This is beautiful!" he mumbled, "So you're not mad about the laddoo?" he asked after a while, and Lakshmana, again, start to laugh uncontrollably. 

"What?" Sita asked, 

"Bhabi- b-bhaiya thought that w-we weren't talking to him because he ate a-all the last laddoo yesterday-" Sita looked at her husband to see if this was true, and when she found Rama looking away embarrassed, she also started laughing. "I'll tell you why we weren't talking to you."

***

"Bhabi, how are we going to keep this a secret though?" Lakshmana asked Sita, "We both can't lie to him for two whole days! I can barely do it for an hour." Sita sighed, shaking her head.

"Then there is only one option." Lakshmana tilted his head, "We don't speak to him at all."

"WHAT?" 

"Arreee, shush!" she whispered, "It's the only way, Lakshman!" Lakshmana agreed sadly, "Now go, you've made the brush, I need the canvas now."

***

"We couldn't lie to you, so we decided to not speak to you at all." Lakshmana said, and Rama smiled.

"Well, this is beautiful. One of the best memories that I've had in my life was painted, and now this became another one of the best memories that I've had, but why?"

"WHY?" Sita yelled, then clearing her throat, she repeated, "Why?" Rama nodded innocently while Lakshmana and Sita actually looked mad now.

"Wait- is today our anniversary?!" he asked, pure horror displayed across his face, "No- it's not.. what special day is it..?" Sita and Lakshmana both faceplanted at the exact same time.

"How do you not remember your own birthday, bhaiya!" 

"My own.. oh." 

"You know everyone else's birthday, but now your own? Bhaiya, you need to care about yourself too!" Lakshmana and Sita had sat him down, lecturing him for hours on why he needs to care for himself. Then started to say how much they loved his kind and caring nature, then got mad at him again for not caring for himself, giving thousands of examples and lecturing him again.

Poor little Rama.