Lovingly Yours.. 2. The Rathore House

The first thing you heard when you entered the Rathore house at night was music. Not polite music. Not the kind that plays gently in the background of someone’s living room.

This was rage. This was heart. This was Sameeksha Rathore , hunched over a canvas with paint-streaked arms, head bobbing to an underground indie track blasting in her AirPods.

Her fingers were smeared with charcoal black and ochre red — fiery like her mood. She’d ruined three canvases tonight.

Sameeksha Rathore

Ugh, Why won’t this feel right:?! *she snapped, flinging her brush across the room. It hit the wall with a splatter of vermillion.*

From the hallway, Raina,her sister, peeked in with a tub of ice cream.

Raina Rathore (Fl’s Sister)

You know you could just… breathe?

Sameeksha Rathore

Can you not be so calm when I’m clearly going through a creative breakdown?

Raina walked in anyway, plopped on the beanbag, and opened the ice cream without asking.

Raina Rathore (Fl’s Sister)

You always have a breakdown before your best work. It’s like… your superpower.

Sameeksha glared at her, charcoal on her cheek, mascara smudged.

Sameeksha Rathore

Wow. Thanks, therapist Barbie.

They both broke into tired laughter.

DOWNSTAIRS — Kitchen Saira, their mother, was cooking tea at almost 11 PM — her daughter’s creative chaos wasn’t new. Reyansh entered quietly, in his soft kurta, rubbing his temples.

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

She’s still in her studio?

Saira Rathore (Fl’s Mom)

Of course. It’s a full moon night. Her emotions are on steroids. *Said while handing him a cup.*

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

That’s our girl. *He smiled.*

Saira Rathore (Fl’s Mom)

*She leaned on the counter.* She feels everything so deeply. It’s beautiful yet so terrifying.

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

She’ll learn to hold her fire, Sai. Or she’ll meet someone who calms it. *While sipping slowly*

They both fell silent. As if sensing something was coming.

UPSTAIRS — 11:30 PM Sameeksha was finally quiet. She had stopped painting. Instead, she sat on the floor, back against the wall, sketchpad on her knees.

A loose pencil in hand. Her strokes soft, almost uncertain now.

She was drawing a face. Not fully formed. Sharp jaw. Thick lashes. Eyes that looked like they saw right through you.

A man she had never met. But kept sketching again. And again. And again.

Sameeksha Rathore

What the hell are you trying to tell me? *she whispered to no one, flipping the page as Raina slept beside her.*

In the room next door, Ansh was playing video games with his headphones on, unaware that the universe had just taken a small, silent breath — waiting for the spark to finally strike.

Ansh, her 17-year-old brother, lay sprawled on his bed, headphones on, shouting at a friend in the middle of an intense multiplayer match.

Ansh Rathore (Fl’s Brother)

Bro , left se aarahe hai sniper , cover de na.! * He paused only to gulp his cola and throw a crumpled paper at the door when Raina knocked to tell him to shut up..*

Typical Ansh. The loudest during midnight but the first to cry when Sameeksha got even a scratch.

He worshipped his eldest sister in secret — never said it, never showed it, but he noticed everything.

Every shift in her moods, every change in her playlist, every night she didn’t eat dinner.

And tonight was one of those nights.

1AM – TERRACE Sameeksha stood alone under the moonlight, cigarette tucked behind her ear but didn’t plan to smoke yet.

She didn’t smoke — just liked holding it. It gave her something to do with her fingers when her mind was screaming.

She stared up at the sky.

Sameeksha Rathore

I want more. *She whispered* Not fame. Not even success. Just… something real. Something mine.

Something she didn’t have to fight for, or explain, or apologize for.

Something that didn’t flinch when she got angry.

Something or someone who understood her silences.

Behind her, the door creaked open. Reyansh, her father, walked out with a cup of cold coffee.

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

You always come here when you’re about to change something big.

Sameeksha Rathore

You keep track.? *She looked at him , surprised.*

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

*He handed her the coffee.* I’m your dad. I may not always speak the language of brushes and storms, but I speak you, my second baby.

She softened — the only person who made her do that without even trying.

Sameeksha Rathore

You think I’m too much sometimes?

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

*He chuckled.* I think the world isn’t enough for you yet.

She blinked away something sharp in her throat.

Reyansh Rathore (Fl’s Dad)

There’s someone out there, *He said, staring at the sky.* Someone who won’t tame your fire. Just hold space beside it.

Sameeksha stayed quiet.

But she felt it.

A pulse. A flicker. A whisper that something, someone… was coming.

Back in her room, as the night folded itself into sleep, she finally looked at the sketch again. The unfinished face.

Sameeksha Rathore

*She traced the eyes with her finger.* Who are you.?

The next morning, the universe would take one step closer to answering that.

Raina had, of course, returned to scrolling through Reels like nothing happened.

Ansh had shut his door but not before giving her that ‘don’t let them get to you’ glance.

Sameeksha exhaled slowly. It was over. At least for tonight.

Just as she was about to toss her phone onto the bed and peel off her kurti, it vibrated in her hand.

Anaya called , Her Bestfriend.

Sameeksha’s lips curved into the smallest smile. Trust Anaya to know exactly when to check in — like her soul had a sixth sense for Sameeksha’s storms.

She slid her finger across the screen and answered.

Sameeksha Rathore

I was about to throw myself into a hole in the ground. *Sameeksha said by way of greeting.*