Dayakendra Orphanage - The board reads as the brother-sister duo make their way inside it, the little sister's one hand clutched between her brother's and other busy clutching at her favourite plushie; a teddy with slightly torn back (from the time that her neighbour had tried to snatch the toy from her), crumbs of cotton fuzz dribbling out of it and yet holding it is of immense value for the little girl; her mother had bought her this on her last birthday, that was one month ago. She had turned six.

However, she hasn't seen her parents since then but her brother had said that they'll be coming back soon from the trip that they are gone to. And although the little girl was sad that their parents didn't take her with them on their trip, she guessed that she'll make an exception this one time and would forgive them just because they left her brother with her, had they taken him too, she would have been so angry.

Currently, though, her brother is busy talking to a kind looking, old man.

"Mihir, Mishti, come, come, my dear children!" the man with a kind smile greets the kids, whom they'll later get to know as their Daya Sir, patting Mihir's back and petting Mishti's head. "You'll get to have many friends here, good food and good clothes too." He says addressing the ten-year-old boy who seems to have a permanent frown on his face. But he understands the boy's and his sister's condition; even though it had already been a month since they lost their parents, the effect was just the same, especially when their relatives had personally come to drop them at the orphanage. And even though little Mishti doesn't understand too much of it, Mihir does, who knows that they have been abandoned even by their relatives and seems adamant about taking care of his sister by one hand and carrying the weight of all their responsibilities by the other.

The man should've expected the boy's reply. "We don't need friends, but good food and good clothes are always welcomed until they make my Chutki happy." He says, gazing at his little sister with his glassy eyes, who gives him a toothy smile in return. But just as if remembering something, the boy's eyes widen as he turns to him.

"We can stay here for many days, right? Chacha hadn't said anything about it but I know that people without p-parents come to a place like this and live here until they turn eighteen. Will Chutki and I get to do the same? And if yes then can we live in the same place, Chutki can't sleep without me. The boy says with a panicked expression, and can't help but gaze at his sister once again, who nods vigorously.

"Yes, I can't sleep without bhai." The girl pouts.

The man gulps as a wave of emotion hits his insides, curling hurtfully in his chest. "Y-Yes." He manages. "Of course, you'll get to stay here, and I'll make arrangements for you two to stay together. We'll send you to school as well. You don't need to have a thing to worry about."

But both Mihir and the man knew that it was a blatant lie. The duo had a long journey to tread on to with their little steps and fend for themselves in this giant world.

Their worries had just started.

*

Mishti stands on the footpath, a transmitter placed in her ear, her brother's voice flowing through it hastily.

"Target approaching, Chutki, get ready."

She adjusts her stark black glasses for the blind (through which she could see everything quite clearly) and opens up her white cane hearing the instruction.

She steps on the road as soon as the white Mercedes gets on the gas.

"Confuse the car, Chutki. Don't waste too much time for falling." The instruction comes next, and she does as she's told.

In mere two seconds, her safety pads clad legs hit the car's bonut, making her fall on the road, the vehicle immediately coming to a stop.

"Do a loud one this time, there aren't many people yet. I am coming."

Following her brother's instruction, Mishti wails loudly, scrunching up her face and discreetly applying the (extensively researched and made) blood-red colour safely coated on her fingertips to her already scratched elbows.

"Ah, my arm!"

Her cry gets the man out of the car, who has the decency to at least walk towards her to inspect the situation. Their last target hadn't even bothered doing that and had simply thrown the money on them from his window.

But that's ok, it had got their job done.

"Ratna! My sister!" Her brother's voice barrels from the corner of the street to her ears, his quick steps coming towards her and then squatting down beside her flopped down self.

"Oh God, how did this happen?" he asks with a pained voice to which she only intensifies her cries exactly like she's supposed to.

Someone give them both an Oscar.

"You - You tried to kill my sister! It is her who is blind but it's you who can't see! I won't let you go. Just see what I'm going to do to you." Her brother threatens the man who stands there clad in a black suit, his shades unable to hide the wrinkles that the corner of his eyes sport, his cherry-coloured shoes poking Mishti's side.

His arrogant demeanour doesn't falter one bit.

"Calling the police, well, let me call them for you!" His voice doesn't match his seemingly old self, still deep and heavy. But the brother-sister duo aren't going to get intimidated so easily, not with their friends beside them.

"Yes, call the police. I will tell them everything that happened here. This man tried to kill her. I will be the witness." A man steps out of the crowd with a briefcase in his hand, clad in a loose shirt and pants, expertly imitating a middle-class office worker.

"I saw it too. I will support you guys as well." A woman yells then, draped in a saree with her hair tied into a bun. "You think you're rich so everything would go according to you?" she spits, glaring at the man.

More crowd starts getting pulled in with those remarks making the duo face down; pretending to inspect the injuries and cautious of not getting clicked on the camera even though they are disguising themselves with a light layer of makeup.

It doesn't take too long for the entire act to have its impact on the man, his eyes nervously flitting through the crowd. In exactly five seconds a bundle of cash gets thrown towards them, accompanied with snobbish, "Whatever, now let me go!"

Their target rushes away in his car, leaving the duo with their reward.

But of course, they can't get out of their characters just yet, they're still amidst the people.

"Get up, love. These rich people won't ever understand us. Let me take you to the hospital." Her brother states brokenly, the crowd decreasing by the passing minute. The people who stay stare intently at the duo, waiting to see if they pick up the bundle or money or not. But those people don't know that this is not just money for them, it's the price of their lives and the prize they get after risking it.

Mihir picks up Mishti's glasses from the road and puts them back on her eyes while she pretends to search for her cane, tapping at the road despite seeing the object lying right in front of her. She picks it after a few seconds, shakily standing on her legs and then stumbling immediately on her brother because of course, she's just been hit by a car.

Her brother then looks at the cash lying on the road with despair and wipes his eyes with the back of his hands that tremble expertly.

"I don't have any option, I've to do this for you." He tells her, loud enough for the people to hear. Bending down, he grasps the money, looking at it with furrowed brows and reluctantly puts it in his jacket as if it's the last thing he wants to take with himself.

"Let's go." He says and they hear two anticipated voices.

"Let me help!" The man says.

"I'll help too. The hospital is just around the corner." The woman does, and both of them get in steps with the sibling duo.

Just when they sense there is no one keeping an eye on them anymore, they rush into the car that is parked at the corner and close the doors as the man behind the wheel rushes it through the traffic.

"Yes, finally!" Ranveer yells, putting his empty briefcase aside, removing his fake moustache from his upper lip and shooting his hands up in the air.

"You're the best, Mishti. What a performance you put there!" He says giving Mishti a side hug that she gladly returns.

He then pulls out a chocolate bar from his pocket, but if Mishti thinks it is for her then she is highly mistaken because Ranveer bites into it immediately, grinning shamelessly at her.

"What? I did a mind-blowing job of posing as a middle-class man. I should get a reward."

Mihir laughs at the man's antics and doesn't pay him too much mind before pulling his sister towards him. He removes the glasses off her face and pecks at her temple. "You did amazing today, Chutki."

Ruhi nods agreeing with a bright smile on her face, unknotting her bun (yes, the same woman from the crowd) and so does her and Ranveer's brother, Raghav, their supposed driver and the eldest of them all.

Not too soon they reach their place, their safehouse, and find themselves sitting in the living room, talking about anything and everything with each other except for their work.

It's only when Mishti and Raghav sense their respective siblings a.k.a. Mihir and Ruhi talking to each other in murmured voices, do they think of getting up.

"Mishti, I actually bought you something from the town we were in last week. Come on, let's go. Ranvi, you come as well!" Raghav says standing up, faking a stretch. Mishti quickly follows suit, jumping to her feet, her chuckle becoming more and more impossible to hide.

"No, let me finish these milk cakes first. It's not every day that Mishti makes them." Ranveer replies with a muffled voice, busy eating the dessert, making Raghav and Mishti both facepalm internally.

It's only then that Mihir and Ruhi notice the commotion, turning to face them all.

"Raghav, let him stay here if he wants to. Why are you taking him inside?" Mihir asks but instead of answering, Mishti just pulls up the man currently stuffing his mouth with food, by his arm, giving her brother an innocent smile. "We need him for something, bhai." She says and hears Ranveer grumbling in his mouth about how he will make her cook a massive batch of ladoos tomorrow.

"Uff, the tension outside was suffocating me." Mishti exclaims as soon as she reaches inside the room, laying on the bed in a horizontal position, her feet still on the ground.

"I know, right?" Raghav exclaims lying beside her in the same position.

"What tension? I couldn't see any stress on anyone's face except for mine and that too because you forcibly brought me here." Ranveer complains finally finishing up the milk cake in his hand.

Mishti laughs at that, turning to face Raghav. "Bhaiya, you're sure he's your real brother?"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ranveer whines and Mishti just laughs again.

"You know..." Mishti remarks then, heaving a sigh, "Sometimes I wish that we were real siblings, like you guys and Ruhi are, and like me and my brother are. We guys could've so much fun!" She says staring at the ceiling and Raghav hums in agreement.

"I'm afraid to say that wouldn't be a good idea." Surprisingly, it's Ranveer who retorts, making her turn her head to his side, looking at him with a slight pout and frown on her face.

"Why?" She asks, and Raghav does too from the other side.

"Well, that's because it would totally ruin your brother's love story!"

Both Raghav and Mishti are left gaping listening to the answer coming from Ranveer, all three of them bursting out in laughter not a second later.