Rudra left the house after chatting with my Mom for like an hour or so. I don't even want to know what they were talking....I mean one hour, isn't  that too much.

"He is such a nice boy. At first I thought that he was buttering me but now I feel like this is his original personality. No wonder, you like him", Mom commented when we both started cleaning all the mess.

"You won't give up, would you? How many times should I tell you that he is just a friend, for you to believe it?", I asked her rolling my eyes and went inside the kitchen to place the dirty utensils in the sink.

"NEVER. You can tell me 1000 times yet I am not going to believe you. My detective eyes are telling me that you two are in a relationship", Mom hollered from outside.

I came back from the kitchen and told her in a deadpanned voice, "Your detective eyes are defective".

She narrowed her eyes at me while placing her hands on her waist. Her stern look was enough to tell me that even though she was wrong, I had no right to give her an attitude.

I raised my hands in surrender and just like that the topic was forgotten.

"Come on, don't work like a snail. We need to pack my bags too after finishing this work", she said pushing me aside while carrying loads of utensils inside.

"I am gonna miss you", I said hugging her from behind.

"Yeah, you would miss having fights with me", she said snorting.

"Mooom", I groaned.

"Yeah we fight because our thoughts don't match but that doesn't mean I will stop loving you", I said turning her around and hugging her properly this time.

She gave me an equally tight hug and whispered, "I love you too".

                          ~~~•~~~

Next day:

Bags were already packed and Mom had prepared dozens of snacks for me to eat in her absense.

"Mom, leave the kitchen work and come with me. You are leaving in few hours and all you are doing is work, spend time with your daughter before you leave", I told her trying to drag her away from the kitchen.

She stopped me and said, "If you want to talk and then start helping me. We can talk while preparing food. Now don't give me that look.

Either Raghav or Rishi would come to pick me. We should atleast offer them food after the tiresome journey they faced just to pick me", she explained the reason behind the work she is doing since morning.

"So you are preparing a feast for 20 people again?", I asked her cheekily.

"Youuuu", Mom started hitting me with the kitchen cloth in response.

I ran out of the kitchen laughing to save myself from MamaBear.

My phone rang and I saw Tanya was calling me.

I went to my room to take the call knowing that Mom would want to talk to her if she comes to know Tanya has called and as usual she will get hurt when Tanya refuses to talk.

"Hey, what's up?", I asked in greeting.

"Nothing much. Just called to tell you that Nikhil would be coming there as Raghav and Rishi both got busy in an urgent meeting", She informed.

"Is everything ok? Last time too Raghav got stuck in a sudden meeting and this time too", I asked worried.

"Nothing major. I don't know exactly but some minor problems are occuring but there's nothing to worry. These siblings are smart, they will handle the situation. I just called you to inform so that you don't get surprised", Tanya said knowing that I didn't like sudden shocks or surprises.

We ended the call after a few minutes chat and I informed Mom about the change.

Soon the doorbell rang and instead of the usual hii's and hello's, the first sentence I heard upon opening the door was....

"Come on, let's go and make stone castles".