Shatasringa

Arjun's POV

"They are spoiled, and that's a confirmation." Maata Madri expanded her dark orbs, while she began to ladle the curries on the twins' plate, while they hung down their little heads and tried to grin sheepishly. I bit my lips too and allowed my curls to half cover my forehead, so as to hide my face as I waited for Kunti Maa to serve the flatbreads.

Bhrata Bheem became suddenly interested in the topic as he was out with Pitashree, for assisting him in his chores. We three used our turns to leave with him each day, to learn and explore and today was the turn of the second Pandav. Pitashree claims we are growing up, so should be our knowledge too as day passes.

Interesting man he is, calm and composed yet so jolly and loving. Eyes bow down with respect for him not because he was the former King of that distant majestic land named Hastinapur, but because of his character, so admiring and endearing. 

He speaks in riddles; asks us to jostle with something which seems unruly, and makes us decipher difficult things of the Vedas so smoothly. 

"Aye, what is Maata speaking about?" Bhrata Bheem whispered in my ear, after nudging my elbow as I snickered, closing my eyes, "Deeds, their sophisticated deeds." I eyed them and whispered back, half covering my lips with my palm.

"And what did you do?"

"Don't even ask about it," Jyesth intervened with a half smile, peeking at me and shaking his head, while I peered at him and grinned innocently. Bhrata Bheem and Jyesth instantly started whispering amidst themselves after that and released faint titters, of course, the second Pandav being the louder.

Both of them whisper amidst each other quite often, now it has become a bit more frequent lately. God knows what they talk amidst themselves?

I always ask them what they are gossiping about, but Jyesth only smiles and shakes his head and Bhrata Bheem ruffles my curls, placing kisses on my cheek and reminds me that I am a child. And I blankly keep on glancing at them.

They claim that they will tell me when I am of their 'age'.

Sometimes I too get the privilege of being in their group of certain discussions, but then out of nowhere Nakul and Sahadev pop up from thin air and settle themselves in our laps, making us change the topic instantly. And we three have to claim that we will explain them when they are grown ups.

And they frown. Understandable.

"Maadri? Don't lash out on them so much." Pitashree's jolly voice grasped our attention, as he spoke after sipping water from the clay pot. Maata Madri shook her head and served him flatbreads, "Don't keep them so much up your head Arya."

"They're just kids."

"Not kids, they are menace!" Maata complained, glaring at them and walked out towards the kitchen only to be joined by Maata Kunti, "Oh Maadri, spare the twins for sometime." She giggled while crossing paths with her, who simply shrugged with a deadpan look.

Yeah, just kids we all are, I smiled to myself.

The weather turned a bit chilly after we had our night meals, so all the five of us were huddled up close in our quarters of the cottage. Jyesth, as obvious, was leaning against the wall and immersed in a book and keeping a watch on us at intervals.

Nakul and Sahadev were scribbling in parchments, or rather carving out some random figures and laughing, while I noticed Bhrata Bheem creeping towards them silently, and slightly trying to smudge a bit of paint on their parchment for entertainment. But alas, he was caught.

"Bhrata!" Nakul whined, grabbing the parchment and hiding it in his bosom, "This is not fair!" Bhrata Bheem laughed hard, joined by me as I crawled up to have a peek at what they were drawing.

"Fair? I never do fair stuff, Nakul." Bhrata Bheem ruffled Nakul's hairs, grabbing him by his underarms and placing him in his enormous lap. He simply curled up in a ball, ready to be showered with love while Bhrata Bheem did the same and began to cuddle with him, making him giggle.

"Does Phalgun want some love too?" Bhrata Bheem eyed me mischievously, spotting me gazing at them with total focus.

I shook my head vigorously with an innocently smiling pout, crawling up towards Sahadev. Well, I don't know why but I feel slightly shy when I receive affection in front of everyone. Bhrata Bheem knows the fact very well, so he deliberately gathers me up and starts cradling me in his bosom in front of everyone.

One day he randomly picked me up in front of everyone all of a sudden and started kissing and cuddling with me, calling me nicknames and cooing. Not that I loved it, but Pitashree and my Maatas burst out laughing after spotting my slightly warm face. Even Jyesth began to pull my cheeks and teased.

And I kept on blinking, jerking down to cover my face with my curls to save me from them.

"No, how can I leave my Phalgun?"

No, I knew it was coming. Before I could protest, I felt his enormous arm wrapped around my torso as he pulled me and planted a huge kiss on my cheek. My jaw dropped open as I placed a palm on my cheek as Sahadev burst out laughing instantly, leaving aside his drawing while Jyesth just looked the other side to hide his snicker.

"Gosh, Paarth!" Bhrata Bheem held my jaw with his index finger and thumb and shook it as a gesture of affection, "You're so so adorable!" He laughed, plumping my cheeks further.

Alright.

I instantly grabbed a parchment and ink from the nearby corner and just hung my head down, just hearing the laughter filling the room. 

**********

A/N

Damn Bhrata Bheem 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

Btw do ya guys wanna know the inspiration behind Nakul and Sahadev's characters? It's none other than from -Ankitaa and  Krishnpriyataa_123🌝🌝🤣🤣🤣.

Signing off for today~

Kiritija Nushkie