(amazing character aesthetic by Liyalikesitsweet. You got 'em figured girl!)

||CHAPTER 22||
《¤》

Daadi didn't question my sudden reappearance at the doorstep with Vansh. Atleast not yet.

"Are you sure?" She asked Vansh instead, who had accompanied me upstairs to drop me home, and was now leaving. "Arvika made a beeline for the kitchen, and uska matlab yehi hai ki tum logo ne dinner nahi kiya hai. Ratan ne aaj fried rice aur butter chicken banaya hai..."

I returned to the living room with Arnav's Pringles, looking at them.

"Ab itna bhi mat sharma," I told him. "Warna ham sochenge ki tujhe loose motion hua hai, and isliye tu embarrassment ke karan ek minute aur nahi ruk sakta."

My Daadi glared at me, and so did Vansh.

"Actually, Daadi... aaj mai waise bhi party mei nahi jaane wale tha... Aaj mera and Dad ka chill-time hota hai."

"Fir gaya kyu?" Daadi asked.

The moment he looked at me, I looked away.

Daadi's gaze darted between our exchange. "Arvika ne force kiya?"

"What?" I looked at her, "Nahi- bilkul nahi!"

"Actually Daadi," he smirked, "Haan. Ye itni nasamajh hai ki kya batau! Aur apko pata hai, party me ye kisi bhi ladke ke saath dance-"

I didn't let him complete his sentence, shoving a few Pringles into his open mouth.

"I think ki tera tere Dad ke saath time bitane ka waqt abhi bhi baaki hai. Hurry along lil' boy," I pushed him towards the lift. "Sorry for wasting your time, uncle-aunty ko bhi sorry bol dena."

When he was out of Daadi's sight, he turned around in the elevator, and winked, swallowing the chips. "Good night Vicks."

I cringed at the name.

"Come on, ab Vicks ki Goli mat barsa," he chortled.

"Look who is making puns now!" I stepped back to let him go. "Dafa ho."

I could hear his chuckle as the lift's door closed.

Closing the main door behind me, I found Daadi arranging two plates on the coffee table. "Aaj T.V. dekhte-dekhte dinner?"

"Don't tell me you follow Binoy's rules when he is not at home. You guys are the most boring teenagers on Earth!"

My jaw dropped to the ground. "Me? Boring?!"

"Aur nahi tho kya? Beech party mei hi aa gayi? You were so excited to go to the damn thing!"

Yeah, my Daadi was not very conventional.

"I never stay the night at parties, Daadi. Mamma aapko jo bhi bole, you need to trust me when I say I hate waking up to unfamiliar surroundings."

She shook her head, as sat beside each other on the bigger sofa, and the T.V. playing (yeah, you guessed it right!) her plain old boring serials.

"What about the others? Arnav nahi lauta?"

I was going to die of guilt if I didn't tell her about my rendezvous. But I couldn't tell her either; I couldn't bear if Daadi started judging me too.

"Vansh aur mujhe itni bheed me ghutan si ho rahi thi. Toh ham bahar tthandi hawa ka maza le rahe the... and then he told me about his Dad-son time, so I thought..."

The last part wasn't exactly a lie. He convinced me to come back home by blackmailing me by saying that I was indeed a cruel creature, trying to rob him off his favourite night.

But kill me if I lie when I say I was ashamed of not telling Daadi about what would have happened tonight.

"Ab kya waha ke junk food se hi pet bhar ke ayi ho?" Daadi pulled me out of the guilt that was drowning for a moment. But just for a moment.

"Nahh, can you believe waha pe veg khana tha? And oh my god, manchurian bhi kitna kanjoosi se baat rahe thein!"

She shook her head, "Party me mazein karne jate ho ya fir khana tthoosne?"

"Come on Daadi, free ka khana kaun chhodtha hai?" I shook my head, piecing down my chicken and popping it into my mouth.

"What if something is mixed in the free food?" She raises her eyebrow, and just for a second, my heart skips a beat.

"Well then... Then you can call the cops and play the bad neighbour... even though you live miles away," I trail off. "Ab yeh sab chhodo... aap batao, mere gair-maojoodgi mein aapne apni tanhayee ka saamna kaise kiya?"

"Tere muh se itne spasht hindi suit nahi karte. Apne hi bhasha mein laut aa, puttar."

For once, I was glad that I had returned early from a party, because the one I was having with my grandmother was the best one ever.

¿¤?

I don't know what I was doing at the mall with Ishita. Must have something to do with my half sleepy state at eleven in the morning. Arnav and I had slept till late, with no work-out session, owing to the fact that Dad was in Singapore, and my twin wasn't as obedient as people thought he would be.

And waking up to Ishita playing with my dream catcher hung on the window must have made me think I was still dreaming. Or night mare-ing. Whatever you call it.

"Why are we here, again?" I asked, browsing through the third store of the second floor.

"Because shopping is the stress-buster every girl needs in her life," she replied, checking out the size of a mint green shrug.

I sigh, "Aur tumhari zindagi par aisi kya aafat aa padi ki tumhe stress-buster ki zarurat hai?"

She creased her brow, placing the clothing piece back on the row, "Mai apni baat nahi kar rahi hu behen."

"Tho uss dukaandar ki baat kar rahi hai kya?"

"Vansh ne mujhe message bheja ki you might be stressed. He didn't tell me why, but I understand, it might be because of your Mom's wedding in two weeks, right?"

My mouth opened, as I tilted my head. I don't know whether to murder Vansh Mehra or to sympathize Ishita's poor Dr. Watson skills.

But come to think of it, I was a bit overwhelmed about my mother's wedding.

"Uhm," I nodded, "yeah. You're right. Shopping's a good distraction."

It wasn't like I hated shopping, or my legs ached due to walking around all day, but it was just that I had better ways of spending my Saturday than buying trendy items.

"Cool. So have you decided your lehenga for the wedding?"

And I thought the whole purpose of this was to not think about the wedding.

"My mother's designers are working on it."

"Oh, right. Offcourse," she gave an awkward laugh. "Well, lets just get some casuals then."

She pulled out a few crop tops from another rack, and I squinted my eyebrows. "I'm more of an oversized-clothes kind of person."

She shook her head, "I was taking a look for myself idiot. Ab teri shopping bhi kya mai hi karwau?"

It was my turn to give out the awkward laugh.

Two hours later, we were back home, my chauffeur carrying our dozens of bags behind us, and no, nine of them did not belong to me.

"Don't you guys have homework and studies to do?" I raise my eyebrows, entering through the main door to find the boys sprawled on the couch, gaming consoles in their hands and pizza on the coffee table. "Har Saturday idhar aa jatey ho!"

"Daadi," Vansh called out, "Dekho Arvika ki mehmaan nawazi. Hame dafa hone ko bol rahi hai!"

Daadi hobbled into the living room, but thankfully ignored his comment. "Kitne kapde khareedke aye ho?"

I sat on the armrest of the single couch which Arnav had claimed, his eyes zoomed into the T.V. screen. "Mujhse mat poocho. Ye sab uski kartoot hai," I pointed at Ishita who was busy prying off Karan from the bags because he was looking for a bag of Doritos that he had told us to bring while coming.

"Anyways, do you people want lunch?" She asked, secretly smiling at the way I was sliding inside the sofa seat, and sneakily pushing Arnav out.

"Kya kal ka butter-chicken hai?!" Vansh's eyes widened gleamingly, forgetting the video game he was playing.

"Nahi, karele ki sabzi aur gobhi ka paratha." Daadi could be very sarcastic at times.

"Aap jaisi pyari Daadi kisi bhookhe ko itne kadwe bhojan nahi de sakti."

"Mere Daadi ko maska mat laga," I warned him, throwing a cushion at him. "Sirf mera haq hai woh karne ka."

"Mera bhi," Arnav jutted in monotonously.

And then he fell on the carpet with a thud, loosing both: his balance and the game.

Ritwik's whoop and squeal of happiness drowned everyone's laughter.

With my legs dangling from one arm rest, and head resting on the other, I shot my twin a grin, who was glaring at me.

"Daadi!" He growled. "Iske wajah se mai haar gaya!"

I blew him a kiss, sprawling on the couch, leaving no space as he kept on complaining.

But Daadi was busy giving Ratan kaka orders to set the table, and the rest of the group was busy shooting Ritwik's infamous robotic dance and uploading it on Snapchat.

_____

Namoshtaii!

Anyone loves butter chicken here? Meeeeeee!

A big thankyou to @Liyalikesitsweet for the amazing character aesthetic of Vika and Ishita!

If you wanna send them too, jus pm me for my email!

Anyways, tell me how ur vacations are going, cus mine are... well something remotely vacation.

So read, vote, comment and promote!

~emcee.