Finally, Eshaanvi decided to take a leave to spend a day resting at home. Besides, she has to decide on her clothes and stuffs for the IPL. Not many days are left and she was still lagging behind.

On the other hand, Kavya was almost begging her to get her the pass for the pre-IPL ceremony. But, knowing Rahul's impression of Kavya, she couldn't master enough courage to mention that in front of her brother.

Who knows, the way her brother is..he might actually end up at her workplace to threaten Kavya to say away from his sister like those possessive brothers threatening the hero in an old bollywood movie. That'd be so embarrassing.

Also, about her equations with Hardik: Yes, she wanted to scream all profanities in his ears and make him deaf but strangely Hardik didn't bother her much after that day.

Not that, he became a good boy. He'd still talk loudly with his girlfriend over phone when she'd just open her favorite book or try concentrating on her beloved ludo board. But, she let it pass.

Today, on the other hand, was different. Both Rahul and Hardik were coincidentally free and chilling at home. Rahul had ordered the lunch from a popular veg restaurant, much to Hardik's dismay. Eshaanvi was happy though. About the IPL thing, she was nervous but upon discussing about it with her peers, she was pretty excited as well.

After having the lunch, Rahul decided on playing a movie at the home theater.

***

'There..there...Sanam Teri Kasam...' I tapped on Rahul's shoulder. 'Kavya said it's awesome!'

Hardik scoffed while Rahul gave me a frown. 'Didn't you watch A Walk To Remember 1000 times, till now?' he asked.

'Yes, of course.' I smiled. 'One of my favorite movies..'

'And Sanam Teri Kasam is barely different.' he said scrolling through.

'What? No. Kavya said.. '

'Your chance gone, tweety. Rahul, I've been suggested an awesome one by Keiron. Get Rich or Die Tryn' . It must be available here. Go for it.' Hardik said suddenly jumping in excitement and taking a seat beside Rahu at the other side of the sofa.

'What is that about?' Rahul asked not moving his eyes from the screen.

'A crime drama and most of all, it's based on the life of Curtis James Jackson III.' Hardik said trying to convince Rahul, too bad I won't let him.

'Crime and all. That's gross. I'm too repulsive of underground contents. Rahul, if you don't want to watch Sanam Teri Kasam, let's watch Innocent Witness. It's a romantic Korean movie. It must be available here with subtitles.' I said feeling excited upon recalling the name from one of my friends from Chennai, who happens to be a K-Pop and Korean movie fan.

'Watching with subtitles? You're crazy? What kind of a watch would that be?' the evil spoke again.

'Rahul, I'm sure you too won't support the idea of watching a romance and deal with such frail hearted dolls.' Hardik motioned to be speaking out the adjective loudly.

You bloody jerk!

'I don't think I'm that frail hearted doll, Pandya. I feel it's you who don't have a self control over emotional romantic movies and might end up crying like a baby and that's the reason, you aren't ready to watch those.' I said bitterly.

Rahul turned to me with a tired face.

'You two done selecting movies?' he asked me and then turned to Hardik.

'Of course, Get Rich or Try Dyin'.' Hardik shrugged.

'No freaking way. You put this movie and I'm out.' I clarified to Rahul angrily.

'And you better not tune in a chick flick, buddy. May be she isn't, but we are grown up men.' Hardik said in a mocking tone, making my teeth gritting against each other.

'Okay, fine. If you two, can't decide. Let me pick.' Rahul said looking at us annoyed.

'No freaking way..!' Hardik said, his eyes widened.

This guy has a problem with everything.

'I don't have a problem, Anna. Choose your movie.' I said leaning onto Rahul's shoulder.

Rahul smiled kissing my forehead. 'That makes 2 out of 3, Harry. I got the majority.' Rahul shrugged.

Hardik muttered something like whatever and looked away.

Rahul scrolled for few seconds and then, he chose one.

'Mubarakan?' I lifted my head off Rahul's shoulder as I saw the name if the movie he picked.

'Yeah..uh..I heard it's a good comedy. I'm sure you'll love it.' Rahul said slightly unsure himself.

But, as far as I know, this wasn't even a hit.. May be it's just one of those movies which often bombs at the box office but are really good when you watch it.

'Um...okay.' I said trying an optimistic smile.

Suddenly, my eyes fell on Hardik, who has now leaned his head back on the sofa and was almost pretending a sleep.

Is the movie that bad? Nope. Let's think positive. This idiot has no taste.

After 18 minutes...

I mentally slapped myself as I thought of yawning loud. Rahul's eyes were so glued to the screen that I almost felt pity on myself. I stretched my hands trying to relax and looked aside.

Not to my disbelief, Hardik being the crazy soul he is, was counting something with the crease of his fingers.

Suddenly, he looked up my way and our eyes locked. He looked frustrated and I knew there was nothing different in the way I looked.

I was about to to look away when he raised his eyebrows at me and motioned to the screen with a mischievous smile before picking his hand up showing me a 👌.

My eyes widened in disbelief as I realized he knew what I knew and I knew what he knew.

I gave me a look of annoyance and mouthed all your fault .

Of course, if this dumbass would have agreed to watch Sanam Teri Kasam, things would have been so different now.

Hardik frowned and gestured a come on..

'Woah!' Rahul's sudden reaction made us startled.

Rahul's face beamed and it seemed he was enjoying it so much. The actress playing Binkle looked good as she spoke but the scenes meant to be funny were so painful to watch.

I looked at Hardik again, who was looking at Rahul with a helpless look.

When his eyes fell on me, he showed something with his fingers that I couldn't understand. I frowned and he changed the sign and mouthed more than and showed ✌.

I gasped realized what he intended to show.

More than 2 hours remaining!

'Esh, you're okay?' Rahul asked hearing me and Hardik sneakily turned around, as if he was loving the movie.

'Huh?' I faced Rahul nervously while Hardik looked away sneakily.

'You're fine? Don't worry! They aren't caught yet! The doofus got fooled again.' Rahul chuckled definitely connecting it with the movie.

I faked a chuckled a nodded. My brother strangely seemed to be so enchanted by this movie and I felt pathetic to break the truth to him.

'...yeah, Karan all the way...' Hardik chanted for Arjun Kapoor's character in the movie, as if he was so amused by 20 minutes of unwanted torture.

Rahul gave a suspicious look to his friend's overreaction while it was my time to snicker now. Hardik immediately calmed down and looked at the screen faking his attention.

Rahul too, looked at the screen.

I sighed in boredom after continuing for few more minutes and then an idea sparked inside me.

'Well, let me get us some Coke. Guess that'll be fun.' I said pretending to be cheerful.

'No need, Esh. There's gonna be another twist in two minutes. You don't want to miss that!' Rahul said not moving his gaze off the screen.

'Absolutely. Eshaanvi definitely doesn't wanna miss that. Let me get the coke.' it was Hardik trying to escape now, and almost succeeded in getting up.

This jerk! No way, he can escape while I bear the torture.

Rahul looked at Hardik and then me, and then back to Hardik.

'What's wrong with you two? Aren't you guys enjoying the movie?' Rahul asked.

Well....

Hardik didn't respond and I thought of doing the same.

'I know Harry watched the movie with me once before but Esh..you should definitely watch it with full attention. This is very different from the bollywood comedies made recently.' Rahul explained gleefully.

What? They watched it already and still, Rahul made a plan to...Ugh!

I looked at Hardik with an angry glare. Couldn't the idiot stop him? He gave me a helpless look.

I nodded with a smile. 'I guess so..' I said. 'I was just craving for some coke, that's it. I usually need popcorns or cokes while watching a movie' I lied.

Rahul looked at me few seconds and then..

'Fine. Get the cokes. I'll pause the movie for you .' he said lifting the remote.

WHAT!!!

'No..' I almost screamed, pulling Rahul's hand down, much to his disbelief.

'Uh...I mean, I'll just take a minute, Anna..' I said with a puppy dog face, while standing up. 'Besudes, you already have a great company.' I motioned to Hardik with a mischievous smile, to which he fake-smiled.

'Um..okay...' Rahul finally agreed.

And, I'M FREEEEEEEE...

^^^^^10 minutes later^^^^^

Even though he was consumed by the movie, Rahul was anxious about his sister stuck with three cans of coke for so long.

Is there something wrong? Does Eshaanvi not want to watch this movie? It didn't seem so..Besides, this is a good movie.

He looked at Hardik leaning his head on the sofa, as if falling asleep.

He has heard enough of Hardik's taunts about his obsession with Athiya's movies and now, he doesn't give a damn to his tactics.

'I'm telling you again bro. Don't trust your sister with the cans. Who knows when she spills something out of the other.' Hardik repeated his words from few seconds ago. 'Let me go and have a look.

Rahul shook his head. 'No way! Who knows what war would begin if I leave you two together alone. Besides, it's pretty clear that my sister can't stand you.' Rahul cleared it up.

'..as if I'm dying for her love.' Hardik scoffed sarcastically. 'I'm just worried that your sister's gonna mess up.'

'Come on Harry! You know sorted she is  by the way she prepared the dinner for Krunal and Pankhuri the other day.' Rahul took his sister's side.

'...Woah! Cooking is different and that's in the gene of every woman. But, no one deny that your sister indeed is a messy person with zero level of tolerance.' Hardik said getting a little impatient.

Rahul felt frustrated being able to concentrate on his girlfriend's dialogue in the movie. Finally, he made a decision. 'Fine...go check on her. But, make sure your voices don't reach the neighbors.' he warned, knowing the equation between his sister and his bestfriend.

Hardik's face lit up in relief. 'Not a promise but I'll definitely try.' he said jumping up from the sofa to wal out of the room, making Rahul shake his head.

^^^^^^^^^^

'One, two, three four..' I starred the red token representing Kavya's request.

Nah...there's no way, red is gonna make it. Blue, representing Rahul's decision already has two players reach the goal.

I played the dice again for Rahul. Six, it is. Guess...I have to keep mum about Kavya's request.

I've been wanting the red tokens to hit hard but the luck fucks it up every time.

As per the rules, I played it again...six again. Ugh! I played next. 5 it is..Wow, great...just great. I counted the squares and got the last token out of the house.

I played fair as usual. 'No way out' I muttered.

'Where there's a will, there's a way, twitty bird.' A sudden voice almost scared me but then, I recognized whom this annoying voice belonged to.

Before I could straighten myself and look, I felt the dice being taken off my hand and there he was...shaking the dice with an amused look on his face.

'What are you doing here?' I asked Hardik who sat on my bed across me, without any permission or hesitation.

'Adding some fun to this monotonous Ludo game.' Hardik rolled the dice.

'Which one's next?' he asked.

'Red. But, I've got things sorted in here. I'd appreciate if you don't interfere.' I said curtly.

'Six, it is..' Hardik cheered. 'Oh man! Got to get a player out of the box.' he said playing for the red.

I rolled my eyes. 'You know, I was making a decision with this game!'

Hardik had deaf ears to my words and rolled the dice again. Scumbag!

'Hardik, what are you...'

'4..not bad...hehe..wait...one, two, three, four and you go to the box...Eshaanvi..' Hardik almost jumped in joy.

I was dumbstruck, looking at the board.

'No way!'

'Yes way...twitty...now, I got to hit the bonus..' he said adjusting his position as if he were to fixated for a long time.

Ugh!

'Six...Six...Six...' he rolled the dice..'Six it is..!' Hardik exclaimed.

'What on earth!' I couldn't help let my thoughts out.

I mean, seriously! I was playing this game for a long time and...

'Everything's possible in this part of the earth, little lady.' Hardik said. He rolled the dice again and it was a three now..

'Your turn..' he said passing the game.

I got to win, no matter what. Can't imagine myself losing to this jerk.

^^^After 4 minutes ^^^

'One, two, three...anything Hardik said rolling it while I just prayed for him to get a six and ruin the momentum.

Actually, I'm waiting for last eight shots to get my last token reach the goal but I wasn't getting it. Worst of all, Hardik, got his last two tokens pretty close to his goal. One needed a three and the other a five..

'...three it is...woohoo..take that Twitty..' Hardik taunted getting one of his token off the board.

My teeth gritted. He needed many shots but for me, it was just one.

I shook it well and rolled the dice.

Please, please, please..

Six...it is..

'Oh my! What a player...bravo!' Hardik scoffed pretending to clap.

'Shut up! I really doubt that you set the dice in such a way inside that you put it down and get what you desire.' I expressed.

Hardik frowned. 'Oh! So, the courtyard is crooked now..woah!' he scoffed. 'Listen, let me put it in...in front of you..' he put it in, '....and shake it thousand times..' he said shaking not more than six times and threw it. '..and get what ai wa..' Hardik stopped talking as the die stopped.

I gasped.

'That's not fair!' I almost screamed in surprise. Hardik looked equally surprised and paused his verbal demonstration midway as his eyes fell on the perfect 'five' on the board.

How can someone be so lucky? I was winning this game so well!

Hardik looked at me, then at the dice, then at me and smirked. 'Well...guess, nobody has a question now.'he shrugged.

My teeth gritted. I hate loosing in Ludo.

'Now, tell me...what decision won..?' Hardik asked...'since you can't take them yourself..' he added chuckling.

I was in every mood to smash the wooden board on his head but restrained myself as I remembered.

Red won. Kavya's request! I have to work on it.

Oh my god! This Hardik! What has he done?

'Are you there?' I felt my arm shaken as I got back to earth.

'Don't touch me...' I shoved Hardik's hand away.

'Woah!' Hardik raised his hands in surrender. 'Okay, I won't. But, since I helped you take a decision, I 5think you should tell me...'

'Why don't you just fuck off, Hardik?' I spelled out my frustration on the upcoming encounters surrounding Kavya. 'You really had to ruin my mood, didn't you?'

'Eshaanvi...I..'

'You could have actually left me alone and enjoy the movie with Rahul. But, no...you had to ruin my peace didn't you?' I said throwing the pillow beside me on him hard.

Hardik dodged it. 'Oh ..please, you don't tell me what to do. Besides, I've had enough of this annoying movie. Let your brother watch his girlfriend alone.'

'So that you could ...wait a second...girlfriend!?' I suddenly realized what Hardik said.

Hardik's expressions changed. 'Shit..!' he muttered few more words under his breath and it clearly seemed he let out the unintended.

'Rahul's got a girlfriend. I thought Elixir and him were...' I tried to recall if I remember anything from his recent conversations. But, no...

I saw Hardik sneak away. Not this time!

'Hey! Wait!' I called from behind.

Hardik looked back and gave me a distressed look. 'What now?'

'Ileana, Athiya or Neha?' I asked throwing a death glare at Hardik who sighed knowing he had landed his friend in a big trouble yet again.

////////////////////////