"Fuck me."

"He will," Vida whispered out loud. Atulya, feeling it, looked up to see his elder brother Hridyanshu standing in the doorway, drenched from head to toe.

"Happy Holi?"

It was Vrishali who broke the tense silence with her laugh. Her laugh didn't stop as she watched her elder son Hridyanshu drenched in water. He was wearing a white kurtha. "Nalani darling, you have decided on your first person to play with. Huh, I have to say I'm loving this every minute."

Nalani couldn't break her gaze at the man who was now throwing daggers at her. She could feel the fear creeping over her but she knew it better than showing it to him. She could see the outline of his strong shoulders and the tan skin as the white kurtha hugged his body like a second skin.

Vidha, taking this as a chance, picked up the bucket from the floor and made a walk towards where Atulya was crunched down on the floor. Without a second thought, she dumped the cold water on Atulya's head. "Fuck!"

Everyone broke from their shock and started laughing. "Happy Holi, but we need to go out. Everyone's waiting for us," Padmanabh said. "You all hurry up and better be out in ten minutes."

"Okay." Vedant hurried to his room. Atulya pulled Vidha's leg while she held onto his hair. Padmanabh and Vrishali shook their heads looking at their younger kids.

Hridyanshu snapped his gaze at the girl before walking away with his grandparents. Nalani breathed out the tension as she watched the 'Rakshash' (devil) walk away without glancing back.

Vidha looped her arm around Nalani's. "Babe, let's go and get ready! My stomach is growling and my head is killing me." Nalani chuckled, walking to their room.

*

Everyone's faces were covered in colours and laughs resounded as they celebrated the festival of colours together. Bang was passed, sweets were shared, colours were thrown and playful glares made the girls blush. Nalani laughed as she ran when Dev and Vedant ran after her.

"Vidha!"

"I cannot, this rascal isn't leaving my side!" Vidha yelled when she saw Ashvath, their family friend running after her.

Vrishali wrapped her arm around Padmanabh as they looked at their kids. "I cannot believe that they aren't little kids who used to run around."

"They are kids to us... Always," Padmanabh said, kissing Vrishali's head. Vrishali's gaze went to where Hridyanshu was standing with his arm wrapped around his long-term girlfriend Mitali. She smiled when her gaze met Yashu's. She gave him a flying kiss which earned a chuckle from him.

"I will be missing the girls." Padmanabh watched their daughter Vidha wrestling with her brothers. "Yeah, hopefully, they will be returning soon." Padmanabh hummed but didn't say anything. Vidha and Nalani shifted to New York to finish their masters.

Vedant did his masters in business from Yale university while Atulya is doing his MBBS in Mumbai. Hridyanshu showed his interest in law from a young age. He practised his law in London before returning to India and opening his law firm.

"Dadu and Dadi would've been happy seeing them," Padmanabh whispered and Vrishali hummed with a smile on her face. The elders had natural deaths and they are happy that the elders lived to see their kids grow up.

Hridyanshu kissed Mitali's forehead as they spoke with their friends. Everyone could see his love for Mitali and everyone was hoping for the day the two would tie the knot.

*

Nalani laughed, shaking her head at Atulya as he shared a dirty joke with her. Vidha frowned her brows, "Don't steal my best friend." Atulya raised his brow. "Well, sister. She is my best friend too, if you forgot." Vidha took her seat on Nalani's left, leaving her in between the siblings. Mitali and Hridyanshu sat opposite them with their friends.

"Nalani," Mitali called. "Heard that you were the one who threw water on Yash. You know I was waiting to put colours on him first."

Nalani gave an awkward smile. "Geez, he was standing in the doorway and it's not my mistake." Hridyanshu raised his brow but Nalani shrugged her shoulders. Mitali chuckled, "I don't get how you aren't affected by him."

"Huh?" Vedant glanced between Mitali and Nalani.

"Don't you feel spooked by his commanding ora?" Nalani glanced at Hridyanshu who was looking down at his food. "Nope, I grew up seeing him every summer. So yeah, I don't feel spooked or alarmed." Nalani smiled at Mitali. "And he just loves to scare people and I'm not someone who easily gets scared by someone's presence."

Mitali nodded her head. "So are you scared by his commanding ora?" Mitali didn't notice the sarcasm but Hridyanshu did. Before Mitali could answer her, "Not everyone is a brat."

Nalani stuck her tongue to the roof of her mouth as she glared at him before throwing a tight smile at him. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that people who don't care about your bullshit are brats." Then she looked at Mitali. "Sorry, you couldn't join the club."

Atulya, Vedant, Vidha and Dev broke out in a laugh. "Mitali, don't mind them. They always end up fighting when they are in the same room." Vedanth said with an assuring smile.

Mitali feels a bit troubled whenever she meets Nalani. Not that she wants to point it out to Hridyanshu, she hardly met the girl in all five years of dating Yash. She's the only one who calls him Yash. She met Nalani two years ago when Yash took her to their private Holi party and introduced her to his parents.

Mitali smiled at the siblings. "Yeah, they fight like siblings." The younger siblings made faces. "Eww, I don't want to see or imagine Nalani as one of us," Atulya said.

"She is too pretty as a girl to be my sister," Vedant added. That earned a playful slap from Nalani and a smack from Vidha.

"Don't fucking flirt with my best friend. She is off-limits, asshole." Vedant glared at Vidha. "You call me asshole once more, I will cut your hair when you are sleeping."

"Nalani, aren't you from here?" Raveena, Yash and Mitali's friend asked.

"No, I was born and brought up in Hyderabad."

"Oh, Telugu?"

Nalani smiled, "Telugu and Malayalam." It caught the attention of Kush, Yash's best friend. "Your mum is Telugu?"

"Yes, dad is from Malabar." Kush nodded his head. "How are your family friends with Singhs?"

"Her mamma, Dyuthi auntie, is an IAS officer and she had her posting here when she met my parents," Vidha filled in. Yash's friends nodded their heads.

"How old were you when you met these siblings?" Mitali asked, tapping her finger on the table. "When I was seven years old, wasn't it?" Nalani faced Vedant and Vidha.

"Yeah, seven when she attended a party and became best friends with us," Vedant said. "Not with your boyfriend though," Nalani threw it, knowing Mitali felt uncomfortable with her.

"They hate each other."

"Why?"

"Yashu bhaiyya whipped her with a stick when she couldn't memorize the multiplication table of six," Atulya said with a chuckle, remembering the memory. Hearing that Hridyanshu lifted his head and his eyes met Nalani's as they both remembered the memory. Nalani and Vidha were eleven years old, while Hridyanshu was seventeen.

Hridyanshu broke eye contact and looked at Mitali. "Good that she stays away, I would've lost my cool every second if she was near."

"Tosser," Nalani muttered under her breath, focusing on her food. The food is delicious and she missed her mum at the moment. She will be leaving Jaipur in two days and will be meeting her parents in Delhi.