“So what exactly did Mother say to you?” Mahindra asked softly, the concern evident in his tone.

“Nothing much, just the usual.” I said indifferently, as I scratched off the nail paint from my left pinky finger.

We were lounging in the common room for all the royal kids.

Sanghamitra and I had postponed our shopping plans to the next day since I wasn’t in the best of moods at the moment.

Mahindra and Sanghamitra had been taking turns to try and squeeze out the truth of why I had been crying, but so far I hadn’t told them anything. Didn’t they get the message that I did not want to tell them? But I had to admit that they had been relentless so far.

“You wouldn’t have irrigated your entire pillow if it was nothing much as you said. Come on Tara, we might be able to help you. It isn’t good to bottle up your emotions like that.” Mahindra said calmly.

Neel sat on the couch trying to act like he didn’t care about why I had been crying. He was pretending to read a book intently but I knew he was listening because he’d been on the same page forever, ok maybe the last ten minutes.

Oh so we were back to pretending that the other didn’t exist. Gosh! He was such a prick. I thought that we had left our rivalry behind, now that we knew each other better.

Well, maybe that wasn’t the case and I had jumped to conclusions. But I knew that he cared because he’d been listening to our conversation so far. He just happens to have an enormous ego. Well, who cares?!

I was annoyed by the amount of questions the two siblings were bombarding at me so I finally decided to tell them. Beside there was nothing to be ashamed of, right?

“Since you want to know so badly and have been acting like your life depends on it, I shall tell you. Your dear mother said that I’m an ethic-less girl with vaguely stripper tendencies and that I’ve been bent on trying to spoil Sanghamitra. There, that’s all.” I said emotionlessly, now scratching the nail polish off my ring finger.

“Hey, don’t take what she says to heart. My mother is overprotective and is known for her quick mouth. I assure I like you just the way you are. I wouldn’t want you to change even in my wildest dreams. Besides, I have no plans of being rebellious. At least not at the moment.” Said Sanghamitra, lifting a weight from my chest and her words made me feel much better.

“Guys, you don’t need to waste your time and energy giving me a pep talk. I have already decided that she isn’t worth wasting the time of day for. I’m over it.” I said raising my hands up, as a sign of indifference.

I got up to leave the room. Now that I’d told them, I didn’t feel like staying here any longer. I was glad they the others made no effort to stop and understood that I needed my space at the moment.

Neel followed me out of the chamber. Catching up with me, he asked, “Are you a hundred percent sure that you are fine?”

“One hundred and ten percent. I feel just peachy.” I replied.

He smiled and said, “I always saw you as a strong girl back in school. I remember how you stood up against your bullies in sixth grade. You never cried even once. I always admired you a lot for that. Any other girl would have cried in the bathroom or complained. So if you cried today, you must have felt very hurt.”

We were walking side by side now. I slowed down my pace, and said, “I know I shouldn’t care much, but as you said the queen’s words pierced me nevertheless. Everyone has always praised me for my manners and punctuality, and treated me like a golden child. I realized today that I am not open to any kind of criticism, which isn’t good either.”

“Besides, what hurt me most was that the queen thought that you were too good to be my friend. Can you believe that?!” I continued.

Neel chuckled and said, “Oh now I get it! You’re jealous, huh?”

“Oh my god! Why did I tell you this? I knew it would be a terrible idea. Now you’ll use it to my disadvantage!” I groaned.

“Aw, don’t worry.” He said, enveloping me into a warm hug.

Normally, I would have pulled back immediately but this time I let him. Consoling me was usually Tvisha’s job; only she had seen me in my most vulnerable moments. But Neel wasn’t doing a very bad job either.

Plus, he got bonus points for the chocolate.

“Thank you for the chocolate.” I said, breaking away from the hug.

“I expect you to have kept some for me.” He said, jokingly.

“I ate it all.” I lied, not wanting to share my chocolate with him. After all, everything is fair in love, war and chocolate!

“Damn, I was hoping to get some of it in exchange of consoling you.” Neel said, feigning mock hurt.

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Fine, there’s some left. But you get only one piece. No more.”

“Three please?” he said expectantly, trying to push his luck.

“Two.” I said.

“Deal” And we shook hands on it

                             
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The rest of the day was quite uneventful. We all watched ‘Blended’ on Neel’s tablet. Mahindra finally understood what I’d meant when I tried to explain what a movie was to him.

He watched with fascination and his eyes stayed glued to the screen even when the credits started rolling. According to him movies were the best invention in the whole wide world. Sanghamitra eyed the screen suspiciously at first, expecting the actors to jump out. But soon she started to enjoy herself too.

She would clench her eyes shut whenever someone kissed on screen and would say a little prayer to cleanse her of those sins. It was hilarious! Looking at the two of them watching the movie was a lot more fun than the movie itself.

I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling a little uneasy. I got out of bed to drink some water, hoping it would help me. On going to the bathroom I realized that it was just my period. I waved it off as though it was nothing, after all it was normal.

Shit! It was my period. I realized where I was, I didn’t have my sanitary pads. What was I supposed to do now?! I groaned; no wonder I had been having such mood swings today.

I went out into the bedroom, to Neel’s side of the chamber. I nudged him in the shoulder. He stirred, but showed no signs of waking up. I poked him again.

“Come on Tara, what do you want right now? At least let me sleep if you don’t want to.” Neel said groggily.

“Neel, I got my period.” I said, still poking him in his side.

“Ok.” He answered, before lulling back to sleep.

“I got my period.” I said- a tinge of annoyance in my voice.

He was supposed to wake up the moment I told him to. I couldn’t waste my entire night like this.

“So what do you expect me to do, dance? Like I wanted to know about the monthly visit of your friend!” he said, slightly embarrassed as he realized what I had been trying to tell him all this time.

I rolled my eyes. How slow was his perception? I expected him to have got the message by now.

“Umm, you need to summon sanitary pads for me. And faster service will certainly be appreciated.” I said impatiently.

He sat up in his bed, cursing the portal magic under his breath.

Nevertheless, in a few moments a packet appeared before me. To be honest, the pads weren’t the ones I liked but something was better than nothing. Besides, Neel was already fast asleep and there was no point in trying to wake him up again. I’ll just have to tell him to summon another pack in the morning.

I took a quick bite from my bar of chocolate, before going back to sleep myself.
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