Watermelons

Nine year old Shivaay Singh Oberoi's hawk like eyes watched out as his brothers of seven and four years ran around the lawn, playing with that stupid loud-mouthed girl.

She giggled as Ru tried to catch her but failed. Once again, Rudra stretched out his hand and tried catching her, his feet taking him as fast as they could. He almost did catch her but she twisted her body a bit and let Rudra fall flat on his face. Anika cracked in laughter as Rudra lay still.

Immediately, Shivaay ran towards his baby brother, tension seeping through him. When Rudra managed to balance himself on his arms, Shivaay saw a sheen of tears in his eyes and that was it. The girl was still laughing and Shivaay failed to notice his little brother sniffing but smiling nonetheless as he stared at her angrily. Om who had hidden himself safely, reached Rudra and checked to see if there were any scratches, lest he should get infected. Typical Oberoi Brothers.

Shivaay in a second pushed Anika by the shoulder, who fell on her back and winced in pain. Om and Rudra looked on, shocked as they saw their loving brother getting enraged.

Anika had stopped herself from even smiling, the moment she had seen the cat-eyed boy look angry. He was so different from his warm, welcoming and most important of all, happy brothers. For some reason, he seemed to hate her and Anika Trivedi didn't like that.

"How careless of you, Anika! What if Rudra had fallen harder, broken his bones or his nose or even worse!" Shivaay was beginning to vent out his pent-up frustration. All from the last few days.

"Shivaay, it wasn't her fault. Rudra failed to get his hands on her and tumbled. He is clumsy and you know that."

"Yech, Bhaiya, Ani isn't the one who made me fall. This shlippery grass is." Rudra grinned. He was completely awestruck by the 'only girl he had ever met'. She was so 'happy-happy, just like O and Shivaay Bhaiya.' As Rudra claimed.

Shivaay claimed he knew better. Anika was trying to 'steal' his brothers. And Anika, she would not even give a penny for his thoughts, given the amount of stupidity that shone right through them.

"Ae, don't you dare raise your voice on me. We were playing a game and he tripped. Not like I purposely made him fall. He is my friend as well!"

"You should have just gotten caught. See how hurt he is! Is this how you look after a friend?" Shivaay tried justifying his accusation which sounded baseless, even to him now. Not that he'd accept...

"But Shivaay, Ru didn't even cry for God's sake!" Om reasoned.

Somehow, Shivaay acted extremely stupid around Anika. God knows where his brains were when he interacted with her! Om thought.

"Om, he didn't cry because he wanted to save Anika from everyone's scolding. She is at fault and this idiot is trying to protect her."

"Shivaay, how unreasonable do you sound right now." Anika showed him her tongue. She had long ago stood up and dusted off the grass and mud from her jeans.

"O!" Rudra whisper-shouted. "I know why Bhaiya is always angry on Ani!" This caught all the older kids' attention.

"Why?" Anika curiously asked with wide eyes.

"Because he's burning!" Rudra clapped his hands excitedly at his new-found discovery.

"He's what?" Om looked at his brother incredulously. Now that he thought about it, may be the fall did damage his brother's brain after all.

"Rudy, I don't see any fire." Anika scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Didi, not that one. In the morning, Dadi was telling Choti Ma that she was burning because Mom cooked really good food." Rudra explained.

"Badi Ma set Mom on fire?" Shivaay looked horrified. Oh his poor Mata. Uh, his poor Mom. He had to immediately rush to her and tend to her. Was she okay? Why wasn't he told about it?

Om, the brightest bulb of all, hit Rudra lightly on his head. "Stupid, she must have said, 'Pinky, tu jal mat.' And this idiot interpreted it as burning."

"Oh." Rudra's face fell as his theory made no sense anymore. Wasn't jalna and burning the same anymore? Why did things have to have so many meanings? Stupid humans.

"As in, Shivaay is jealous of me!" Anika's face radiated glowing happiness.

This angered Shivaay. And he blasted. Blasted like he never did. "Shut Up! All of you shut up! Get lost Anika, you even messed up with Ru's brain. He can't even think straight anymore! Are you happy now?"

Anika's face fell again as Shivaay shouted at her for the umpteenth time in the last week. Anika and her family had moved in only last week and she had immediately come to the mansion next door, in search of friends. The first person she had encountered was, of course, Shivaay Singh Oberoi himself. He had been calculating some extremely difficult division sum when she had bumped into him, accidentally.

He had looked at her as if she was an alien, narrowed his eyes at her from head to toe, as if examining her. Anika had frowned and snapped her fingers in front of his face, bringing his attention back to herself. She now wished she never had. Maybe, he would have kept staring at her forever and forgot what had transpired. When she broke his reverie, he had disregarded her and shouted at her for ruining what he had counted as the number of watermelons John had to crush to make watermelon juice if he was to serve it to ten people. How important!

Anika had thought, he was upset and would eventually forgive her. But somehow, he was obsessed with the number of watermelons John had to crush and shouted at her. All the time. Every single time. So, two days later, Anika decided that his brothers, though younger than her, were perfect friends, as compared to a wild cat obsessed with watermelons.

Now that he kept on shouting at her, Anika's dam finally broke. Tears welled up in her eyes and she ran back home. She always smiled at him, he always returned it with another argument or scolding. As if he was her family member. As if his opinion mattered. Yet, somewhere deep down, his behaviour made Anika want to cry. She controlled as much as she could but her eight year old self wasn't so patient.

Shivaay should have been satisfied but he wasn't. Probably because OmRu were going to kill him. Definitely not because he had made her cry.

The next day, the 23rd day of their summer vacation and 9th day since Anika and her family had arrived next door, he found her sitting at the edge of the indoor pool, her feet dipped in water as she talked to Om and Rudra. Shivaay was furious.

Here he was, deliberating whether he should apologise and she had come back within twenty-four hours, talking to his brothers as if nothing had happened. He hated that she didn't care at all. Not one bit. He walked a little further, trying to listen to what they spoke.

"You know Om, Ru, I don't care what your brother thinks. But I am going to apologize because I want to be friends with you. He was extremely rude yesterday but I'll forgive him. But he'll have to forgive me as well. Nahi toh..."

"Nahi toh kya Anika?" They heard Shivaay.

Immediately letting go of all her frustration, she walked towards him, balancing a tray with a jug filled with red juice and two glasses. She smiled toothily at him and forwarded it towards him.

"What is this?" Shivaay asked.

"John will need two watermelons of the small size to make ten glasses of juice. But it is in fact, a stupid question considering that all watermelons are of different sizes. But since you were adamant...." Anika stopped. You have to apologize, Anika. Not annoy or argue.

"So as I was saying, I took 4 watermelons from that vendor who comes every evening. They were all small ones. I peeled them with Radha Kaki's help and then crushed them to juice myself. Exactly two melons and ten glasses of juice was ready, 500 ml each." Anika grinned at Shivaay, proud of herself. Nine years of her life and never had she worked on Maths as efficiently as this time.

To her amusement, Shivaay burst out laughing. Shivaay Singh Oberoi, the guy who apparently hated her, burst out laughing because of her. She didn't care whether he was laughing on her or with her. He was laughing because of her and that satisfied her. Maybe now he won't be such a Bagadh Billa.

Om and Rudra stared at their big brother and Anika in shock.

Rudra poked Om in the shoulder and whispered, "O, I had lots of watermelon juice. Had to drink almost everything Ani made. Can you please take me to the washroom?" And so Om had groaned and dragged his brother, leaving behind these two.

When they returned, they were confused to say the least. Was Shivaay really obsessed with watermelons and Maths so much that this little effort from Anika got them so close? Shivaay was also sitting with Anika, legs dipped in water as Anika kept on talking and he kept on listening intently.

It was as if Anika was talking about yet another John and probably his number of socks. They'd never know because the moment they came, Shivaay and Anika started arguing and he pushed Anika into the pool, for God knows what reason.

When Anika came up for air, she looked at Shivaay in shock.

"Bagad Billa!" she shouted, her lips turning into a frown and her eyes clearly showing how irritated she was.

"What?" Shivaay asked and Anika explained, forgetting about her 'situation'.

"A wild cat. When a cat came to the vendor's thela she had called it a Bagad Billa. I asked her what it means. Wild, unruly, untamed cat. Fits you very well. Word to word definition."

And Anika waded through the pool, brought herself out and ran away. She didn't come the next day. Or the day after.

After a week, Shivaay had come to know that now Om and Rudra went to play with her. He had been furious. Why not? His brothers now spent half their time with her. Of course, they still grew to be the 'OBros' but somehow, Shivaay always felt a little empty. Left out, even.

-

Nobody knew what really happened. But in Shivaay and Anika's grade 4, a miracle did happen.

One fine day, they both returned home, happily chatting, hand in hand, much to everyone's shock. They had only seen them fighting. All of them. Every member of the Oberoi and Trivedi household. They could only wonder what had transpired in school because Shivaay and Anika kept it a secret.

A few months later, they claimed that they didn't remember. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Maybe nothing special happened. Or maybe, something happened, that made them realise, how special this friendship of theirs was.

Much love to all my fantastic readers!
Sorry for this 'filler' but I had it in my mind for so long, it would be injustic if I didn't include it. Moreover, this was the scene that the story actually developed from. You just got a dose of the (possibly) adorable AniShivOmRu.

So what do you think about, Shivaay, John, watermelons and Anika? Is Shivaay really obsessed with watermelons ;)

If you think this is stupid, congratulations because yes it is.

Let me know how this was to all who waited to read beyond the crash ;)

BlackManiacx