Silent Whispers

Chapter 9: Prove Me Wrong

"Give it back!"

"Nope."

"I'm serious! Give it back."

"And what are you going to do if I don't?"

"I swear Akash – if you don't give me my book, I will personally rip up your ticket to Jaipur."

"Oh my gosh – little Anjali has found a smart mouth?!"

"Shut-up! I'm not little."

"Of course you are! You are the youngest, remember?"

"Am not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Naniii! Look Akash is annoying me!"

Devyani let out a sigh and put down the saree she was stitching on. Being the eldest of the Raizada clan, she knew she ought to be able to handle any situation that befell on her family. And yet, the one thing she never learned to handle was the bickering of her two youngest grandchildren; that skill was alone honed by their brother.

"What is it now?" she asked exasperated, when an irritated Anjali sat down beside her.

"Akash stole my sketchbook and won't give it back to me!"

Before Devyani could chastise the siblings for such childish behaviour, however, a smirking Akash sat down across them.

"Okay fine crybaby, here you go," he said, throwing the book for Anjali to catch. "Stop whining!"

"I don't whine!" said said indignantly.

"Of course you do – right, Nani?"

Devyani shook her head. "You know, when the astrologer told your mother that she was going to have twins, I thought the family would be finally complete. Alok was beyond happy, because his Arnav would have, not one, but two siblings by his side. But here, you two don't even get along for a second, forget standing together beside your brother."

"Well," Anjali said, wrapping her arm around her grandmother's shoulders. "I don't know about this loser, but I will always support Arnav Bhai, just like Babuji said!"

"Yeah yeah," Akash replied sarcastically. "We all know that you are the darling sister of Bhai. No need to rub it in."

Anjali smirked. "Jealous?"

"Anjali!" Devyani admonished, before turning to Akash, "Both of you are his darlings... he never stops thinking about either one of you for even a second."

He snorted. "Don't defend him Nani... I'm a disappointment for him, just like how I was for Babuji."

"You know that's not true... Arnav puts you before his own life."

"And I love him too! But that doesn't change the fact that he disapproves of me painting."

"He means it only for your own good-"

"Yeah, it's always like that. But everyone conveniently forgets about my happiness when talking about my future! First it was Babuji, who went on and on about what being a "Raizada" means, as if I chose to be born here and now it's his idealistic son."

"Akash!"

It was Anjali who interrupted. "Now who is whining?!"

Akash turned to his sister, knowing that her taunt was simply her way of subtly changing the conversation before it got messy. And he was somewhat grateful, because whatever his feelings were, his grandmother was not responsible for it.