The Proposed Deal

◍ I. Coffee

|AUTHOR|

// Nagpur, India

Staring at her artwork for an hour now, Aditya was losing interest in all her handmade photo frames, mugs, clay toys, and decorative pieces, he sighed, resting his head on the stair railings, he unlocked his phone and clicked on free-fire.

"Let's play free-fire Adi, god knows how much more time she will take to make a cup of coffee. God, why did I ask her to do that." He scoffed at the thought of smoking hot coffee with some butter cookies. He gulped and scrunched his lips, concentrating on his game.

A few minutes more and Adi could smell coffee, the aroma coming close to him, step by step he closed his eyes and his mouth-watering thinking about coffee and cookies. Licking his lips in anticipation he opened his eyes to see a steaming cup of coffee hanging in the air in front of his eyes, He grabbed the mug with lightning speed and smelled the freshly brewed coffee.

"You have an addiction to coffee, Chikki." Adi heard the voice from his left and turned to look at his sister who was sitting near him on the stairs, Her favorite mug in her hand, scribbled with the words which earned a good glare every time their mother spotted it in the kitchen, the words 'Stubborn, hot and what hot, all rights with Aishwarya Joshi'. He passed a smug smile and she chuckled at his antics, her brown locks covering her face from the side and half of her mug which she made in her lamasa classes.

"At least my addiction is not with colors and clays" Adi gave her a mocking smile to which she raised a brow.

"Therefore, you take my help in all your science models, don't you? " Aditya rolled his eyes knowing how his sister loved the artwork.

"You love playing with colors Aish, even if you're not here, you video call me just to see my projects" Aditya smirked. "What is the dialogue you use? Yeah 'What if I'm not there, I can feel colors Adi'" Aditya mimicked her voice to which Aishwarya glared at him.

"So, this wall? You liked it?" Aishwarya glanced at the freshly decorated wall she completed just an hour back, proud of her artwork she looked at her little brother for some appreciating words.

"Don't look at me with those praise-hungry eyes Aish, I'm not giving any fake words of appreciation" Aditya gave a lopsided smile to his gaping sister.

Aishwarya slapped the back of his head "Quite calling me Aish, I'm 6 years old than you."

"So what? You call me Chikki all the time, I'm just paying you back Aish" Aditya sang song-ed her name.

"You should have changed out of these paint-filled clothes at the least? Mom is going to have a field day tomorrow and those stains look no less than a colorful vomit." Aditya made a puking face. "And who wears a plain white t-shirt while painting and claying" He frowned looking at her not-so-white T-shirt which is filled with paint colors and her blue-washed jeans.

"I can bet these paint stains are not leaving. My poor mum." He scrunched his lips.

"You surely can and it doesn't matter to me if they come out or not." She shrugged, not before glaring "You are not forgetting your promise Chikki, a word to mom and no Netflix subscription for the entirety of your exams."
"You are blackmailing me?"
"Whatever helps you keep your mouth shut and also this t-shirt is not mine so I don't think you will like mom's expressions"

"T-shirt does not belong to you?" The words clicked "You just did NOT" Adi yelled at the top of his lungs.

Aishwarya closed her beautiful blue eyes from the loud noise.

"You stole my T-shirt" Adi accused her, glaring daggers at her head.

"Mum gave it to me; I did not take it." Aishwarya tried reasoning with him.