Arvi
"Taste this," Aryan orders, thrusting a cake batter covered spoon in my direction.
I swipe my index finger over the surface of the metal and lick it off my finger and grimace at the bitterness. "The cocoa's too strong," I tell him.
Aryan looks at the spoon for a second, as though it offended him and stomps back into the kitchen.
"Aryan?" I walk after him into the kitchen. "What's wrong?"
Aryan doesn't respond, he keeps the frown on his face as he adds sugar into the batter, not the powdered kind. I'm not the one that should be judging anyone's cooking or baking skills, but is that how it's done?
"Perry?" I ruffle his hair, only for him to slap my hand away, angrily.
I sigh. He's so lucky he's my younger brother. Who raised these spoilt brats?
"Aryan, kanna, what's all this anger for?" I implore, hoping he'll tell me at least this time, but he doesn't. The only sound in the kitchen is that of the electric hand beater that he uses to blend the sugar into the batter.
"I'm not angry," Aryan mutters once the sound of the beater dies down. He picks up another spoon, dips it into the batter and holds it out for me to taste.
Silently, I lick the spoon and nod, giving him the only response he wants.
Aryan looks up at me with his frown. "What does that nod mean?" he demands.
I sigh. Well, at least I know what Latha Atha means when she says he's just like me. "It tastes wonderful," I speak out. "Right amount of cocoa and sugar."
"Not too bitter?" he asks dubiously.
"No," I state, and turn, murmuring just loud enough for him to hear, "the only bitterness in here is coming from you."
"Hm?" Aryan sounds, threateningly.
I narrow my eyes at him. "What? I'm not allowed to say anything now?" I ask him. "Am I supposed to be scared of you? Huh?"
"Drama queen," he mumbles, shifting the batter out of the bowl into the mould.
"Oye," I say defensively. "Who's a drama queen?"
"You," he answers, not missing a beat.
Gosh, this guy's brutally honest.
"Do you want to pick up Rohan from school?" I ask him, looking at the time.
He looks towards the oven, as though telling me wordlessly that he's busy.
"The oven stops on its own," I point out to him. "And you can get those ingredients you wanted, to make the icing."
"Not icing, frosting," the know-it-all corrects, untying his apron. I'd never thought those aprons would ever come to use.
"Alright, sir," I mock. "Are you coming along, then?"
"Yes, yes, only because you're begging so much," he says, making my eyes go wide and my jaw fall.
"You brat!" I try to slap the back of his head, but the smartarse ducks just in time. "Come, Arvi Akka, you're getting late!" he calls as he runs out of the kitchen, his mood flipping completely.
~.~.~.~.~
"Why are you going to pick up Rohan from school?" Aryan asks, slipping into the passenger seat. "Have you given up on your economist job once and for all to become a driver?"
I raise a threatening brow at him. "Your Atha and Mama will have to sell all their assets to pay me if I work as their driver."
"What is this, then? Part-time gig?"
I look at Aryan blankly. "What did I do to you? Why such heart-piercing questions?"
"What? You can ask me questions but I can't ask you questions?" he asks, the corners of his lips turning up in mirth.
Gosh, this kid plays a good game of getting back at someone.
"You are annoying, aren't you?"
"Amma says I have a lot of your traits."
I find my own lips twitching at this comeback, but I give Vivek a stink-eye through the rear-view mirror when he lets a chuckle slip.
Vivek clears his throat and shuffles awkwardly in his seat. I had convinced him to ride with us since the skies looked awfully cloudy.
"What does Vivek do around you?" Aryan asks curiously.
"He holds an imaginary machine gun to shoot at ISIS terrorists," I respond, shuffling songs on the control panel.
"What—" Vivek chokes, flabbergasted. "I don't—"
"Well, he also flirts with my assistant," I elaborate.
"I don't—" Vivek fumbles with his words, causing laughter to bubble in my throat, but I push it down and compose myself.
Raising an eyebrow at him, through the rear-view mirror, I pose, "Don't you?"
Once again, Vivek clears his throat and looks out of the window, trying to hide a smile but failing miserably as his face flushes.
My mother's phone call interrupts the playful atmosphere of the car. I answer my mother's call on my phone. God alone knows the kind of things she says on the phone.
"Arvi, have you started to pick up Rohan from school?" Amma asks me.
"We're almost there," I tell her, bringing the car to a halt on the side of the road. "Why?"
"I've received a call from the Principal's office," she says. "They wanted me to come down to the school, but I told them that you'd be there instead of me."
"What? Why?" I ask her, pulling the handbrake of the car. "Is Rohan alright?"
"He got in a fight, apparently," my mother says, worry seeping into her voice. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him!"
"A fight?!"
"Don't worry, your darling brother didn't get hurt, he's the one that threw the punch."
I sigh, relieved. "You don't worry," I tell her. "Should have happened at some point anyway."
"Everything is a joke to you," my mother admonishes. "Pick him up and have him call me. He's so lucky I'm busy right now."
"Amma, don't scold him."
"What do I do if not scold him? Kiss him and tell him it's alright to punch other kids in the faces? All of you spoil the kid! Your father, your brother, you! Pranathi has also added to the list now! Don't say anything to Rohan, don't scold Rohan, he's a kid, he'll learn! What does he learn? To get into fights?"
"I promise I'll talk to him and tell him he shouldn't do things like that," I assure my mother. "But how do we know it's his fault in the first place?"
"He hit his classmate, Arvi! Hitting other people is simply not done! This is not how I raised any of you!"
I sigh. "Fine. I'll tell him the same thing. Stop getting stressed out, you're probably freaking the rest of them out, too. I will talk to him. I won't brush it off, promise. You don't yell at him."
"I'm in the car," my mother tells me, her voice falling a few decibels. "The rest of them are in the store. What will I do if not yell at him? Is it right that he hit his classmate?"
"Amma, he'll feel very bad if you yell at him. I'm telling you, I'll talk to him. Trust me, I will."
"Fine," she sighs. "I won't yell at him, but let me know if he got hurt."
"Okay," I agree.
"And don't go easy on him, or both of you will get it from me!"
I wince at her tone. "Okay."
~.~.~.~.~
I send Aryan off with Vivek to buy ingredients for the frosting for the cake and go into the school, walking my way down the familiar corridors into an unfamiliar room.
As soon as I enter, I come to face Rohan, who's waiting in the waiting room to meet the Principal.
He stands up, his face is devoid of any expressions. "My sister is here," he announces to a familiar baldie.
Ewww. What's Prabhakar doing here?
"Arvi Ravichander," Prabhakar recognises, with surprise. "She is your sister?"
The contempt in his tone fills me with satisfaction. "Yes, sir," I answer, instead of Rohan. "I am Rohan's sister."
"Well, I shouldn't be too surprised," he sneers. "The Principal will see you in a second."
I stand next to Rohan. "You got in a fight, Rohan?"
"It wasn't a fight," he scoffs. "I punched the guy and he bled out of his nose."
"You broke his nose?" I ask, my eyes widening with surprise. "Why?"
"I don't know if his nose broke. He's still in the nurse's office," he tells me. "The guy stood outside the girl's washroom and was saying lewd things about them. One of the girls ended up crying her eyes out."
"So you were being the hero? Saving the damsels in distress?" I ask him, shaking my head at him in disappointment.
"Arvi Akka, they were my friends," Rohan states. "He tried to hit one of the girls and I pushed him away, but he lunged at me and I had to punch him to save myself."
The door to the Principal's office opens, and Prabhakar walks out. "Principal Sir is ready to meet you," he says.
"What is this man doing here?" I ask Rohan as we walk into the Principal's room.
"He's a new teacher," Rohan tells me. "He was there when the fight happened."
He's not a new teacher. He was here eight years ago, but we drove him out of the school.
"How do you know him?" Rohan asks a second later, as though he had realised only then that his new teacher and I know each other.
I eye him to shut up, once we're in front of the Principal. "Ms Ravichander," the Principal smiles at me, the corners of her eyes crinkling with fondness. "Sad that we should meet under these circumstances," she says, her face turning serious.
I bite my lower lip, not knowing what to say. Now I know what Gayatri Athayya meant when she said she didn't want to set foot on Arjun's campus until he graduated. Who'd want to sit through this?
"Please sit down," she tells me. "You're here are Rohan's guardian." She looks at Rohan, standing behind me. "Rohan can keep standing, though."
"Your brother here, hit a student so hard that his nose broke," Mrs Subhadra tells me.
I hear Rohan murmur an excited, 'yes' from behind me, and grimace when Subhadra ma'am sharp eyes turn to him. Stupid dumbarse. What got him so excited about breaking people's noses?
"Why that very excited 'yes' Rohan?" she asks him, sternly.
"Sorry, ma'am," Rohan apologises quickly.
"You should be apologising to Darshan, not me," she tells him and turns to me. "Has your brother told you what he did?"
I nod slowly, like an intimidated sixteen-year-old. "Rohan said he only threw the punch to defend himself when Darshan lunged at him."
"Is that true, Rohan?" the Principal questions Rohan, her eyebrows creased in confusion.
"Yes, ma'am," Rohan answers confidently.
"Why did he want to hit you?"
"Darshan and some of his friends were standing outside the girl's washroom and passing comments about the girls. One of the girls heard him say it, and confronted him about it. He went on to say something even more disgusting than before, and she gave it back to him. He tried to hit her, and I pushed him away, and he then tried to hit me but I hit him first."
"Which girl is this one?" Mrs Subhadra asks him.
"Preetha," Rohan answers.
"Can I cross-check the facts with her?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I will still have to suspend you for violence on school grounds," she says. "But I would like to speak to Pritha and Darshan first."
"Okay, ma'am."
Mrs Subhadra picks up a phone and asks for Darshan and Preetha to be sent into the room.
A knock sounds on the door. Following a "come in" from Mrs Subhadra, a girl and a boy, clad in the Arching Heights uniform come into the room.
"Good afternoon, ma'am," the girl mumbles, staring at her feet.
"It's not a good afternoon after all, Preetha," Mrs Subhadra says, sharply. "Can you tell me why Rohan and Darshan had a brawl that led to Darshan's nose being broken?"
"It's not quite broken, ma'am," the other kid supplies.
"Shame," Rohan murmurs.
I hear Preetha stifle a giggle, but she quickly composes herself when the Principal's pointed gaze lands on her. "Darshan doesn't understand that women need to menstruate in order for life on earth to progress," Preetha opens, and I have to stop myself from laughing. "He saw me carrying a pad into the washroom and said some disgusting things that I refuse to repeat. When I asked why he would say such a thing he went on to abuse me in a way that should warrant legal action, at which point I told him off—"
"She said my mother shouldn't have missed my period when I was conceived," Darshan supplies conveniently.
"I did, yes," Preetha agrees. "But if you should be able to tell ma'am what I said, you should also be able to tell her what you said to me and all of the other girls."
This girl would make an A-class lawyer.
"I should be the judge of that, Preetha," Mrs Subhadra takes control.
"Of course, ma'am. I apologise," she says respectfully and continues, "At this point, Darshan tried to slap me and Rohan pushed him away. And then Darshan raged onto Rohan and Rohan punched Darshan in the face."
"Would you say it was self-defence?" Mrs Subhadra poses.
"Well, I suppose Rohan's instincts are different from mine, but no one else I know would be waiting for a third-rate idiot to have a go at them."
"Careful with the words, Preetha," the Principal warns.
"Sorry, ma'am."
I zone out as Mrs Subhadra continues to give Darshan a piece of her mind. By the end of their conversation, I conclude that he's a spoilt brat with parents who can influence the school board.
"Rohan will be suspended for three days, Ms Ravichander, on account of violence on school grounds, even if only self-defence," she announces, sliding her spectacles off her nose. "And Preetha, you will write two essays. The first, about the kind of language that must not be used in a school environment—"
"Ma'am," the girl tries to interrupt, but Mrs Subhadra cuts her off with her infamous sharp looks.
"The second about resolving conflict between two classmates without the use of derogatory language, without involving their families, without the use of any kind of abuse. I hope to see both the essays, each featuring at least a thousand words on my table, tomorrow. I hope you can remember the titles?"
"Do the titles count for words in the essay?" Preetha asks, an undertone of sarcasm clear in her voice.
"No, Preetha, I'm afraid not," Mrs Subhadra responds, surprisingly dismissing Preetha's subtle mockery.
~.~.~.~.~
"Preetha," the girl thrusts her hand my way, once we're outside the Principal's office.
"Arvi," I respond, an amused smile making way onto my face at Rohan's awkward behaviour and the stranger's exuberant personality.
"I know," she chirps, picking up her bag from the floor. "I was at your engagement."
"Oh." I eye Rohan, confusedly. Who is this she? He only shrugs, not meeting my eye as he walks a few steps away to pick up his school bag.
Preetha smiles at me and walks with me, towards Rohan.
"Couldn't even break his nose, you," she taunts my brother, a full-blown grin etched onto her face.
"Couldn't defend yourself against a third-rate idiot, you," he taunts her back, and tugs at her braid, causing the latter to slap the back of his head.
"Rohan," I admonish. "What was that?"
"She hit me back," Rohan defends himself. "It's the helpless that you mustn't hurt, not people like these."
"Rohan," I warn.
"Goodness," he mutters in exasperation. "Sorry, Preetha."
"It's okay, Rohan," she smiles sweetly. "Have fun staying at home for the next three days."
"Fuck off," Rohan flips her off.
"Rohan," I scold, flicking his arm.
"I was giving her advice on what to include in her essay," Rohan defends himself, rubbing the area I flicked.
"Very thoughtful of you," she smiles sarcastically. "I'm leaving now. Bye!"
"Bye," Rohan mutters back to her.
"Bye, Arvi," she tells me.
I only smile at her, politely, and wave back.
"Amma is so fucking mad at you," I inform Rohan, standing beside him as we wait for the car to come back.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"You hit that guy, Rohan."
"You know he deserved it, Akka," Rohan states, obviously. "Tell me you wouldn't have punched him."
"If you talk to Amma in the same way, you're going to get the beating of a lifetime," I let him know. "She was livid. I promised her I would talk to you about it, but I don't even know what to say!"
"I know I shouldn't have gotten suspended," Rohan admits, kicking a pebble on the road.
"You shouldn't have hit that idiot," I correct.
Rohan chuckles humourlessly. "I wasn't going to be on the receiving end of a punch from him, either."
"There are ways to control the situation without any of these things happening."
"Didn't you once go to the same school, with the same kind of people?" Rohan asks, looking at me with a frown. "You cannot possibly be telling me that I did the wrong thing."
"I didn't say you did the wrong thing. I'm saying your way of doing it was wrong."
"You're being unreasonable, Arvi Akka."
I sigh, knowing that it is true. "If Amma asks, I had a proper conversation with you." He nods, agreeing to play along. "And I don't want you getting into any more of these fights. She's worried sick and blames all of us for it."
"I won't get into fights."
"Good."
~.~.~.~.~
At dinner that night, the Kona-s join us.
"Your son got into a fight," Amma tells Nanna. "Such violent attributes, I don't know where all of them get from!"
"Amma," I try to dissuade her from the topic.
"Athayya, Rohan wasn't in the wrong," Pranathi Vadina defends her brother-in-law.
"Let it go, Madhu," Gayatri Athayya cajoles my mother. "You know, too, that Rohan didn't pick a fight just like that."
"Yes, Amma, cut him some slack," Karthik joins.
"You should be one to speak!" Amma bristles. "Didn't you get into fights when you were in college? If I was strict about it, then, Rohan wouldn't have gotten into a fight now."
"Let it go, Madhu," Nanna says. "He's still a kid, he will learn."
"He goes to college next year! When will he learn?"
"He will learn," our father assures her. "Just like Arvi and Karthik did."
My mother shakes her head. "I've never had any trouble with Arvi," she says, making me smirk. I look at Rohan and wink at him, discreetly raising my imaginary collar.
Arjun, who sits across me catches my eye and raises his eyebrows as though asking 'really?' Knowing what he was referring to, I keep my eyes trained on my plate.
"Unlike you two, I've never had to receive calls from the Principal's office about Arvi."
I feel Arjun's eyes on me, urging me to look up at him, but I keep my eyes trained on the plate. A feeling of deja-vu washes over me, and I'm reminded of the time the Kona-s and their extended family had first come to our house, to talk about the possibility of a wedding.
"Because Arvi was smart enough not to be caught," Karthik points out.
I narrow my eyes at him. "What have I done, that would warrant being caught?" I dare him to answer the question.
"Didn't you do anything in school, though?" Arjun asks, his eyes boring into mine.
I shrug, refusing to answer the question.
"Yes, Arvi," Karthik joins in. Gosh. One time I get a compliment from Amma and the jealous pig can't take it. "Have you never done anything in school?"
I kiss my teeth. "No, not in school, I haven't," I answer, smartly playing on the technicalities.
"So you've done something in college, then?" Karthik pesters. "Like, pelting your professor's house with pebbles?"
I glare at Karthik. We'd kept a secret for eight years, and he'd give it all up over something as petty as a compliment bestowed upon me? Blame Amma's momentary lapse in memory and get over it, dude.
"What am I, Romeo?"
"Nothing, ever?" Arjun insists, his black eyes twinkling with mischief as always.
"Arjun, stop pestering Arvi," Gayatri Athayya orders him, making me smirk victoriously.
I stick the tip of my tongue out at him, basking in the warmth of Gayatri Athayya's protection.
Arjun narrows his eyes at me and smirks, making my heart race. Until when would I have her protection, anyway?
Arvi, you absolute idiot.
~.~.~.~.~
Gayatri Athayya, Ram Mamayya, Amma, Nanna, Ammamma and Thathayya, everyone leaves the gazebo, leaving me behind with Karthik Anna, Pranathi Vadina, Arjun, Aryan and Rohan.
While I try to hide from Arjun's piercing gaze, Aryan is the first to broach the topic. "What did you do when you were in school?" he asks.
Arjun smirks. "Tell Aryan, Arvi," Karthik insists.
"I studied?" I extend, knowing that the response sounds like bullshit.
"No way," Rohan exclaims drily. "You studied? To think you went to college without ever touching a textbook."
"What else would I have done when I was in school?" I ask, trying to deflect the curious gazes that were fixed on me.
"I find it hard to believe that you never got into trouble," Pranathi Vadina says, narrowing her eyes at me in scrutiny.
"Vadina!" I gasp. "I really never got into trouble. What makes you think otherwise? I was the good girl in school."
"Good girl?" Karthik scoffs, ridiculing me.
I may have taken this too far.
"Arvi Akka, tell, no?" Aryan nudges with force, nearly pushing me off the wooden bench.
"What do you want me to tell you?" I ask him, stabilising myself on the seat.
"What did you do in school?"
I sigh. "It all started with Arjun," I tell them.
"No, it didn't," Arjun denies. "You were the mastermind behind the idea."
I shrug, accepting the title. "Fine, I'll tell, but if any of you tells my mum, I'll see the end of you," I warn them as they huddle closer to listen to the story.
A/N
Hey, there! Surprise, surprise!
Check out my new cover! This one was a gift from silverfeels a long time ago! I'd been saving it for a long time now, but I'm totally in love with it, and don't see myself changing it any time soon, or at all! Thank you for this precious gift, Hazel! I think the cover shows what I want the story to be, more than the story itself!
Does any of you remember when I mentioned the last time Arvi and Arjun met? Way before Arjun saw Arvi at the Dubai airport. The story goes back to their high school. Let me know if any of you remember. I wrote it a looooong time ago.
So, this is only a part of the full chapter. I had to split it into two because it got too long, so you'll be seeing the next chapter very soon. I'm not too satisfied with this part, since it doesn't show much of Arvi and Arjun, but the next one surely will.
I will see you very, very soon!
Until next time,
With love,
A.