Amaal's lips twisted into a subconscious smile as he glanced at his brother again in the past ten minutes.
Armaan thought he was being slick but he could never hide anything from his elder brother, it was just impossible. Amaal had noticed, after that tweet about that poem last week, Armaan was very interested in that girl, Savya.
Savya was a YouTuber, number one in Asia, passing Bhuvan Bam and Carryminati with neck to neck competition. She wasn't really much of a name to the younger until last week, after that tweet. Amaal already knew her from the records she broke the year before.
It had been a week and there wasn't much happening on that side of their lives, and Amaal knew that Armaan expected more from that interaction.
In an attempt to distract himself from the ever morbid line of thought of Amaal stole a look at the paper sitting infront of his restless brother.
"You're the reason my eyes open,
The reason," Armaan hadn't been able to come up with something more. He was muttering things under his breath that would sound nice but couldn't seem to decide on it, instead focusing on glancing at his phone seemingly every minute.
Even in the dimly lit room, Armaan's eyes were bright with curiosity and impatience.
Armaan's phone pinged and he snatched it from the table, a snicker passing from Amaal's lips at his brother. He was about to go back to his own pile of work but Armaan stopped him.
"Amaal," he said, sounding both happy and worried, somehow,"So, you know that Savya person? She's reacting on us, live." It piqued his interest. It also explained why Armaan was so worried. It mattered to them, what other people thought of their music, if they liked it.
Maybe that was their own insecurities from their teenage years, when they were still young, impressionable and just kids.
He didn't reply, just pulled his chair over towards his brother's and sat beside him, giving him a reassuring grin,"Of course. I'm pretty sure she'll like it. Probably you too, less handsome brother."
Armaan scoffed, a smile creeping on his face and nose turning upward a bit,"As if you're better than me. You look like a homeless idiot prancing around just because he can. Look at that beard! Ever heard of a razor?"
Amaal mock glared at him,"Teri aati nhi isiliye jealous mat ho."
It did what he hoped, he'd eased some of Armaan's nerves just as the black screen started of the video started coming to life, comments under not withstanding.
Amaal's eyes first went to the girl in a black half sleeve top of some kind, (yeah he isn't fashion savvy, can you blame him?) and a light blue jeans, her straight hair falling on her shoulders, sharp almond shaped eyes looking at the camera and then turning to look at the other girl.
He recognised this spectacles wearing girl, Savya. Savya was dressed in a cotton long sleeved beige t-shirt and harerm trousers, sitting criss crossed on a chair, somehow.
The new girl went out of frame and Savya started speaking, pushing aside some hair from her eyes, twisting her ponytail into a messy bun, and not the stylish one. "Get your earphones or move away from people who reprimand you for language because today, hell's going down."
Off to a great start, Amaal thought with a chuckle, seeing his brother mirror the same. "Ready? Good. That was Chee, she's gonna join us for some time before leaving again, because my best friend isn't velli like me." Then, the girl, Chee, as Savya called her, came back with a chair, a smile on her heart-shaped face.
She chuckled,"And before any of you start calling me that, that's reserved for Savu. I am Doctor Shuchi Bhargav. Nice to meet y'all, officially."
This caused a wave of laugher emojis in the comments and a startled snickers from the brothers themselves. Savya stretched as Shuchi sat, "Welcome to another episode of Savya doesn't shut the fuck up, today we're gonna talk about how you little shits are demanding me to react to Mallik brothers and how I should drown y'all in the Arabic sea."
Armaan turned to look at Amaal,"So, like how our fans ask us to do some challenge or something? That doesn't sound right, if she doesn't wanna do that." Amaal shook his head but before he could say something, Shuchi did.
"Actually, we're gonna react because reading the comments about y'all justifying yourself is irrelevant. So, who's and what's first?" Shuchi looked at Savya and Armaan could feel the way that it was way more than a simple look. He'd often shared that kind of look with Armaan, when the younger went a little too far in his honesty.
As often as they liked to be honest, there were just some places to be quiet.
Savya waved her hands around and pouted for a second,"Fine. Well, since Amaal is elder, he's first, of course. Bado ki ijjat and all."
"Even Savya is saying your really old now, Amaal, accept that." Armaan grinned at Amaal and nudged him with his elbow.
Amaal rolled his eyes,"She has respect, unlike you, you uneducated baboon."
Before Armaan could retort, Amaal turned back towards the phone.
Shuchi clicked on something and they both leaned back, Savya tossing a blanket to Shuchi, which she failed to catch, busy doing an imitation of a goldfish. "What's it, Chee?"
"Is Google high or am I high? Amaal Mallik was the one to, like, do whatever the fuck he does with Salamat of all songs?! Salamat? Wait, what does he even do, bruh?"
As Armaan laughed, Amaal didn't know whether to be bemused or offended. He settled for bemused as Savya continued laughing,"Bro, what world you're living in? And yes, Amaal Malik basically creates the music of a song."
Shuchi straightened up and stuck her nose in air, flipping her hair exaggeratedly,"Mata and Prabhu's world." Savya slumped with a grumble about how Shuchi always had an answer.
"So, all of you, we're skipping the songs we know and don't fit our vibe right now, I'm pretty sure you don't want to see us both cry. So, lets start with Kar Gayi Chul." Savya said, fiddling with her t-shirt.
The video began, them screen sharing their YouTube. As soon as the scene started, Shuchi groaned,"Why does everything has to be a party? Why can you just sit near the window aesthetically and do shit. Those lights are so harmful to eyes!"
Savya nodded sagely,"You'd think people would stop going to places that give them headaches."
"Oh, oh, oh," Shuchi tapped Savya's shoulder a couple of moments later, covered in a blanket,"I don't care who wrote the lyrics but bloody fuck that music. That's totally like party club shit but it's not? What's the word for that?" Shuchi had her brows furrowed and eyes narrowed, nose scrunched up.
"It's not obnoxious! Obnoxious is the word, Chee." Savya said, laughing at the confused face of her friend, and Amaal couldn't help but think, she looked adorable while confused.
That thought was banished out of his head as soon as it entered, telling his brain to shut up and focus.
"To be very honest," Shuchi started.
Savya nodded,"Siddharth Malhotra is looking somewhere between why the fuck am I here and why the fuck is that girl here."
Shuchi laughed, hysterically, "I was gonna say ki I'll never wear what she's wearing. Thand me marna hai kya bhai?"
Both the brothers laughed and Amaal wondered when had he last felt so nice, hearing that girl's laugh, it wasn't anything like books say, bells and bees and shit, it was ordinary but it made him smile and hearing his brother laugh like that, real, it was rare. Armaan got excited from small things but making him laugh like that was hard.
They rarely had anytime together, let alone sit and laugh.
The girls sat there, waving their hands around for a while before stopping suddenly and sharing a look. Shuchi stopped the song and looked at the camera,"Was it just me and Savu ya all of you heard physique and we all were thinking it was physics for- how many years?"
"Five."
Savya's deadpan delivery and the comments below made Armaan fall into a fit of giggles again, Shuchi faceplaming,"Y'all idiots."
"Yes, lady, one guy is flirting with you, you talk about your sandals. Best thing ever. Totally gets idiots to leave you alone, 10/10 recommended." Savya rolled her eyes.
Shuchi slapped the back of her head, ignoring the muttered ow, she said,"No, we don't talk about sandals, we remove them and hit them. No one flirts with potatoes, yaar, come on. It's obviously a mistake in dizziness."
Both the girls snickered, they didn't say anything for the rest of the song, just bopping their heads and waving their arms around.
Amaal privately wondered if this was just a harmless comment or something more, something alluding to a bigger picture.
As soon as the song finished, the next in line was Hua Hai Aaj Pehli Baar. Shuchi leant back with an exaggerated look at the camera that made Savya laugh. Armaan laughed too, being used to theatrics from himself.
Shuchi ignored her friend, however,"Are you telling me, Amaal Mallik, the guy that made that music that just made our lazy asses dance — and stop shaming our dancing skills you all would be tired as fuck too with our lifestyle— he has made that song that made me fall asleep when I heard the instrumental version? Talk about fucking duality. Damn, sir, you really out there outdoing everyone."
Amaal could feel heat rush to his cheeks and Armaan nudging him in the ribs, he shoved Armaan away and glared, though, he was pretty sure he didn't look particularly intimidating.
They turned their attention to the screen again as Savya spoke,"Someone just sent a super chat, 'I told you the Mallik brothers' duality is the reason many feel their heart stop but you ain't ready for that.'" Savya leant back with a smile, a very obviously fake one,"Then bitches shouldn't have made a huge ass deal of an innocent tweet, dear."
Armaan and Amaal both physically recoiled, from the comment and Savya's reply. It seemed she was pretty angry at that. And she should be, Amaal mused, he would be, too.
Shuchi sharply said,"Savu." Savya instantly tucked her hand back and turned towards her friend who gestured for her to look at the screen.