"You never cease to surprise me."
...
We all are seated at the dining table. I'm wedged between Ayan and Siya who's sitting on my left. Ayan's parents and my parents are sitting across from us.
I see Ansh's vacant seat and I feel irritated because of him. I will hide his earphones tonight. He can't live without them. Serves him right.
Everyone has started eating. Mom has cooked Rajma Chawal. It's an Indian dish beloved by many. She has also made pasta and sweets for us. We all know who is going to eat them.
"Naira can you pass me that bowl?" my father asks me. I hand him the bowl and when I retract my hand, Ayan takes it in his left hand slyly, making sure nobody else notices.
I look at him in shock and try to wiggle it out of his grasp but he doesn't budge. He's even smiling mischievously.
"Naira, why haven't you started eating?" Ayan directs that at me. Everyone's attention is on me now. In fact, my mother has even stopped eating.
I nervously pick up the spoon with my left hand to eat rice. It's hard to do so but I succeed. "Since when do you eat with your left hand?" Siya raises her eyebrow at me. I try to remove my hand free but fail.
"Oh, umm... Oh yeah, I read an article on the internet yesterday that if we start eating with our left hand then it's healthy for the wrist bone, you know?"
Ayan laughs and then coughs to cover up the fact that he laughed. He lets go of my hand and I can't be more relieved. Everybody looks at me weirdly. That makes me want to go and hide. Siya reluctantly nods but I know when we're alone, I won't hear the end of it. I'm so furious at Ayan. He should thank the Lord that we have company, otherwise I would have castrated him.
I start eating but am interrupted by Siya.
"So why are you eating with your right hand now?"
Oh no. I had reflexively started eating with my right hand.
"I forgot about it. Sorry."
I'm forced to eat the rest of my dinner like that only because of Ayan. Ugh I hate him so much!
I happened to be the last one to finish my food. No surprise there.
I excuse myself and go to my room, taking Ayan with me. Siya also goes outside to call her mom and check up on Natasha. She's a good parent. She cares about her kid a lot and is always making time for her despite her busy schedule. I'm so happy for her.
"You," I point at Ayan. We're standing outside my room. I'm not letting him go inside this time.
"Yeah, me?" Ayan raises his eyebrows.
I uncross my arms and take long breaths to calm down. That doesn't work. Here we go.
"Why did you do that? Do you enjoy embarrassing me a lot? I bet you plot daily about how I can annoy Naira today. Do you have no shame at all? Nothing bothers you at all, dude! Everything is a fucking joke to you. While we're at it why don't you click embarrassing pictures of me and upload it on social media? That'll humiliate me and you'll have your fun too. Why would you care? All you've done since the day I've met you is look perfect and make my life a living hell. Well, the date was nice but I still hate you. Can you ever give me a break?????? I'm so sick of you and your cool attitude. Always acting like nothing ever matters. How do you do that? Do you really not care about anything? Who are you to-"
Ayan shuts me up by covering my mouth. I contemplate for a second about biting his hand or perhaps at least licking it but don't do it. That's gross. I push his hand away and glare at him.
"You think I look perfect? You find me hot, sunflower?" Ayan smirks.
"Is that all you heard from what I said?" I am practically shouting at him now.
"Pretty much, yeah." He shrugs.
"UGHHHHHHH." I walk away from him and go outside to talk to Siya. I'll much rather be away from him right now.
"Hey, where is Mark?" We're in the backyard right now. I look around but can't see Mark.
"He left because Natasha was crying a lot. I insisted on accompanying him too but he wanted me to stay and spend time with you. So we're going to have a girl's night tonight."
"Oh my God yay. But we have work tomorrow..." I tell her, defeated.
"Then let's just sleep for four hours and get up early tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Okay."
Ahh, we just had a fault in our stars moment. I smile at that. When we both go inside, I see that Ayan's parents are getting ready to leave.
"You have to come have dinner with us soon, okay?" Ayan's mother says and smiles. Her smile is contagious and I find myself smiling too. I nod at her and surprise myself by being the one to initiate the hug. Her hug made me feel safe and light. His father gives me his blessings too. I really like Ayan's parents. I can't say the same about their son though. Ayan comes near me and brings his arms forward. I'm assuming he's going to hug me. I move away from him and closer to Siya.
Ayan's mother doesn't miss my actions. She pulls her son's ear and asks me, "What did this idiot do now to upset you?" She shakes her head at him. That's it. I love Ayan's mom.
"Mom I didn't do anything," Ayan tries to move away from his mother but that's not an easy task. She has a tight hold on him. Siya laughs at them while my parents are just smiling at the interaction. I grin at them too. I can't help it.
"Apologise to her. I didn't carry you for nine months to make a girl upset one day. Especially a girl as kind, sweet and intelligent as her."
Aww. Mrs Khanna, please take me with you. Of course I don't say that.
I raise my eyebrow at Ayan, waiting for him to apologise.
"Sorry sunflower. I would never do anything that makes you angry or hurt. That's never my intention. But I can't promise that I won't annoy you." He winks at me. This time Ayan's father hits him on the back of his head.
"Ouch. Not you too, dad."
I can't help but grin at this guy. This guy who, very much to my dislike, never fails to make me smile.