"I value your presence and happiness over everything else."
...
Before Siya had gotten married, we used to show up to each other's place without informing first. I had the key to her house, so I used to enter her house without knocking. I would knock at her bedroom door, hide behind it and when she came out, I would scare her. She never got alarmed though.
Unfortunately for me, since she is married and has a kid now, I can't go to her house unannounced. As it is Natasha's birthday and I'm her godmother, these rules don't apply today. I go straight to Natasha's room.
I pick her up and sit on the bed, placing her birthday gift beside me. Siya barges in the room and grins at me.
"I knew you would come today so I didn't even bother locking the door."
I give her a side hug, careful not to hurt Natasha. I hand her Natasha's birthday gift. I bought a set of unicorn shaped cushions for Natasha. Siya doesn't wait at all, she's already unwrapping the gift.
"Oh my God thank you so much. I wanted to buy these for her." She hugs one of the cushions tightly to her chest.
I roll my eyes at her. "That's why I bought them, dummy." I put Natasha back in the crib as she has fallen asleep. Siya places two of the cushions in her crib. I smile at her.
"Since you're already here, come and help me cook for the guests." She drags me to the kitchen.
"Siya, you know I can't cook for life." I scrunch my nose.
"Don't worry. Just follow my instructions. I know you're good at that." She picks up a knife and starts chopping tomatoes.
"Yeah. Cool. Don't blame me if I mess up everything."
"You won't. Here, just put these tomatoes in the mixer and then turn on the switch. Turn it off after a few seconds. I have to call Mark and ask him to come home early. Don't do anything wrong." She exits the kitchen.
I rinse the mixer with clean water first. I may not know how to cook but I know we should always clean the equipments before using them. I dry it with one of the damp cloths I found in the cupboard. I put the tomatoes in the mixer.
My phone beeps and I see a notification from Ayan. I turn on the mixer and unlock my phone to see his text.
'Hey, sunflower. Thinking of me?'
"Naira, what did you just do?" I slip my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and look up to see the kitchen counter drenched with tomato puree. I see what I did wrong. I forgot to put the cover on the mixer!
Siya's face is red, she is staring at me icily and is frowning at me. I gulp in fear.
Oh boy.
...
"Naira, you'll be going to Goa with Ayan and his friends after three days, right?"
I pour myself some orange juice and nod at my mother.
"Okay. Stay safe." I shrug at her. If I would have been going with my friends, she would have created a fuss. But since this trip is with her dear Ayan, she doesn't have any problem. All she wants is a groom for me. What does she see in him that I can't see?
I go in the living room and sit on the couch, next to Ansh who is watching IPL on the television.
As soon as I sit on the couch, I feel something wet on my butt. I touch the back of my jeans and see that my fingers are stained with chocolate.
"What the hell, Ansh? Who puts half eaten chocolate on the couch?" I shout at him.
He ignores me and turns up the volume of the television.
"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF?" I'm screaming in his face now.
And what does he do?
He turns up the volume again, to shut me out.
I squeeze my eyes shut and count till ten to calm myself down. I stick up my middle finger right in his face and go to my room to get changed. Sometimes, I wish I didn't have a brother.
Scratch that. I wish that daily.
...
"How about this dress?" Sara picks a green off-shoulder mini dress. I wrinkle my nose at her. She sighs. Siya shakes her head at me and I give her a lopsided grin.
Sara texted me yesterday to ask if we could go shopping for clothes. When I tried to refuse, she insisted that I need to buy new clothes as I leave for Goa tomorrow. When she wouldn't take a no, I gave in. I called Siya and asked her if she could come. It was tough to convince her, especially after I had wrecked her kitchen.
"What about this? It'll look good on you." Siya passes an orange long-sleeved top to me. I pass it back to her and shake my head. She glares at me. I think I have rejected about fifty dresses by now. It's not my fault that I don't like any. One is too red, one is too short, one is too long, one is too bright, one is too shiny, one is too skimpy, one is too expensive, one is not my style and so on.
"Come with me. I didn't want to do this but you have left me with no option," Siya says and starts walking. Sara and I look at each other and then follow her to wherever she is headed.
She stops in front of the swimsuit section and starts looking through the displayed swimwear.
She chooses a yellow cheeky bikini and hands it to me. More like shoves it in my hands.
"Go try it in the dressing room." She points me towards the direction of the dressing room. Sara and her start looking for more swimwear.
My eyes widen in shock. "Are you crazy? I'm not wearing that." I put it back on the rack.
...
Long story short, I end up buying a lot of dresses and a considerable amount of bikinis.