"What's going on?!", said an anonymous woman. Everyone flinched at her voice. The one who flinched the most was none other than Anshu 'cause the woman who raised her voice with a sudden entrance was none other than the one he feared the most, Aunt Waheeda. She didn't change a bit even though 15 years passed by. Anshu trembled, "Aun... Aunty?!"
...
"Phahahahahahah!!!", Ashiya exuded a burst of huge laughter. Sam and Viraj held themselves by simply chuckling. The healer attempted, "You must have had it rough, right?!"
He replied, "Nope, quite the unexpected had happened. Not only did aunty not scold me, she told me to hand over the bike keys to them in a polite manner!"
...
The scene goes back to the flashback. Everyone on the roof remained silent. Waheeda, who had entered the roof walked towards Anshu. He stood like a statue at the sight of her.
[It's all over. She's going to kill me.]
"Give the bike keys to Amar and stop making a scene. The elders are having a hard time sleeping because of you!", she said. But she said in a tranquil manner. Anshu became puzzled. He then gave the bike keys without a second thought. She exclaimed, "Two bikes will suffice for the five of you!", and gave two keys to the five on the opposite side. Without arguing, they took the keys and walked out. Only she and Anshu remained on the roof. The young man didn't know what to say. He didn't even dare to look at her. She walked towards him.
[That's it. I'm dead.]
At once, she placed her left arm on his shoulder saying, "Let's go inside!"
<<
He felt an immense amount of fear coursing through his veins. His body began to sweat non-stop. She continued, "It's so cold outside. Yet you teenagers keep on exposing yourself to the outside air!"
The two of them walked downstairs. She brought him to the hall and made him sit on the middle of the couch. She then opened the refrigerator and brought forth a carry bag which was filled with a bunch of Beer tins. She placed them on the table. She then started drinking a tin.
[Huh, what the hell? I don't remember my aunt sharing beer whenever I was causing trouble.]
She opened a tin and gave it to Anshu. He kept looking at her in utter disbelief, "Aunty?!"
She said, "Drink up!"
He felt it so weird. He simply took the tin and began drinking it. Together, they started drinking the tins one after another. During the entire time, Anshu felt nothing but weirdness. He kept on looking at Aunt Waheeda. She asked, "What? Is there something on my face?!"
He jolted, "Gasp, no. I'm totally fine!!!", and at a time sipped an entire tin. That's when the woman began to talk, "Until now, we've drank more than 20 tins of beer!"
Anshu flinched at her words and looked at the front. There were so many empty tins lying on the table and floor. It left him dumbfounded.
[When did we drink these many tins?]
"Out of these 20 tins, I only drank 5 tins!", she emphasized. Anshu responded in utter disbelief, "Are you telling me... that I drank 15 tins of beer?!"
She nodded at him. He asked, "But I don't feel any booze or hungover!"
She then stood up and stepped before Anshu. The teenager shook a bit due to her sudden response. She then bent forward and placed her hands on his shoulders. He didn't know what was going on. She downed her head. He attempted, "Aunt, you seem to be quite drunk. Let me help-!", but suddenly stopped spouting because the woman slowly raised her head towards him. The pupil of her eyes began to glow in yellow like that of radium. Anshu flickered after looking at her eyes.
<<
Without even realising it, his body made him jump towards the edge of the room. However, his sudden body movement was the least bit of his concern. What made him worry the most was his aunt who seemed very different from her former self.
[What was that? Am I seeing things? No, I clearly saw her eyes glowing in yellow.]
"Well, well, our dear kitten's developed quite the astounding reflexes, didn't he?!", his aunt spouted while maintaining the yellow glow in her eyes. Anshu just remained silent. He had no idea what was going on. Slowly, she blinked her eyes and the yellow glow disappeared. Anshu flickered again. She then said, "Save your doubts for tomorrow. We're going to make a gathering, especially for you youngsters. For now, go to your room and sleep well!!", and exited the room. With no idea, he just entered his room and lay on the bed. That entire night, he had a hard time whilst trying to sleep. His buddies came back from their party. Even then, he didn't get a wink of sleep. The next morning, he came out of his with red eyes where the down part of his eyebrows got swollen. One of the aunties shook at him, "Oh goodness, what happened to your eyes? They are completely swollen!!!"
Anshu didn't give any response and remained sleepy, "Yawn... Aunt Rithu?!"
She questioned, "Gasp, don't tell me... Did Waheeda punch you?!"
At once, Anshu jolted, "No, it's nothing like that, aunty. Please, don't say such kind of thing. Aunt Waheeda would only scold me or atmost punish me but would never hit me!!!"
"Uh-huh, then why are you being excessively afraid of Waheeda? You're not only flickering but also over-reacting!!", she emphasized. He tried to think of a way to get out of the situation but found none.
[Aunt Waheeda might be straight and upright. But, Aunt Rithu is more of an accurate type with a sharp intellect. Getting away from her with words isn't a cakewalk.]
He kept on thinking about what to say. Rithu looked behind him. Waheeda was standing near the edge of the hall whilst exposing her eyes which were glowing yellow. She winked at Rithu with her glowing eyes. Rithu widened her eyebrows and later gave off a smirk, "Aww, don't tell me you found out!?!"
Anshu became puzzled, "Wh-what? Found out? What did I find out?!"
<<
Suddenly, she grabbed his shirt collar and brought his face near to hers. Her eyes brightened green. It shook him. He was reminded of the previous night's event.
[This feeling... Why am I getting the same kind of chills from last night?]
He then looked the other way around. His other aunt was standing in one corner. He recognised the same yellow glow in her eyes. Since he was hardly grabbed by his aunt, guarding himself became impossible. Rithu exclaimed while smirking, "You found it, didn't you?!"
The smirking woman loosened her hand grip which gave Anshu a slight opening. Taking advantage of the situation, he jumped a few metres away from her in less than a second.
<<
[This again... I remember making the same kind of flicked movement the last night when Aunt Waheeda intimidated me.]
"How reflexive?!", Rithu commented. Waheeda agreed, "I too was quite astounded after observing those reflexes of his!"
Rithu asked, "So, is his awakened ability 'Ultra reflexes' or something akin to it?!"
Waheeda answered, "No, why are you asking it when you already know the answer to it!"
She responded, "Oh, I almost forgot. "It was something like Melomaniac, right?!""
Her second sentence emitted a certain amount of pressure which made Anshu's foot shake non-stop. Waheeda corrected her, "That's Melomaniacy!"
"Oops, my bad. Sorry for pronouncing it wrong!", said the old woman Rithu whilst laughing at herself. Waheeda said, "It's not yet the right time for revealing the truth to the youngsters!"
Rithu looked at Waheeda and then at Anshu. She sighed, "Fine, it's better to avoid spoilers. He's the only one who saw it at the moment, right?!"
Waheeda nodded. She looked at him and said, "Let's talk in the evening!!"
The youngster remained dumbfounded the entire time. He had no idea of what was going on and remained like a statue. The two women walked away from the scene.
[... Seriously, what just happened?]
During breakfast and lunch, Anshu remained dumbfounded. His buddies thought something was wrong with him. When it was 5 PM everyone was getting dressed for a party. On the other hand, Anshu sat on the edge of the rooftop, looking at the sky His friend Ria interrupted, "Hey, Anshu. What happened to you? You didn't speak a word for the entire day. If it was because of us not taking you to the party, then I'm sorry!!"
She seemed angry. However, he didn't give any reply and started looking back at the sky. The girl flinched, 'Did he just ignore me?!'
Whilst sulking, she exclaimed, "Fine, I'll see for how long you're going to remain silent!!!", and walked away from him. The poor boy who remained dumbfounded the entire day kept on looking at the sky.
[What are the aunties going to reveal?]
...
The time for the evening party arrived and everyone gathered at the parking lot. All the vehicles were parked outside the building. All the elders and teenagers were enjoying the booze while Anshu on the other side remained with the kids. He was instructed to play with them in the playground.
[Sigh, they keep forbidding me to parties. Is it a dangerous thing for me to enter parties?]
"Hey!!!", someone called him out. He turned around. It was Ria who was still in anger. She said, "Aunt Waheeda told me to call you. Leave the kids to Aunt Rithu. She told me she'll take care of them!!"
Anshu said, "Sigh, you're still sulking, aren't you? Well, I might not have responded to you, but after hearing what Aunt Waheeda is about to say, you too would be dumbfounded just like me!", and walked past Ria. The girl thought, 'Was he beaten to a pulp on the head?!'