"Hi, Ankita." Koushik turned around with an exited wave.
"Ops!"
The sudden jerk caused the can to spill water on his brown undershirt.
"Pfft! Hahahahaha. You look like a tree watering itself Koushik. The cargo pants and undershirt look just like a trunk, and your green shirt is fluttering in the wind like leaves. Hahahaha." Ankita bent over her knees clutching her belly.
"Then say it's a good-looking tree."
He ran his fingers through his wet hair and struck an elegant pose, like he were asked to model for a nature themed photoshoot.
Ankita slapped her temple and said, "Yes, yes. Pretty tree. You don't ever miss a chance to compliment yourself, huh?"
"Never. We all should always compliment yourselves. Remember, compliment begins at ho.. oof!?" Koushik was trying to lean on her shoulder but Ankita slipped away at the right moment making him lose balance.
She laughed and stuck out her tongue as Koushik almost fell over the bushes.
Just then Mr Chakraborty came to the door and called, "Come in you two. Lunch is ready."
"Yaaay!" Ankita threw her hands up and ran inside happily.
Seeing her mood Mr Chakraborty smiled to himself. Having received Tanmoy's message, he was worried about how to uplift Ankita's mood. But thankfully, Koushik came at the right time. He sighed in relief recalling that moment.
Ten minutes prior Ankita's arrival.
Mr Chakraborty frowned upon seeing the message from his son and walked out of the door to be ready to receive his upset daughter. Just then, he saw Koushik standing at the gate. He remembered how the latter looked while leaving their house the last time. In order to make up for that, he called Koushik in.
"Hello, Koushik. What brings you here?"
"Hi, Uncle. I'm here for Ankita. She had asked me to come over around this time for a gaming session. Our results will be declared tomorrow and she was very nervous about it. So she wanted to relax and distract her mind." Koushik said respectfully.
"Oh, this girl worries about every little thing. We just want her to have a good education. Marks aren't important. She learns well; that's our wish. But she gets nervous about her marks every time before the results are out. It's a good thing you came. The last time, I didn't get the chance to host you properly. You know everything was so..." Mr Chakraborty did not continue and Koushik also waved his hand in understanding.
"Oh! Where are my manners? I keep talking while making you stand at the gate. Come in, come in. Just when I said I wanted to be a proper host, I made the blunder of keeping my guest standing at the door." He ushered Koushik in.
After talking about this and that Mr Chakraborty suddenly slapped his temple, "Oh no. I'm certainly getting old. I totally forgot to water the plants in our garden. And I also have to cook. Ankita will be back any minute now."
Saying that, he hurriedly got up and began scurrying about — filling up the watering can, preparing food and rushing to the door to check if Ankita had arrived.
Seeing him in such a chaotic state Koushik walked up to him saying, "Uncle let me help. I'll go water the plants in the garden. You cook in peace."
"Oh, my child. It'd be very helpful. I'm so ashamed to ask my guest to help me do my chores." Mr Chakraborty said hesitantly.
"It's no problem uncle. I'll be happy to help." Koushik smiled.
"Aww. I can tell that whichever family you marry into, if you want to get married, of course, will be very happy to have you as their son-in-law." Subhashish said while chopping the vegetables.
His eyes were on the kitchen knife so he did not see how Koushik's face turned red like a tomato at his words.
"I'm going to the garden uncle." Koushik grabbed the can and dashed out.
Mr Chakraborty stared at his back with a puzzled expression, then shrugged and focused on cooking.
After taking a whiff of the aroma coming from the kitchen, Ankita almost flew upstairs to wash up and get changed. Mr Chakraborty had intentionally prepared her favourite dishes. He knew that food worked as the best distraction for his daughter. When she came down she almost could not hold back her drool.
"Chingri Bhapa, Aloo Posto, Potoler dorma. Uufff. Baba, what am I seeing? I can't believe my eyes!" She eyed the food greedily.
She swallowed her saliva and said dreamily, "Koushik, pinch me. Pinch me. I think I'm dreaming."
Koushik and Mr Chakraborty laughed. Subhashish secretly sent a message to Tamnoy saying that Ankita was no longer feeling down.
After lunch she took Koushik to her room and turned on the Board to showed him a list of games to choose from. While browsing through the list, he was surprised.
He turned to Ankita with wise eyes, "Damn, you like horror games? I never would have guessed. I thought you were more of a fantasy guy."
Ankita smiled shyly.
"Well, I'm very scared of horror stuff. I don't think I'm brave enough to play through any of these." Koushik looked at her with an apologetic gaze.
"Nevermind, I play other genres too."
Finally settling on a sci-fi game, they put on their headphones. A hologram above the Board displayed the game screen. Koushik had played that game with his bandmates before so he was familiar with it. But he was doubtful about Ankita. However, as they proceeded, she seemed to adapt pretty well to a genre she rarely played and began beating the living daylights out of their opponents. Both of them made a terrific duo and quickly advanced the levels. Having such a compatible teamate, Koushik really enjoyed the game. It had been some time since he could relax like that.