Olivia entered the Music Room and heard someone singing inside. Stepping inside she saw the back view of the singer. He was looking at the lyrics projected on the wall and was immersed in the song so he did not notice another person's presence. Olivia raised her eyebrows. She was hearing him sing live for the first time. 'Not bad.' She leaned against the door and continued listening. When Koushik stopped singing Olivia knocked.
"Oh hi, what brings you here?" Koushik smiled at her.
"I'm looking for someone," Olivia said.
"Is it me?" Koushik winked at her and said putting his head on his palm.
Olivia stared at him blankly.
"Tch. You're such a bore."
She did not comment.
"Anyways were you standing for long?" He stood up and came near her.
Olivia nodded.
"Did you hear me sing?" he asked surprised.
She nodded again.
Koushik continued his questions as Olivia looked around. "How was it?" he asked.
Olivia opened her mouth to say that it was okay but changed her mind seeing his expectant gaze. He had a slight smile across his face but Olivia could make out that he was biting his inner lip. He was also looking at her with an eager gaze.
"Good," she said.
"Thank you. And I'm glad you liked it," he said with a big bright smile. "And you know, I wrote that myself," Koushik said with pride.
"I know." He nodded at her answer but stopped. "You know? How?" he asked.
"Your fans are always talking about you." Olivia looked at him as if he asked an obvious question. Koushik laughed at his stupidity and scratched his head.
"By the way. You said you were looking for someone. May I know who it is? Maybe I can help."
Olivia said "Ritu."
Koushik frowned for a moment trying to remember if he knew someone by that name.
"The VC." Olivia clarified.
"Oh! She did not come here today. By the way, are guys that close? Till now only you called her by that name. Others would either call her VC or vice-captain." Koushik.
Olivia got up to leave.
"Hey, I told you about that friend of mine. Remember? Do you have any news?"
Olivia shook her head. Koushik heaved a disappointed sigh.
"There you are." Olivia leapt in through the window.
"I have a door you know?" Ritutandra said without looking up. She carefully changed the bandage on Pace.
"Long route." Olivia plopped on the sofa and sat folding her legs.
Ritu sighed. She knew her sister was lazy and hated taking hours to complete a task which she could do in seconds. Just like now, she could have taken the lift or the stairs but she chose to jump in through the window instead of walking all that path. Well, it's not like anyone would be able to see her doing that. And Ritu, despite knowing that would still remind her that her room had a door from time to time in case Olivia forgot.
Pace lifted her head sensing someone else's presence and growled softly. But seeing Olivia she layed her black furry head on Ritutandra's lap again.
She caressed her face and asked, "Why were you looking for me?"
Olivia stared ahead blankly and asked in a soft voice "Should I tell him?"
Ritu smiled and said, "Is it okay to tell him?"
Olivia shook her head.
"But you hate playing with someone's feelings," Ritu said with a chuckle. "He's waiting for her," Olivia said flatly.
"Still? Haha, I think it's no longer a crush now. He fell in love with her. Didi, he fell for your alter ego." Ritu laughed.
Olivia gave her a pointed look.
"Okay okay. I'll be serious now." But Ritu still let out a stifled laugh. "Ahem. So, we have a serious problem here. A boy who was a stranger suddenly became a love inter... I mean HE saw you as Ankita as a potential love interest. He's waiting eagerly for his crush to appear but the poor boy does not know that Ankit was never a real person. You feel sad seeing such a handsome boy..."
Ritu was saying in an overly serious tone when Olivia cut her off saying "I don't. I just don't want to keep him in the dark about someone he is affectionate about."
Just then Parijat entered. "Arre bas! Such a lovely gathering!" Parijat exclaimed. "Hi, dear Pace. How's my baby girl?" He extended his hand to pet the panther.
'Smack' Ritu and Pace slapped his hand with their hand and tails respectively. "Like mother like daughter," Parijat muttered rubbing his hand.
Pleased with the compliment Pace roared. Ritu rubbed her belly.
"So, what are you doing here?" Parijat was planning to make himself comfortable on the bed. His cushions were about to touch the bed when Olivia roared.
"You dare touch the bed with your filthy ass and see how I make sure you can't sit on them for a week." A dangerous warning flashed past her eyes.
Parijat sprung up holding his biological cushions and stood there in attention position, even saluting Olivia. Although she was wearing black contacts Parijat could visualize her blue and green eyes gleaming from the thought of flattening his cushions. No, rather they would become so swollen from her beatings that he would not be able to sit for a week like she said.
"My sweet, lovely, beautiful, kind, merciful, big-hearted, magnanimous sister. How could you say that you'll hurt this little innocent baby brother of yours? Look I didn't touch the bed with my dirty clothes right?" he sang her praises and tried to save his behind from her wrath.
"A 16 year old adult ass baby?" Olivia scoffed. "And by the way, I saw a loose string from your blazer touch the bed," she said with a smile that did not look pleasing to Parijat at all.
"Where? I see nothing." Parijat frantically patted the bed with his hands trying to dust off any remains of a thread. But suddenly he realised that his surroundings had gone quiet. He looked up and saw Pace and Ritutandra looking at him with a frozen expression. It seemed like they felt sorry for him about something. He was confused. Then it suddenly hit him. He slowly looked at the bed and gasped hysterically.
"Did you wash your hands after coming from outside? Baby brother?" Olivia's voice came from behind. She especially emphasised the word 'baby'.
'First was about to sit on the bed with clothes from outside and now...' he gulped and turned his head stiffly. "Um... elder sis..." he tried to explain with a stiff smile but no more words came out as he met her eyes.
"I happened to have a more important task at hand so I'll deal with you later," Olivia said.
Parijat heaved a sigh of relief. 'At least I'm safe for now'
No sooner had he thought that when Olivia spoke again "For now run 50 laps on the ground." The sigh of relief he was sighing was not sighed fully.