Eklavya

Chapter L

Days flew by fast and both the families returned to Dehradun in the first week of January itself.

Due to the extremely cold weather, all schools and colleges were shut in compliance with the District Magistrate's order.

Aarav was supposedly having a gala time cooped up in his warm quilt and playing the video games Rudra had gratefully presented to him for playing oblivious to his involvement in the whole Beer can fiasco.

Vikrant and Upendra had come across some empty soft drink cans when they decided to take a stroll along the terrace on the new morning of the year.

Nonetheless to say both the men weren't too pleased to stare back at a few empty beer cans mixed up in the trash.

Aarav had seen Rudra discreetly smuggling the cans to Ira and Shivangi. He hadn't really understood what was the need to act with so much discretion and didn't exactly feel like putting his genius mind at work.

It was only after he had heard his father and Vikrant uncle dressing down all the children that his mind lit up with an ingenious thought.

Ira di and Shivangi di were ungrateful through and through, moreover in his head they deserved all that was coming their way.

'Hmph! Revenge for all the indignity my cheeks suffered from their cursed hands.' He had thought vindictively.

But Rudra was different and Aarav knew he had hit the jackpot. Grinning wickedly at the thought of making Rudra indebted to him, Aarav played his cards well.

He put all the blame on both the girls, in return earning the life-long servility of Rudra. Ira and Shivangi had glared daggers at him and tried to rope in Rudra but all their attempts were thwarted by Aarav who vouched for his innocence.

In the end it was only the two of them who faced the music and had their pocket money cut short by a good amount.

Now Aarav had the elder boy wrapped around his little finger. For the generous favor of saving Rudra's skin, Aarav had asked him to show how grateful he was and the boy had readily bought him everything he put his finger on in the City Mall after returning home.

His maa had questioned him when he'd returned home with all the shopping bags. But being the genius that he was Aarav twisted everything in a way that made Radha gush about how much the boy adored his son.

Now as he pressed aggressively on the keys of the controller Aarav couldn't help but grin gleefully at the successful execution of his master plan.

Of course! The inspiration came only from his Eklavya bhaiya. And Aarav didn't forget to give the credit where it was due.

After he had mercilessly emptied Rudra's wallet, Aarav had sent a 'mission accomplished' from his maa's phone to Eklavya then quickly deleted it after a text praising him for the smooth execution along with a command to never let his sisters find out came.

~*~*~*~*~

Anamika was so not buying the crap Aarav had successfully sold to everyone in her family. She knew her brother was a genius but he was never a cunning manipulator.

This was what she had feared when she saw Aarav getting a little too chummy with Eklavya on New Year's Eve.

Now they were thick as thieves and Anamika's annoyance had skyrocketed every single time Aarav sang praises of his Eklavya bhaiya.

Who in turn was exerting a strong yet extremely negative influence on her innocent, baby brother.

Eklavya was wrong if he thought she wouldn't realize it was him who was pulling the strings. Anamika thought haughtily as she paddled towards Saanvi's home.