Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

Ray of hope

Alisha

We had returned home only at 11 pm and I had crashed into my bed in the same clothes and make up. Waking up, I marvelled at how disastrous one could look with eye makeup smudging around the face. Scrubbing all of it off, I looked at the reflection of me. There were dark circles and dried skin, a pimple on the right of my forehead. But my eyes didn't look so dead. 

Sighing, I decided to keep aside my poetic thoughts for after practice. Changing into a leotard and shorts, I went down to the gym and warmed up till Dimitri and Lauren turned up. It was a normal day at the gym - five hours of conditioning, training, falling, cursing ourselves. But I felt a little piece, my mind didn't wander off every few seconds, I felt a sense of being. 

I felt almost okay. 

The practice was boring, and it was treacherous to live through it with the low oxygen numbers, but I made it through. At around noon, I went back into my room and saw Tyson with someone else at the balcony, checking for loopholes in the security. Smiling at them, I went into the walk in closet, picked up a dress and entered the washroom. The water was already ready for a bath, and I stepped it. Malaika had asked me to try using vanilla sticks inside the water, and I did so. The result? I smelled of vanilla. 

I went down for lunch and saw Salman sitting with Arhaan, playing with him on the couch. Arhaan was trying to tickle Salman, and although he hadn't quite mastered the art of tickling, Salman humoured the kid and pretended to laugh. I went down and tickled Salman for real with Arhaan, this time resulting in him bursting into a fit of laughter and turning unto both of us for revenge.

"Run Arhaan, run!" I screamed and he ran away from Salman. He chased me and picked me up to throw me into the couches and climbed on top of me. Arhaan stood in a corner and giggled because he knew what was about to happen. The little kid was going to get away with it easy, and I was jealous of him. Salman looked like he was ready to wage a war against me. I gulped.

"No Salman, no. I'm your little sister and you love me" 

"Not now." he winked and pinned me down, tickling me until I didn't say what he asked me to. I refused to give up, and I tried to fight my brother off me. But he was too strong and he overwhelmed me, so I gave up. After all, I figured, lies were allowed when it came to saving oneself's life. 

"Fine. Salman is the bestest brother in the world and he is my favourite." He smirked and got off me, offering me his hand to get back up. I realised he was using his phone the entire time, and I instantly knew why. It was all going up on either Instagram or Snapchat. Grabbing the spare hand that he did offer me, I sat on the couch and Arhaan came running into my lap. Kissing his head, I asked him how his school was. Surprisingly, Malaika had let him go to school after all his tantrums, but made sure the security was super high. I wondered why any kid would like his or her school, but I had to remind myself that he was still in playschool. There was innocence in children, and he probably didn't face the bullies and the bias that one went through as one got older. 

We had lunch in peace, talking about the most random things that came to our minds. It was Arhaan talking mostly, about his favourite cartoon characters and narrating stories that we were well aware of. But to entertain him, we acted dumb and listened intently to his sketchy versions of nursery rhymes. He was later taken upstairs for his afternoon nap, and Salman called me into his room to talk. He sent me upstairs and told me he'd come in a few minutes. 

I skipped stairs and hopped up to the second floor, and went into his room. It was beautiful, so elegant. His bed was so artistic, it stole the show. I went into the bed and pulled the covers over my legs and rested my head on the pillows. I was tired, and I would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for the tone of urgency that I had sensed in Salman. He had told me yesterday that he had some news - some good news - but we never got the chance to talk. Maybe it was just that. I was excited, some good news was due after this drama.