Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

Friends forever

Alisha

I was asleep, on the floor. Not really, it wasn’t peaceful. Sleep was just something my body made me fall into due to the physical and mental exhaustion from the day. My phone chimed with a text in the middle of the night and I stared at the screen before replying.

I’m coming over, open the gates. – Aryan

It’s 2:56 am, how do you plan to sneak out? – Alisha

I have my ways…in this case blackmail. – Aryan

Alright, I’ll tell them to let you in – Alisha

I intercom-ed the front gate security to let Aryan in. Though they were reluctant, they knew better than questioning me when I was low on oxygen levels and pissed at 3 am in the morning.

I was sitting in the balcony of my room, waiting for Aryan to walk in any moment. His house was just a little over a block away from mine, so he would most probably walk all the way here. I hugged my arms as wind blew from the ocean in front of me. It was dark, secretive, like some danger lurked out there. Lord alone knew why I wanted to spend time with my brother there a few hours ago.

I didn’t hate Salman, I couldn’t possible hate him. But I wasn’t exactly fond of him right now either. This was the second time my hopes had gone high regarding him and then crashed on the ground. He out of all the people knew that it wasn’t the money or status that mattered to me, but the time and company of loved ones. He knew I had missed all of them miserably, but he still had to go work. Why was work always so important in their lives, more important than family?

It seemed like he was turning workaholic. I hardly saw him having rest, just taking time off. Even at home, he’d be sitting with a script or some legal documents. My brothers couldn’t get enough of the long-distance video conferences and their annoying little business calls. If not at office, film set or an event, they’d be working on something or the other.

My phone beeped, and I threw furious glares at it. That piece of plastic could not stop poking at me to change my pod, because it was out of medicine. I wasn’t about to change it, I was just tired of the process now.

“Help, senorita?” Aryan came in the moment and I looked at him. He was wearing the same jeans and Manchester United jersey he had on in school today.

“Come on, tell me where the pod thingy is.” He stood in front of me, folding his hands. I pointed at my bed side table and he went over to open the drawer and search for a new pod in the mess of things I had dumped into it.

“Where?” he asked, and I lifted my top a little, pointing at the left side of my belly button. He was asking me where he wanted my new pod to be, and I needed to switch the site from my lower back due to the redness it caused.

Aryan and most my other friends knew possibly everything about Pulmonary Fibrosis, because they wanted to be sure they could help me if there was an unwanted emergency sometime. So he, and almost everyone else had learned about how to attach a site, test my numbers, and correct the oxygen levels in my body. With that, most of them had also learned that low oxygen levels usually meant a very unpleasant Alisha Khan.

“Done.” I flinched a little as the pod entered the tender skin. I thanked him and patted at the seat next to me. He planted his butt next to me, staring into the ocean. The waves were low, and there was hardly a soul on the sands. Something about its vastness and deepness scared me.

“How did your family not notice you sneaked out?” I asked at last, breaking the silence charm.

“They’re at the usual high-end cocktail event to notice.” He shrugged and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I wasn’t the only one in the world who felt like they lived with people they wouldn’t recognize or remember a few years later.