Once Upon a Time in London

Chapter 28

I have devised at least 5 ways to hurt Rahul with the dholki I'm carrying by the time he opens the door to the west wing entrance.

He rolls his eyes as he spies me standing outside, hesitating to open the flyscreen door as he sighs exasperated. Finally unlocking the door as Dev calls out to us.

I ensure to accidentally kick his shin as I tumble into his side, making sure the dholki comes into contact with him first, "Oh, how clumsy of me" I say in mock concern as I grit my teeth, walking inside what has been our abode for the past few days.

"Still have two left feet I see?" Rahul mutters, not necessarily loud but loud enough for me to hear him clearly.

I am ready to give him a piece of my mind before Dev sighs loudly, "We aren't going to get anywhere like this."

I grimace but sit down on the armrest of the couch facing Dev, "I don't know how Tina thought this was going to work out."

"Especially since some people are adamant about making this unnecessarily hard" Rahul walks over, giving me a pointed look as he sits down next to Dev, an unbothered look clouding his face.

"Maybe if you weren't so insufferable, I wouldn't feel the urge to pull my hair out every time you opened your mouth" I seethe.

He smirks mockingly, "My my Sharma, I can assure you that you won't be able to rock a bald look so maybe refrain from doing so."

I suppress the urge to throttle him as I try to breathe in and out.

I am doing this for Tina.

I am doing this for Tina.

I am doing this for Tina.

"Well then, what are we thinking, how do we want to choreograph this?" I clap my hands together as I press my lips together in the best smile I can muster.

"My god Sharma, you look hideous, stop smiling like that, you look like an electrocuted mouse" Rahul leans his elbow on the armrest of the couch as he stares at me.

Even Dev looks at me with slight concern.

I groan as I slump backwards on the couch, my back resting against the seat as my legs dangle over one armrest and an arm dangles over the other one, "It's just so frustrating, we can't even tolerate each other for a few minutes, how are we going to pull off this sangeet dance" I mumble tiredly.

Opposed to how intimate of a ceremony Tina's haldi was, with just her mum and me present, she wanted a grand sangeet. With illustrious and grandeur performances, naturally this got us into our current debacle. Grouped up for a sangeet performance, one that I had little to no say in. All three of us have been cooped into this cottage near the west wing of the haveli for the past week trying to plan the best performance we can come up with.

Except the only thing I seem to have achieved is suppressing any urges to hurt Rahul, the man is still as insufferable as he was three years ago if not worse.

Dev sits up straighter, "As much as I agree, we need to make this work, as her closest friends, we can't even entertain the possibility of losing this competition. Which means, you two need to stop trying to get on each other's nerves" he smiles softly.

"Frankly, I enjoy annoying Sharma more than humouring strangers by dancing in front of them" Rahul mutters.

"Ah it's okay Rahul, there's no need to be ashamed, it's alright if you can't dance as well as us, you can be a background dancer" I grin.

Rahul sits up straighter as a muscle in his jaw twitches, "I seem to have misheard you surely" he looks at me fiercely, his eyes challenging me to oppose him.