"Abhi,what do you say? Ho jaye ?" Vedant smirked with his little cute lips and asked confirmation from his friend
Before Abhi could reply,Saanvi jumped in joy and stepped a little forward while flicking her ribboned braid,
" Consider me in,koi ho na ho.This Ramesh uncle disturbs us a lot.Kuch toh wasool kare khadoos uncle se " she grabbed her fist and tapped her legs
"Oo gadadhari Bheem,shant! If he catches us na,we are gone",Akash warned.
"Don't listen to them chalo, he's busy sorting the potatoes, this is the best chance we can get" Omar encouraged
"Oh hello everybody! Decide faster,we need to finish fast" Ved reminded
"Han han chalte hai" not leaving any chance for anyone to speak,Raman grabbed two of his friends' hand and kick started their mission.
According to their full proof plan,they tiptoed to 'Samsiddhi stores' .The owner of it was busy organizing the freshly ordered stock and taking the opportunity Veer,one of the kids opened a jars at display and picked up a packed cake.
"Oye ek aur le,we are so many in number" Daksh whispered
Shivansh immediately whacked him from behind
"Chup kar.Veer don't listen to him,close the jar"
Ved gestured to.pick one more and Veer getting frustrated decided to take it ultimately.
The kids' buzzing caught Ramesh's attention all of a sudden,
"Who's there?" his ears twitched upwards as reflex and he turned backwards
Terrified,both the cakes dropped from Veer's hand one inside the jar and one on the ground.
"Bhaago bhaago" the kids shouted fearing to get caught and ran for their dear lives
"Aayee pakdo!" Ramesh immediately attempted to chase them.
But to the kids' utter dismay,Ramesh got his hands upon the one who stood at the extreme side, Akash , and pulled him back by his t-shirt
"Bachaooo!Shiv,Om,Ved,Daksh,Saanuuu" Akash cried out.
As if on cue the group's feet seized wherever they were.
"Ayee ! Koi nahi jayega.Come back all of you " Ramesh yelled for them.
They couldn't let their friend suffer alone so started taking baby steps for the lion's den.
"Hmm,all of you are back ! I'm surprised.Why ? Don't you want to run away ? Worried about your friend " he moved his from left to right, glaring at each one of them
"Chori karke bhaag rahe the ?Huh ?" The few people passing by had gathered by then, "Battameez kahinke !Aj dikhata hoon"
"What happened?" One from the crowd asked
"Aare bhaisaab dekhiye, everyday these children make a lot of noise in front of my shop deliberately,and today they have even crossed that limit.Himmat toh dekhiye, they were stealing, I've caught them red handed" Ramesh narrated the incident.
The boys stood there silently.
"Aare bhaiya, there must be some misunderstanding.They are good kids,and stays in our area only,itne chote chote the sab,tabse they're playing here.Even if they've taken something,masti mein liye honge,bhaiya, please let them go" Kshama,who too stood among the crowd,spoke on their defence.
"Not at all,let their parents come.They should also know what their children are doing in pretext of playing"
The negotiation between the shopkeeper and the other residents went on and the kids were a mere spectator in between.Though they tried to get out of the matter by apologizing,but, Ramesh didn't relent even a bit.
"Kaha tha mat karo.Ramesh uncle is like this only.If this had been Hasan chacha,sab sahi hota.He would've opened his shop the day after tomorrow right? Kya jaldi thi ?What will happen now?" Veer said
"Why are you telling this ? Couldn't you lift the packets silently?If you did so then we would have been relishing the cakes by now.Haaye that coconut filling one tastes so good." Daksh being the foodie one,pouted sadly.
"All you care about is the coconut filling cake ?Ab sachi mein nariyal tootne ka naubat aagaya hai sar pe" Ved shook his head in disbelief.
"Yaar, please do something.If mummy comes here she'll hit me with the broom,that too in front of everybody" Raman could already feel the broom on his backside
"Han aur le ja haath pakad ke sabko- " Shivansh mocked.
"Guys why are we discussing all these-" Saanvi said and Shivansh thought for once she will speak something sensible but the next part shattered his wish
"think about me,Moksh bhaiya jabse aye hai mere baalon ke piche pade hai,now he'll blame my hair in this too,ab toh my haircut is pakka" Saanvi caressed her long silky hair dreading the cut.
"Ye Dhriti,Rish and others didn't come and got saved, hutt" Abhi commented as if that was something unexpected and shameful.
"Ye tumlog kya khusur phusur kar rahe ho han . Don't even think of acting smart.None of you are going anywhere from here,mind it !" Ramesh intervened, disrupting their conversation.
"Uncle we are really sorry.We were just trying to prank you as we do with Hasan Chacha.If you didn't like we won't trouble you again,but please let us go" Vedant tried to melt Ramesh by holding his ears and the other kids followed and apologized together.
"Nahi nahi nahi.Let your guardians come.Koi toh ayega na gharse dhundte huye ? Then only I'll talk,till then stand right here like this,all of you.Wo bhi kaan pakad ke.No body will go home." he dished out.
The children complied, thinking that it will eventually soften Ramesh and let them go.
Sensing that the shopkeeper won't budge without meeting the parents,Vinita,one of the residents decided to visit the kids' houses and inform them personally before the matter went out of the hands.
She visited few houses and let the information pass and stopped by Vedant's home to tell Bhavani
"Bhavani di,jaldi chaliye,wo dukaan wale bhaisaab hai na,he has caught Ved and the others."
"Aare Vinita,first calm down.What has happened?Who has caught the children?Hasan ji ?"
Bhavani frowned listening to the panting voice of Vinita.
Hasan, according to her knowledge was a very kind hearted gentleman who seldom said anything to anybody,let alone to kids,whom he considered as his own.
And, that leniency made the children act like they held rights on his shop and often spent time with their Hasan chacha in between their play time breaks and pulled out things to eat to keep their mouths busy.
The parents were aware of their bond and let them be.Somehow aware of their actions,Bhavani and Samarth made it a point to pay something extra every month as a compensation, though Hasan never complained or demanded anything from any of the kids' family,
The youngsters weren't aware of this exchange as their activities were taken as a sign of innocence which they didn't want to ruin.
"Aare nahi nahi,Hasan bhaisahab's shop is closed for these three days na.I'm talking about that Samsiddhi store's Ramesh" when Bhavani gave a short reply of 'hmm' she continued, "Han,toh shayad bachche kuch le rahe the,and he saw them.Ab he's not letting anybody go"
Bhavani was stunned at the information but composed herself,
"Achcha,you go I'm coming"
She went inside to double check the stove and ran out to look into the matter, not before uttering a silent prayer for the kids to be alright .
~ ✿ ♡ ✿ ♡ ✿ ♡ ~
This is the first part Ch 12
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Behind the rigidity
General FictionOne which revolves around a typical middle class family from the late 80s, consisting of a rebellious young boy and his parents
