Heartbeats And Halos

Chapter 1

• P a l a k •

"No bhaiyaa I am telling you that I will not give even a single penny more than thirty rupees for this." Ragini sternly said pointing her index finger at the shopkeeper who didn't look pleased at all.

"Arey madam I told you fifty means fifty. The rate is fixed." He said while gathering the tomatoes which were rolling hither and thither meanwhile I tapped my foot impatiently on the soil already irritated by this bargaining session.

It was only February but the sun was already on our tails and the heavy salwar kameez I wore didn't help either. I wiped the sweat off my face with my rumal and glared at my twin who looked pretty comfortable in her chikankari short kurti and trousers. We were currently in the sabzi bazaar buying vegetables for home.

"Yaar just give him fifty rupees and get this done with," I told her even when I knew it was of no use.

"Are you serious? I am not paying fifty rupees for one kilo of tomatoes." She shrieked. "Bhaiya, will you give it for thirty rupees or not? We can visit other shops too."

The shopkeeper looked genuinely confused and didn't say anything for a few minutes. Because he didn't want to face loss by selling it at a low price, on the other hand, he also didn't want to lose the customer.

"Ok madam, forty-five it is."

"Thirty," she said again stubbornly.

"Forty-five"

"No, we are leaving" She walked a few steps and I followed in relief thinking this was over.

"Ok ok madam, thirty" The shopkeeper screamed for us to stop. Ragini turned around with a satisfactory smirk on her lips and I just shook my head and sighed again following her to the shop.

°°✿︎°°

"If I haven't been there I know you would have spent all the two hundred rupees just buying vegetables." Ragini smiled proudly as she praised herself.

Due to her bargaining skills, we saved sixty rupees and went to eat gol gappe. Well so much for standing in the sun for an hour.

"Now what can I say? I am not the one blessed with Dadi's bargaining skills." I teased.

"You..." She yelled as she punched my shoulder and in return I pulled her hair. We kept our cat-and-mouse fight going as we entered the gate and walked further towards the entrance of our house.

"Wait wait," I told Ragini who was slapping my shoulders. She stopped because my face had turned serious all of a sudden.

"What?" She raised her left eyebrow questioningly.

"Are we having guests today?" I asked and pointed towards the slippers which didn't belong to anyone at home.

"Not that Mom mentioned anything about." She replied. "It's strange because mom always informs us about guests at least three days before they arrive."

"I know" We slowly entered the house and saw Mumma, papa, dadi, chacha, and another lady sitting in the living room. Mumma saw us first and smiled brightly.

"Arey, you both are back. You guys have a very long life. we were talking about you both just now." Mumma said and suddenly all the attention in the room shifted to us. The lady whom I still didn't recognize smiled.

"Oh dear, you both have grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were just 8 and now look at you." She said. I looked at Mumma who gave me a look 'play along'. And So I did.

I nudged Ragini's arm and she understood my sign. We went to the lady and touched her feet for blessings.

"Namaste, aunty ji," we both said in unison.