Tissue For This Issue

Chapter 7

It was Saturday morning at the Kapoor Mansion, and Ram lazily walked down the stairs into the dining room.

"Morning Maa, morning Shardul," he said before leaning to look into the kitchen. "Morning Tarun, morning Mohan."

Seeing the two helpers nod back at him with a smile on their faces, Ram sat down in his chair and beamed as he saw ghee upma on the table.

"Arre vaah, ghee upma for breakfast! Thank you, Maa!"

"You're welcome, bachha. I thought that we should have your and Shardul's favorite breakfast today because we haven't had it in a long time. Achha, what are your plans for today?"

"What are YOUR plans for today, Maa?"

"Do you remember Neetu Aunty from our village? She called me today and said she would be in Mumbai for a while, so I thought I should go and visit her."

"That's good, Maa! Waise toh I wanted to ask if I could invite some friends over to watch a movie. Not too many people, just 2-3 if that's okay with you."

"Ram, you're a big boy now. You don't need my permission for these types of things," Shalini chuckled.

"I might be a grownup, but that doesn't mean I should just invite people over without informing you first. After all, you're the queen of this house. Only those whom Maharani Sahiba Shalini Kapoor deems worthy shall be allowed entry into her mansion," Ram said playfully.

He turned from his mother to look towards his best friend. "By the way, Shardul, is it okay if I invite Priya today?"

"Why would it be a problem for me?"

"You're her boss, so..."

"Duffer, are you forgetting that you're her boss too?"

"Yeah, I know I'm her boss, but I'm inviting her over as a friend. I can do that because she calls me by my name and doesn't always affix 'Sir' at the end," Ram said, sticking his tongue out.

"Maa!" Shardul let out a whine. "Ram keeps teasing me about Priya always calling me "Shardul Sir' and not by my name! And now even she's joined in after Ram told her I used to be a teacher!"

"Hey, all I did was tell her what your old job was. It's her call to address you however she likes. Maybe if you were a little cooler, she'd drop the suffix."

"Yeah right!"

"SHAANT!" Shalini shouted. "It seems like I need to personally apologize to Priya now, seeing how you two fight over tiny things like this."

"But Ram started it!"

"And you can end it, Shardul. God knows how she survives daily car rides with you both without losing her mind."

"But Maa, you should be happy that our fights are over small things like this. Other siblings get into huge fights over things like money and property; meanwhile, I don't think we've ever gone a day without speaking to each other."

"Woh toh hai. My Ram has always been practical, while my Shardul has always been soft-hearted. But I can't take any credit for the latter; it's all because of Harish Bhaiyya and Ragini Bhabhi's upbringing. If only they could see how well their bachha has grown up," Shalini said, lightly patting Shardul's head as he gave her a sad smile.

"But I have you, Maa, and that's good enough for me," Shardul replied, kissing Shalini's hand.

Clearing his throat, he looked back at Ram. "Toh Ram, are you planning on inviting JUST Priya?"

"Arre no, Alu would kill me if she found out we watched a movie without her. And I was thinking that because I'm asking Priya, why not ask Ritika if she wants to come too? What do you think?"