invisible string ✓

sixteen

• AADYA •

“Aadya, do you have plans to step out of the room or what?”

I heard the cacophony of my dearest brother Trinab from the living room, without giving a fuck about the privacy of his newly-famous author sister giving an interview on a popular blog page.

“Excuse me. I'll be back,” I excused my interviewer Chaitra, switched off the audio and video of our call, and opened the door with a bang loud enough to damage those tiny ears of Trinab. “What the fuck do you—”

“Aadya!” We heard the warning sound of my mom yelling from the kitchen filled with the stinky smell of fish fry; a sign for me to mind my language.

“Sorry, Ma!” I yelled back my apology and shifted my focus to Trinab. “I’m not done with my interview yet. I'll come back and teach you integration when I'm done. Okay? Bye!”

I closed the door with much fervour as I heard my teen brother complaining, “Your daughter is showing off too much attitude after becoming a Bestseller.”

As I was done rolling my eyes and whispering, “Asshole,” I walked back to my table and switched on the video and audio. “I'm extremely sorry. Stuff cropped up.”

“Nah, that's fine! So, going back to the final question… As we have seen on the Indian Bookstagram community, Ishaan is the new big thing as a book boyfriend. The demand for him is shooting up like Hell. So, imagine this, Aadya. If the Ishaan you created had existed in real life and he's in a relationship with someone from real life, how would you react to it?”

“Of course, I'll be happy for them! I'll be happy for that girl to get a guy like Ishaan as her boyfriend or her husband. As a part of the Bookstagram community, I too feel that a guy like Ishaan is all we need in this situation. So, yeah, I will be happy for sure.”

I didn't know if I was being genuine or not, but the response felt most appropriate to the question.

“Fine! Time for the wrap-up. Thank you so much for cooperating with the interview. It was such a proud moment for the team of Elixir to interview you. We wish you all the best for your future endeavours too!”

After greeting her goodbye, I saw the home page of Google Meet glaring back at me while I leaned on my chair and sighed, “Time for personal life.”

***

“Ewww! I wonder how you could even hate fish! You're not even a Bong, Aadya!” Trinab poked his tongue out to show his disgust towards his fish-hater sister while the latter was washing her hands after relishing some rice with dal.

“When did they say that eating fish is an eligibility to be a Bong?” I defended, drying my hands with the hand towel. “I thought you have to be born to Bengali parents to be a Bong. Am I wrong, Baba?” I fell on the couch with a thump and patted my father's thigh.

“She's right, Trinab. You don't have to love fish to be a Bong. Learn it from my daughter, idiot!” Baba held my head, pulled it close to him, and kissed it as a sign to show his support as a fellow fish-hater and annoy my brother.

“You guys are outright weirdos. That's why my mom defended me. Right, Ma?” Trinab landed on my mom's thighs and came closer to kiss her cheek, only to receive a handsome amount of slaps from her.

“Get up, Trinab!” Ma groaned and added, “You know my legs are weak.”

Letting my family continue their banter, I shifted my focus to my mobile as I heard it ping. It was an email from my cover maker Rachita Sen, sending me the covers she had made for Call It What You Want, the sequel of You Belong With Me.