ephemeral

morning mayhem

6th july, 2024.

8:16 am.

the next morning, the pandya house was unusually quiet. the early morning sun filtered through the curtains, casting a soft glow over the living room where ishan, kasturie, and hardik had crashed the night before. the scene was a testament to their late-night movie marathon and the comforting camaraderie they shared.

pankhuri, always the early riser, came downstairs to start breakfast. as she entered the living room, she stopped in her tracks, suppressing a laugh at the sight before her. the three of them were sprawled across the floor amidst a sea of pillows and blankets in the most peculiar positions.

"oh my god," pankhuri whispered, trying to stifle her laughter. "what happened here?"

hardik was lying on his back, his right arm stretched out and tangled in kasturie's hair. kasturie was lying diagonally across him, her upper body on his chest, and her legs splayed over ishan's back. ishan, in turn, was lying face down with one arm draped over kasturie's back and one leg awkwardly twisted under hardik's leg, his face half-buried in a blanket.

pankhuri shook her head, smiling at the chaos. she quietly walked over to them and gently nudged ishan, who groaned in response.

she quickly grabbed her phone and snapped a picture, knowing this was a moment they'd all want to remember. then, with a gentle nudge, she started to wake them up.

"guys, wake up," she said softly. "we've got a busy day ahead."

hardik groaned and shifted, his eyes slowly opening. "what time is it?"

"time to get up," pankhuri replied, smiling. "we have outfits to finalize, remember?"

"wake up, sleepyheads," pankhuri said softly. "it's time to get ready for the day."

ishan grumbled something unintelligible, but the gentle prodding finally roused him. he blinked blearily at pankhuri, then looked at the others and laughed. "sote wakt toh sab seedhe the."

kasturie stirred next, lifting her head and squinting at pankhuri. "yeh subah itne jaldi kyu aajati hai?"

"you three need to get up. we have a lot to do today," pankhuri said, still amused by their tangled state.

hardik groaned as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "why does my back hurt so much?"

"probably because you were the base of this human pretzel," pankhuri teased.

they all laughed as they disentangled themselves and slowly got to their feet, stretching out the kinks from their makeshift sleeping arrangements.

"okay, ab sab utho aur fresh ho jao." pankhuri said, heading to the kitchen. "hume outfits finalize karne jaana hai."

after a lot of whining, they all got freshened up. kasturie went into hardik's room while hardik was in the shower. she went into hardik's wardrobe to grab a tshirt and some shorts because she was still in the same sweats in which she went to drop shubman at the airport last night. as she entered, she saw that the light was on. ignoring that she went further inside just to see ishan doing the same.

"kya chori karneka soch rha hai?" she quietly went behind him.

"AAAAH! acha tu hai. pagal dara diya na mujhe." ishan dramatically kept a hand on his heart as got startled at her voice.

they took some clothes for themselves from hardik's wardrobe and came out. kasturie found a captain america tee and some black shorts. ishan went to take a shower in the guest bathroom while kasturie waited for hardik to come out. she knocked on the door. "bhai jaldi aa. tu andar mar var nhi gya na?"