Banned From Grocery Shopping

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Guys, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate all the readers who are taking their time to comment on my story. Thank you so much, your comments motivate me to write heheee

Do comment inline if you like this chapter (took me a lot of thinking for this one)




Aakrith stares at Kabir, who is sitting across the desk. Aakrith, sitting on the opposite side of the desk, makes a crying face at Kabir but Kabir is not even looking at him. Sighing loudly, Aakrith starts tapping his pen on the desk to let Kabir know that he is bored!

Still no reaction from Kabir.

With another sigh, Aakrith's eyes fall back to the sheet of paper which is lying on his desk. The sheet says:

I am good enough because...

Aakrith has to write an essay and give three reasons why he is good enough. In detail.

After Kabir had realized that his brother has a really low self-esteem and how low he thinks of himself, Kabir had assigned Aakrith to write this essay as an exercise to build some self-esteem in his brother.

"Babaaa!" Aakrith calls out, shamelessly whining.

"Haan, Aakrith? Kya hua?" Kabir asks him patiently, not reacting to his brother's whining.

"This is so stupid!" Aakrith says, pointing to the sheet.

Kabir simply nods his head. "I know, Aakrith." Saying this, Kabir gets back to his work and Aakrith's jaw drops in disbelief. 

That's it? Again no reaction from his baba. No expression. Nothing!

"Yaar, baba!" Aakrith whines again. "Aap meri baat kyu nai sun rahey?"

"Sun toh raha hu, Aakrith." Kabir replies calmly. "I am listening to you. I just chose to ignore your complaints."

To be honest, Kabir is not even ignoring Aakrith. He is watching his brother's every sigh, his every fidget in the chair, his every tap of his pen on the desk. Everything!

Aakrith wants to cry loudly like a four year old who has been denied a candy.

"Baba, please. I can't do this."

Kabir looks at his brother and says. "Yes you can, Aakrith. You are just too scared to write it down."

Aakrith looks away, suddenly wanting to hide under the desk. For the first time in his life, he is clueless to write something. He doesn't know how to begin to write good things about himself. And he is worried that his essay won't be upto Kabir's liking.

"Can I just write this essay in general? It doesn't have to be about me. I can write the whole essay on the topic of low self-esteem. Baba, aap jitne page kahenge utne likh dunga. But please, yeh nai hoga mere se."

Kabir shakes his head in a no. "This is about you, Aakrith. I know tum uss topic pe page bhar bhar ke likh doge. But I don't want that. I want you to write this essay for you. For yourself."

"I can't...I can't think of any good things about me." Aakrith admits with a low voice, his eyes not meeting with Kabir.

Kabir notices Aakrith digging the tip of the pen in his palm, subconsciously. Aakrith is really stressed about the essay not being good enough.

Kabir reaches out and gently opens the closed fist around the pen. "Please, stop this, Aakrith! You are hurting yourself." Kabir says and Aakrith looks at his palm which has a tiny hole now due to the pointy tip.

"You are worried that I won't like the essay. There is no right or wrong about this essay, Aakrith. Tumhe jo sahi lage woh likho. But please write something."

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