It was around 1:00 AM when the Shrivastava family finally pulled into their destination. Only Rudra and Shrishti were awake—everyone else had long surrendered to sleep. The streets were quiet, the air warm and heavy with the scent of the sea.
Shrishti was now at the wheel, having swapped seats with Rudra after he received a work call that forced him to dive into emails for a while.
In the backseat, the trio of siblings was fast asleep, twisted into the kind of awkward positions only deep exhaustion could justify. They stirred every now and then when the car hit bumps or rolled over speed breakers, but none of them woke.
“Hey,” Shrishti said softly, eyes fixed ahead. “We’re here.”
“Hm?” Rudra replied, still half-absorbed in the last paragraph of a mail, eyes squinting at the screen.
“Rudra,” she said again, this time more pointedly. “We’ve reached.”
That caught his attention. He finally looked up, then nodded as he shut his laptop and tucked it away.
“So,” she asked, glancing at him sideways, “do we wake them now? Or let them find out in the morning?”
Rudra snorted. “If we tell them right now, they’ll probably act like they’re possessed by some ghost. You know how dramatic they get when they’re sleep-deprived.”
Shrishti chuckled. “Guess we know who they inherited that from.”
Rudra turned to her with mock offense. “Excuse me?”
She gave him a knowing look, smug as ever.
“I married a drama king,” she added sweetly.
Rudra just stared at her, dumbfounded, then slowly shook his head with a helpless grin. “Unbelievable.”
They both turned their attention to the backseat again. Aaryan was half-slumped against the window, his arms folded but head tilted at an awkward angle, mouth slightly open. Aarav was sprawled sideways, one leg flopped over his brother’s, while Aaira had her head resting on Aarav’s lap, gripping Aaryan’s backpack strap like a stuffed toy.
Shrishti smiled. “I don’t want to wake them up.”
“Neither do I,” Rudra agreed. “But we also didn’t drive 13 hours for them to miss the midnight arrival in Goa.”
“I’ll handle it,” he added, rolling his shoulders like a soldier heading into battle. “Brace yourself.”
He twisted around and called out, “Rise and shine, vacationers. We’re in Goa!”
Silence.
Aaryan’s head lolled a bit, but didn’t lift. Aarav let out a snore. Aaira mumbled something incoherent—possibly “ten more minutes, papa”—and turned to the other side.
Rudra blinked. “Okay. Possessed and hibernating.”
Shrishti leaned back and gently nudged Aarav’s shoulder. “Baccha... we’re in Goa.”
Aarav cracked one eye open. “Huh?”
“We’ve arrived,” she said, smiling.
His eye shot wide open. “Like, here-here?!”
Shrishti nodded.
In two seconds flat, Aarav sat bolt upright—accidentally elbowing Aaryan in the face.
“OW—what the hell, Aarav?” Aaryan groaned, rubbing his nose.
“We’re in Goa!” Aarav beamed, suddenly wide awake.
YOU ARE READING
through thick and thin
CasualeThis heartwarming tale celebrates the unbreakable bond between siblings. Aaira and her twin brother Aarav were just 14 when tragedy struck: their parents were brutally murdered in an unfortunate accident. Overnight, their 19-year-old brother Aaryan...
