through thick and thin

Chapter 19

The next day, the Shrivastava family had finally woken up late, their tiredness evident from the way they dragged themselves around. All of them were starving, but breakfast hadn't been prepared yet.
Today, they'd decided to make it a little adventure — they would cook breakfast themselves.
While Rudra and Shrishti tackled their tasks with the seriousness of masterchefs, for the siblings... well, cooking was less a task and more chaotic entertainment.

Rudra and Shrishti had taken up making aaloo parathas — Shrishti expertly kneading the dough, while Rudra managed the cooking at the stove.
Meanwhile, Aaryan was rummaging through the villa’s refrigerator, frowning.

"Why are there only fruits and vegetables in here?" he yelled dramatically.

"To make sure the three monkeys we brought along don't end up falling sick," Rudra replied without missing a beat, flipping a paratha with flair.

Aaryan rolled his eyes and continued his search, finally pulling out a bottle of Coke like he'd found treasure.
"There we go! Finally, a cold drink," he whispered triumphantly.

But before he could even unscrew the cap, Shrishti’s dangerously calm voice floated through the air,
"Don't you dare drink that thing in the morning."

The next second, the bottle was sheepishly returned to its place, as if it had never been touched.

Aaira, meanwhile, had planned to have her favourite mango milkshake — one usually made by her father. But seeing Rudra busy, she decided to take matters into her own messy hands.

After cutting up ripe mangoes, she dumped them into a mixer bowl and asked loudly,
"Papa, how much milk should I add?"

"Around four and a half glasses," Rudra called back without looking.

Aaira found a glass, filled it four times, and then added a very careful half glass into the mixer. Her hands and sleeves were already decorated with sticky mango pulp by then.

"Papa, should I add sugar too?" she asked again, licking some mango off her fingers.

"Yes, baccha," Rudra replied patiently, trying not to burn the paratha.

"How much?"

"Five spoons."

Nodding seriously, Aaira added a generous five heaping spoons of sugar and switched on the mixer, causing a loud whirring noise to fill the kitchen — and a few splatters of mango mixture to land on her already stained clothes.

On the other side, Aarav had taken it upon himself to make simple bread toasts.
He triumphantly placed slices into the toaster, but the moment he sat down at the table to wait... his head lolled forward, and he dozed off.

A few moments later, smoke started rising from the toaster.

Aaryan, who was now pouring himself a glass of water, noticed it first.
"OH GOD," he yelped, sprinting to unplug the toaster.
He shook Aarav awake by the shoulder.

"Get up, Captain Burnt Toast!" he snapped.

Aarav blinked at him sleepily, confused until the smell hit him. "Oops," he muttered, scratching his head.

Finally, after all the chaos, the Shrivastava family managed to settle around the table for breakfast.

Aaira poked suspiciously at a piece of charred toast, wrinkling her nose.

"What kind of edible is this supposed to be?" she asked dramatically, holding it up like it was a biohazard.

"That's a jala toast," Aarav replied proudly.