In His Custody ✎ | (MaNan)

✰ 66 - shades of love

OH I LOVE THIS UPDATE! I hope you do too :")

Word count: 6548

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Manik

After a series of humbling, if I may say so modestly, events, namely: my inability to cut a lime for the final squeeze over the rasam, my earnest but beyond unnecessary contribution of spraying the countertops for a 'spot clean', and, lastly, my utter incompetence with a dustpan while trying to clear the chopped vegetable crumbs on the kitchen floor, both Nandini and I silently agreed on one thing. I had contributed enough for the day.

Unfortunately, it never dawned on us amidst our own loud chuckles and giggles that someone had keyed the door and unlocked it, stomping in.

For a few seconds, the man stood stunned at the sound of his beloved sister having a lovely yarn with me.

At the kick of his shoe against the rack, Nandini stumbled out to the kitchen arch with a lingering grin that mirrored mine. "Hi Abhi, listen to tonight's menu na..." His sock-clad feet moved into my field of vision as he studied Nandini, and then spaced a gap between us. She stifled a laugh from our previous conversation, "Rasam, carrot fry and a coconut beetroot curry. I'll make you fresh papad on the side..."

"No thanks, I am ordering dinner from outside tonight." His curt response killed the hint of a smile stretching my lips as his bag was deposited on the dining table to fetch his tiffin dabbas.

Nandini wrenched her neck, catching the dwindling curve that re-adjusted as soon as I realised she was watching me.

"But Abhi, we spent the last odd hour making all of this for everyone: Manik and I..."

She collected the boxes from him to put them in the sink, as if it was routine of them to do so. Earlier, when we discussed how chores were distributed amongst the three occupants, she delved into how they would cook on rotation, with one getting the necessary (and sometimes, last minute) groceries for the next meal, one would cook and the other would clean. The previous day, Mukti had done both cooking and cleaning so she got a rest day in the kitchen today.

"I said na I'm ordering from outside? Besides, even if I was starving, I would not accept food made by my enemies." He made sure his side-eye was received by the right recipient. "Better a death by hunger than poison."

As he went to his bedroom to freshen up, through the thin walls, I could hear an order being placed for a takeaway.

"Leave him, he's the one missing out! It's such good food." She swatted the air chirpily, moving towards the sink to rinse out a tempering pot.

If it wasn't for me in the house, Nandini would not be treated or talked to in such a manner. The animosity both Mukti and Abhi had with me reflected in their behaviours with Nandini as well, more so since Nandini had begun outwardly siding with me and rebelling with them on their boundaries.

As much as it brought me delight that my warrior had my back, I didn't like the hostility that was uncalled for... more so from Nandini's brother than my biological sister, but I had no right to say a word between them.

To cheer her up, I ended up striking silly conversations with her, pulling her leg and sometimes letting my name get drilled to the ground with my day's activities. When Abhi's door clicked shut behind him, both of our voices went hushed, which he distastefully noted while in his pajama set.

He sprawled himself on the couch with a TV remote in one hand, and announced to the air that he would do dish duty. Apparently, certain unwelcome guests need not contribute to house chores to offset their guilt in any way. Before it could sour Nandini's features, I cracked a stupid joke to divert her mind from the topic, which aggravated the volume on the TV.