Rakhi With A Twist [COMPLETED]

My Really Awkward Talk With My Brother

They looked fabulous...and expensive. With the money I had, it would take me 3 months' worth of savings to buy them. They were a bright red with the rubber stretched neatly across. 'Supreme' was the brand name. Well, they surely looked supreme.

All of a sudden, I heard the door of my room open. With lightning speed, I changed the tabs on my browser.

"Hey, what's up?" Kiaan asked.

"Oh..nothing. Just studying." I was pretty sure my smile wasn't all that convincing.

Kiaan took the bait. "Okay, cool. I'm just going out to get meds for mum and some groceries. You need anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks."

He nodded.

Phew! That was a close one.

My younger brother tended to freak out if he found me doing anything boxing related. He had advised me to "not bring work home." He was just scared of Chirag's temper. Well, so was I.

***

"I don't think I can do this. Chirag is going to shout so loud he will break the windows, and Kiaan is going to do nothing to stop him." I was ranting on to mum that evening.

She was lying on the bed and she looked exhausted. Still, she was the only person I could talk to about this. She probably thought I was a lunatic.

She sighed." "Look, you would have to tell him someday. Unless you want to miss this opportunity."

"NO!" I half-screamed. "Okay, okay, I will tell him, and convince him to let me compete."

Mum gave me her all-knowing-mother smile. "You do that."

***

I didn't do that.

The minute Chirag came home from his job, I felt like a bird trapped in a cage. There was no escape.

He was usually tired because he went straight to his job after school, but that evening he looked in a happy mood. There could not be a better time.

"Heyyyy, bro. How was work?" I was such a smooth talker.

Chirag's eyebrows furrowed and he smiled a little. "Hey, sis. Work was good. I got a paid leave for three days because the boss had an emergency to take care of.

"Oh, nice. I guess you are feeling pretty stoked, huh?"

"I am." He said. Then his face became an expression of confusion. "Listen, do you want to tell me something?"

"A-ha." I giggled weirdly. "Yes, actually, umm. Today, I got an opportunity to.." Then I remembered all the times he had been frustrated and angry whenever I told him anything boxing related. I remembered the times he would change the channel if he ever saw a boxing match on television. The time he had almost told coach I was sick, even when I wasn't, to stop me from training.

"I got an opportunity to tell my class about my culture," which was true.

"Oh, that's good. Did they ask questions?"

"Oh yeah, they asked all sorts of weird questions like, 'do you eat curry all day?'; 'is India full of snake charmers?' but they weren't rude or anything. They were genuinely interested."

He smiled. "That's great. Now, if you will excuse me, Rakhi is coming up and I need it to think of a gift to give you."

***