Just Roommates

Rakhi

The next morning, the house was in all cheers, colorful and in the mood of the festivities. Shreya and Shikha were busy in deciding what to wear and thinking of new ways to get their brothers to buy them expensive gifts in exchange for tying rakhis.

Diya came out of the bathroom, her hair wrapped up in a towel, she was out of salwar kameezas and had to give them for wash. They had finally hired a Dhobi in the village who'd take care of the laundry, it was difficult for Diya to manage it amidst work. She straightened the pleats of the Saree as she stood in front of the mirror. She let her hair down, wiping it with the towel and looked in the mirror noticing that Arjun was still sleeping. She let him be, he had to go to the site last night as well even though it was her duty.

She pulled the skirt of her saree a little up to notice the minute bruise that she got yesterday, a thin silver chain adorned her anklet, she place her foot on the table and touched the bruise, noticing the silver chain that she wore around her foot.

Two young girls sat on the sofa next to the telephone, a little morose, their hands holding their chin, their aunt had called to inform that their cousins couldn't make it this Rakhi. The little girls held a plate with vermillion and rice and a few rakhis on the side.

"Di, what will we do now? who will we tie a rakhi" One of them said

"hey Diya, I have an idea, why don't we tie rakhi to each other? After all, even we can protect each other!"

The two of them adorned each other with a tilak and began tying a rakhi to each other. This is my gift to you, the older girl said as she handed the younger one a thin silver bracelet.
"But Di, I don't wear bracelets, what will I do with it?"

"Diya You can wear it like an anklet, wait" the other girl said, putting it around her little sister's ankle

"Meeta Di, I don't have anything to give you"

"I'll ask you for a gift, when the time comes" the young girl said as if she was full of worldly knowledge

"We promise to be there for each other , support each other and protect each other for life long, so oh lord, give us strength" both of them said in front of the idol of Lord Krishna joining their hands and then bowing down to him.

Diya picked up a rakhi on the dressing table and began trying to tie it to her hand, but it is difficult to tie a rakhi with one hand, I mean she was bad at tying a rakhi to someone else that to with both her hands. While she struggles for a while trying to get the rakhi straight, Meeta's words rang in her head, "I'll ask you for a gift when the time comes", "We promise to be there for each other , support each other and protect each other for life long", frustrated she suddenly crumpled the rakhi and threw it away, then she looked into the mirror and whispered, "happy rakhi Meeta di", as she picked up her Saree and walked out.

Arjun was pretending to sleep as he noticed Diya, she looked stunning in a saree, he wanted to get up and twirl her, maybe whisper something in her ear again today to annoy her. He saw her there frozen and then how her struggle with the rakhi ended up with her crumpling it. He was only amused seeing her like this unaware of what was going on in her head, then she muttered something to herself which was inaudible to him and walked out. He nodded his head, he could never understand what was going on in her head, he got out of the bed and went to the bathroom.

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"Did you get a gift for Shikha and Shreya?" Diya asked as she did something in her cupboard. Arjun wanted to know what was wrong with her so he called her on the pretext of some wardrobe malfunction. His button was broken, apparently not by him. Diya came out with a threaded needle, she stood in front of Arjun and held the ends of his shirt trying to sew the button. Oh what days had come she thought, some one who was running a fashion house was now stitching a button on the shirt.

"It doesn't matter, ultimately they'll give me a list of some expensive things" Arjun chuckled. Diya however didn't respond.

"You look awfully quiet today, are you not well?" She was tired and not well, but that certainly wasn't what was bothering her. She continued sewing without responding.

Arjun held her wrist and stopped her. She looked up to him. "What did we talk about you responding" Arjun said trying to exercise his control. He wasn't used to it anymore. Diya pulled her hand from his and continued doing what she was doing, "Please Arjun, I'm not in the mood" she said bluntly.

Arjun suddenly screamed, "Ouch!"

"What happened?" she asked puzzled and then realized that she had possibly poked him, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" she said stroking the area around the broken button, Arjun began laughing and she realized it was a pranked. She sighed and this time with little more intricacy, pushed the needle a little deeper than it should've been

'"Ouch" Arjun screamed louder. Diya tore the thread attached to the button and smirked to Arjun before walking away.

-

Diya walked down the stairs holding a few files that had to be sent. Everyone else was seated on the table. Aman who was using his phone looked up and screamed, "Bhabhi, lizard!", Diya screamed and leapt down the stairs. Arjun looked at her amusedly and said, "see, I told you guys" and the table burst into laughter. Diya realized it was a prank and rolled her eyes. When she went and sat next to Arjun on the table, he whispered, "Revenge has been served, madam" smirking. 

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After both the girls seated all the boys and Diya next to Arjun, they did their aarti and then tied by Rakhi, following a fun banter between the boys and girls regarding their gifts. Finally all of them bid Diya and Arjun good bye and decided to proceed for home. Diya and Arjun too had to get off their mini vacation and rush to work. There was barely a week left and a lot of work. Munching on tea and biscuits for the next few nights and days they managed to complete it all in time.

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