Of The Stars That Breathe

10. Maggi Khaaegi? (Ajey's POV)

Ajey's POV

As soon as Ahalya rang the doorbell, her brother, Ahaan, opened the door. I had already removed the extra 'camouflage' as the heat was killing me.

"Where in the name of God-", he said to her. He stopped when his eyes slid to me. There was a flicker of confusion and then his eyes became so wide that I thought they were going to pop out.

"What the-shit-Ahalya ye kya-", he was stuttering.
I looked at her quizzically. She caught my eye and said, 'Yeah...I haven't told him anything yet."
I gave her a look as if to say, 'now deal with the consequences'.

"Ahaan, listen, I have known him-"

"Well, of course you know him! Everyone does! He's CarryMinati. THE CarryMinati!". He looked at me again and just stared at me.

"Pehle humein andar aane toh de. Let us sit, phir sab explain karti hoon.", she said and pushed past him into the living room. I followed her and commented, "Hey! Nice T-shirt.", to Ahaan.
He was wearing a crimson T-shirt which had an animated cartoon picture of a bowl of 'Kadhai Paneer' sabji and a text that said,
'Paneer khaa ke moksh praapt ho gaya.'

We sat on the turquoise sofa and as soon as I had made the comment, Ahalya whirled to her brother and said, "Dude, that's my T-shirt. Take it off!".
He shrugged and said, "Can we please address the elephat in the room, first?"
Ahalya sighed and narrated the whole story to him (excluding the very serious parts, obviously).
Ahaan was speechless after this.
I was just sitting there like dumb.

"Hi Ajey bhaiya. Sorry I didn't greet you first. I was a bit shocked.", he said finally.
"Arey koi scene nahi hai, Ahaan. Aur just call me Ajey.", I replied.

He looked surprised that I took his name and then turned to Ahalya and said, "Tu mujhe ye baat abhi bata rahi hai? Shit Ahalya, Jeh bhaiya had said that he suspected it was him! Remember?"

"Chalo finally, at least someone in your family knows me!", I remarked.
"What? She didn't know you?", Ahaan asked me incredulously.

Ahalya turned red. Haha!
"Ahaan, I will explain you later. All the things. Promise. Now, go and study. And please give us some time alone!", she said.

"Arey Ahalya, just go easy on him. Shock laga hai usse. He can accompany us...", I said.

Ahalya gave me a look.
Okay. Got it.
Accompany nahi karne ka.

"Bye, now.", she said. I got up and we climbed up the spiral staircase to arrive at a closed door.

No sooner had she opened the door, than a cool breeze greeted my face. The wall opposite the door wasn't actually a wall, but was a whole sliding glass, which was open halfway through. No one would have guessed it was summer, in this room. The bathroom was just adjacent to this glass 'wall'. A bed was against the wall on my right, and the one on my left had a huge table with a PC. Beside it was, presumably, her wardrobe and mirror. But what really caught my attention was the huge ass bookshelf sitting on my immediate left. A quick look at it and I thought, nahi bhaiya yeh nahi gin sakte, humse na hoga.

Another thing that caught my eye was all the extra things. There were fairy lights, hanging on the bed wall, casting a faint glow in the whole room. Just below it were 5 or 6 polaroid pictures. The whole room was decorated here and there with posters of The Joker, Harley Quinn, Batman, Game of Thrones, The Avengers, and to top it all of, the poster of Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman and Spongebob Squarepants. God, this girl! (correction:- God, this fangirl! )

"Make yourself comfortable.", she said and pulled the curtains of the slide on one side and pushed the slide to let more air in. Outside was a balcony with two chairs.
"Papa ka room kabze mein kar liya?", I asked.