March 25, 2024

"Are you sure you can attend the event?" Maa asked me again as she sat in the driver's seat while our trio (me, Ayushi and Yukti) sat behind wearing old and little worn out clothes for the holi event. (I wanted to wear a new white kurti but mum scolded me when she heard about it TT).

"Han mummy, don't worry about me, I can go! Yeh do bandar kab kaam aayenge?" I snickered as Yukti smacked my head and Ayushi pinched my arm.

"MAAA, dekho na inn dono ko! Meri padi hi nahi hai inko, kal behosh hui thi tab dono bachho ki tarah roh rahe the aur abhi dekho." I pouted as everyone laughed.

(MAAA, look how they don't even care about me now but yesterday when I fainted they were literally crying like babies.)

"Behen woh bas do minute ki sympathy thhi, right choti?" She teased, doing a high five with my sister while wheezing.

(Sis, it was just for sympathy, right choti?)

"Maa see, kaise insaan hai yeh dono." I gave a side eye to them as maa intervened. "Time out. Time out. Lemme drop you three to the event quickly, warna WWIII idhar hi start ho jayega." She then started driving towards our school.

(Maa see, how cruel they both are.

....or else WWIII will start here only.)

At school.

After a 20 minute ride, we reached there as me, Yuku and Choti got out from the back. Maa rolled a window down, peeked at us and instructed, "Event jaise hi khatam ho jaye, mujhe call karna, no extra masti and no extra work (while eyeing at me), okay?" as we all saluted and later laughed.

We were about to go inside when we saw the Budhia show herself (shamelessly) in front of us.

"Good morning you three!" She greeted us, ultra sweetly, as she looked at me.

Oh god not again, not today-

"May I have a minute with you Aarohi?" She shamelessly asked as I awkwardly stood there. "Ma'am, can't I enjoy a simple event without any work?" I stated, her level of shamelessness slowly boiling in me. "Please Aarohi it will just take a min-"

We suddenly heard a car door shutting with a thud and then some loud footsteps, as we saw a furious Sarika Govind (aka my mom-) crossing her arms on the front beside me and let me tell you this : as much as she is sweet and caring, she is scary when she is furious.

"O-oh Mrs. Govind! you came to drop them off, good morn-" "Meri beti se kaam khatam nahi hua apka?" She scowled as we three gasped silently as Budhia looked taken aback.

(You are not yet done with handling work to my daughter?)

I know mumma can be scary but this roop (form) of hers, it's even scarier than the one at home.

"W-what do you mean-" "Prefect speech, Principal's speech, Vice Principal's speech, making the event schedule, arrangement of colors and pichkaris, decorations and I can count even more if you want." She said as she scoffed, "She had to cover up her backlogs until 1-3 am just because of all that work you gave her!" She added.

"She was skipping her meals and got zero resting time because of all this hassle! And mind you she fainted yesterday, near a water tap! Behosh hona koi mazak ki baat nahi hai ma'am, agar behosh hote hue sar par lag jaati toh? Would you or the school have taken the responsibility for that?" She almost shouted at Ritu ma'am as I held her hand and told her to calm down.

(...It's not a joke ma'am! What if she would have hit her head with something?...)

"And I've heard that you treat every student equally and distribute event works equally? Then what's your daughter talking and laughing like she didn't have to do a single job?" She glared at Ritu as Yukti looked at me, all wide-eyed as she mouthed 'Budhia is so done'.

"Ma'am she is in the maintenance area-" "Isn't that the job the teachers should be doing? What's a student going to do? They could lurk around in corners and they would have an excuse that they are working! You could have given her at least ¼th of the jobs you threw on my daug-"

"Maa that's enough! We're gathering a crowd" I whispered to her, as we saw Manav coming towards us with eyes that were questioning what was going on there.

Maa then calmed herself down as she spoke while Ritu ma'am had her head down in shame, "Sorry for dragging your daughter into this but my child had enough of this, if I heard you are giving all the work to a single student in the class, you would be definitely seeing yourself and me in the principal's cabin, the student's mental and physical health is more important than your jobs, Miss Ritu."

Me and Yuku internally cheered as we saw the students gaping at my mom's words while mom bid a bye to the teacher and drove back home.

"Aunty just cooked bro." Manav said while still being all shocked. "Amma kiski hain." I said, flipping my hair. "Meri." Ayushi said and we laughed as we went straight to the school ground where I actually had a small duty left. Hehe.

"Firstly Happy Holi Everyone! A warm greetings to our honorable guests, principal sir, teachers, and my dear schoolmates. I, Aarohi Govind, welcome you all at the 'Rangbhari Holi 2k24'. Now, I would like to request Ritu ma'am, our vice principal, to take over the stage. Please ma'am." I said exiting the stage while everybody clapped.

"Respected principal sir...." Ritu ma'am began her speech and for a while I mentally cursed myself for writing such a long speech.

Time skips~ (I mean who is interested in these speeches, not me tbh-)

"Let the colors of Holi drench us all with love and joy. Happy Holi to one and all." Ritu ma'am ended her speech.

"What's up Central High School, Lucknow? Shall we begin the Holi party?" We heard the DJ NYK say over the mic and the crowd went crazy.

But wait, among this ruckus I forgot about the absence of- "Aree Manav, Akshit kahin dikhayi nahi de raha hai. Kahan hai woh?" Yukti put my thoughts into words.

"Woh nahi aayega yarr." Manav said with an upset face. "Umm can I ask why?" I asked.

"Well he certainly doesn't like Holi and he prefer to celebrate it with aunty, so yup." Manav replied. "Ohh, that's fine." Yuku said and went with Manav to get colors.

'Chalo at least I know that he is a guy with family values. Happy Holi Choudhary ji' I was lost in my thoughts when someone threw a water balloon at me.

"Chotiii, tu toh aaj gayi beta." I chased Ayushi with a water balloon while Yukti joined me with a pichkari in her hand. I threw the water balloon but Choti managed to dodge it and 'splash'.

"Ek ladki bhigi bhagi si~" I heard Yukti sing while I chuckled at Ronika's state, who was the victim of the water balloon.

"Bura na Mano Holi haii." We said running away from a fuming Ronika. "That was fun." I high-fived Yuku who quickly changed expression to a mischievous one as she ran with the pichkari behind me. This time I dodged gracefully and Choti was the prey.

Amidst this joyous environment I still missed his presence. It's almost like he is the missing piece of my heart. The one who can make me feel safe in the toughest situation. The one whom I can look upto after my father. Kuch zyada bol diya kya?

Again a 'splash' but this time I was the prey from God knows who's water balloon. Karma. I shrugged and went near Manav.

"Manav bhai, piche toh dekho." I called Manav who was admiring Yukti's dance and poured a handful of colors on his head. "Yukti ki bachhi!" He turned to chase me but I had already escaped to a thandai stall nearby.

(Manav Bro, look behind.)

"Bhaiya, ek glass thandai dena." I handed him some money. "Bhaiya, do dena." Someone said from behind. "KYUN BHAI-" "Hey Ms. Govind." He said drinking the thandai and winking- at me!? Making me flustred. Abb yeh matt puchna yeh 'he' kon hai.

(Brother, give me a glass of thandai.

Brother, make it 2.)

[Play the music here]

After celebrating Holi with mumma at home, she asked me to go and wish my friends. "Woh toh school mein honge abhi. Aur mujhe jaane ka koi mann nahi hai." I said while eating the gujiya she made. "Kitna boring bachha hai mera." Mum said shaking her head.

(They must be at school right now. And I'm really not interested to go there.

How boring you are.)

Then she made me go to school while I was denying like a 5 year old. And here I'm, drinking thandai and wishing my friends Happy Holi. And suddenly,

Itna Maza, Kyun Aa Raha Hai
Tune Hawa Mein Bhaang Milaya

Ms. Govind sang while Yukti joined her dancing and throwing colors at each other.

Itna Maza, Kyun Aa Raha Hai
Tune Hawa Mein Bhaang Milaya
Dugna Nasha, Kyun Ho Raha Hai
Aankhon Se Meetha Tune Khilaya

She continued while looking at me with a 'challenging look' to join, I suppose.

Ho Teri Malmal Ki Kurti Gulabi Ho Gayi
Manchali Chaal Kaise Nawaabi Ho Gayi, Toh?

I joined her while asking the permission to apply colors on her cheeks to which she agreed with a nod. Cute.

Balam Pichkari Jo Tune Mujhe Maari
Toh Seedhi Saadi Chhori Sharaabi Ho Gayi
Haa Jeans Pahen Ke Jo Tune Maara Thumka
Toh Lattoo Padosan Ki Bhabhi Ho Gayi (X2)

Manav joined me while teasing Yukti bhabhi who was dancing crazy along with Ms. Govind and a young girl.

"Happy Holi Akshit~" Ms. Govind came near me and rubbed handful of colors on my cheeks. The touch literally sent elecrtifying signals through my body.

"Tum toh nahi aane wale thee?" She asked. "Han par meri Maa ko mera itna sincere aur shant banna pasand nahi so here I'm." I replied chuckling a bit. She introduced me to her sister, Ayushi.

"Happy Holi Bhaiya!" She said applying a tilak on my forehead. "Happy Holi." I replied shortly while Ms. Govind poured a lots of colour over her head.

And then we saw Manav and Yukti dancing 'hand in hand!'.

Teri Kalaai Hai, Haathon Mein Aayi Hai
Maine Maroda Toh Lagti Malaai Hai

We heard Manav sing while flirting with Yukti.

Mehenga Padega Ye Chaska Malaai Ka
Upvaas Karne Mein Teri Bhalaai Hai

Yukti replied while winking at Manav.

And just then, both of them froze at their spots when Manav held Yukti's hand to stop her from leaving. Manav then pulled her near himself and Yukti just hid her face being shy.

'Is this the moment? Mere bhai ko bhabhi mil gayi?' I went near Manav, putting my hands over his shoulder while he smiled shyly. Ms. Govind also came near Yukti bhabhi to tease her. And the 4 of us then danced together.

Balam Pichkari Jo Tune Mujhe Maari
Toh Seedhi Saadi Chhori Sharaabi Ho Gayi
Haa Jeans Pahen Ke Jo Tune Maara Thumka
Toh Lattoo Padosan Ki Bhabhi Ho Gayi (X2)

We danced, singed, and had too much fun. All these years, I've only spent my Holi at home either studying or playing a little with Maa but this Holi... It was the best Holi that I've celebrated till date.

♡

Sushi's note: Hey readers, first of all thank you so much for 1000+ reads and 100+ votes. Hope you liked and enjoyed this chapter.

Finally Yukti aur Manav ki setting hogayi guyz, lesgooo!

Btw Mrs. Govind ka gussa kaisa laga yeh batana matt bhulna.

Keep on voting and commenting. And don't forget to take care of yourself and drink loads of water.
Stay tuned!

With love
《Radhe Radhe》