Ananya's POV:

"Is the war about to begin?" Pooja asked me as she plopped down next to me on the sofa in front of our TV with a bowl of chocolate ice cream in her hands.

"Yeah", I replied as I shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth from my own bowl. We were watching a rerun of Mahabharat.

Pooja had come to my house, straight from school along with me and Arjun so that the three of us could finish our Biology record together.

We had started out enthusiastically discussing the Botany diagrams and had even gotten as far as writing the exercise number and title in the first page.But then somehow we went to talking about about our Botany master, then about how his son was much more handsome than him, then about how the boy was hot enough to marry Kylie Jenner, then about how Kylie Jenner had become a mother at such a young age, then about motherhood, then about life, then about death.

We were halfway into talking about rebirth and salvation when my mother had opened the door and said, "You guys have been working in there for so long! How about you take a bit of a break and have some chocolate ice cream?".

At once the three of us had dropped the record notebooks (which still had only the exercise number and heading), and hurried off to grab the ice cream. And then we had settled down in front of the TV.

"First Real Housewives, then Harry Styles and now this! Why are you girls obsessed with the most boring things?", said Arjun furiously mashing his ice cream with his spoon. For some reason, he always loves to mash his ice cream before he eats it.

"Oh honey! You can't call Harry Styles, boring!"

"Why can't we watch this?", Pooja said.

"Because I don't like it", Arjun grimaced

"Okay then do you want to watch that fucki-"

"AUNTY CAN I TAKE A LITTLE MORE ICE-CREAM OUT OF THE FRIDGE?" Pooja yelled loudly.

Okay. I had forgotten that mom was in the room next to us. And I was about use the F word.

"But still you didn't have to scream in my ear like that", I muttered.

"Sure dear", mom's voice came from the next room.

Pooja hurried to fill up her bowl again as Arjun thrust his bowl at her, "Get some for me too".

Pooja frowned and took the bowl from him and went to the kitchen mumbling about the disappointingly long walk in our house from the the television to the fridge.

"Why can't you people have another TV in the dining room too?"

"Are you serious? Mom will kill us if we ask for one", Arjun said.

"You guys have this big ass house, but can't afford another television?" Pooja frowned.

"It's not about affording", I explained "According to mom, a second TV means too much TV time which is a freaking health hazard".

"Come on! You're going to die anyway. Die with some good entertainment going on", Pooja complained.

Yes. That's how Pooja behaved in our house. With no filter. And like family.

Later that night, I and Janvi talked about Arjun.

"He skipped the last NEET class again" I said indignantly to her.

"I know. And I have a share in his guilt. I answered the call from your tuition center".

I had to take this opportunity to tell a few home truths to Janvi.

"You really shouldn't be encouraging him to do all this, you know", I said "He'll start thinking it's right".

"I know", Janvi sighed, "But it's pathetic to see him having to do something which he has absolutely no interest for. This is ridiculous. Either your parents should sit Arjun down and ask him what he wants to do with his life or Arjun has to take a stand and tell your parents. We all have only one life. Why should we be doing a job we don't like? You don't know how glad I am that I stood up to my parents when they said I had to study medicine like my brother!"

"Right", I said. Giving dramatic speeches wasn't usually Janvi's thing.

"I sometimes feel Arjun has a lot of my DNA" she said, "You know, those passing-on-of-traits or whatever they call it".

"You mean inheritance of personality traits?"

"Yeah yeah. Sorry, I never paid attention in any Biology class when I was in school".

"Not even the reproduction class?".

Janvi grinned. I grinned back at her.

"Okay I get what you mean, Arjun does have a lot of your thing", I said "Where else does that rebel nature come from? He's your nephew more than dad's son."

"You're not a rebel because you want to follow your dream, Ananya".

My grin dissolved, "I wish Arjun would hurry up and have a straight talk with mom and dad" I said "All this hide and seek stuff is going to get him nowhere. I even think he might fail NEET on purpose".

"I've no doubt about it" said Janvi and then she looked up at me, "But what about you?"

"What?" I asked struck by the change of topic, "I am not going to fail it!" I said "At least not purposely".

"No Ananya", said Janvi, "What I mean is, do you really and honestly want to be a doctor? And it's not just because of what your parents are saying?"

"Yeah", I said firmly, "I really and honestly want to be a doctor. Viraj is the place I want to spend my life in".

Janvi bit her lip and nodded, "In that case, cool! I'm happy for you!"

I didn't know what to say. But I didn't have to.

"And, see here, there's something else I have to tell you", she said. I looked up . She looked like she'd been bursting to say this.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Tomorrow you and Arjun are going to meet someone".

A/N : Hey my lovely people. I hope you liked this chapter. If you did, please do vote and comment before you leave..❤️

My next update will come up soon. Thank you so much for reading! ❤️ Much love!