"Arya! DON'T touch the television for God's sake!" I could hear my aunt screaming even before I reached the bottom of the stairs.
My aunt was quite similar to my mother in features. Needless to say she was beautiful. And I loved her to bits. Not her additions of course. Like the person under scanner at the moment, my six year old cousin Arya.
Don't get me, wrong. I like the kid. But kids just aren't my thing! Once they become teenagers they can think and do some stuff on their own.
All kids do is cry, burp and sleep.
"Sharon baby, I need Arya to be asleep by around 8 at least alright? She's into this whole Disney phase right now, so you have to tell her a bedtime story that's Disney. And you need to make sure she sleeps." My aunt rambled on.
"Make sure? What do you mean, Auntie?" I grumbled, pulling at my shirt.
"Baby." She said, still looking around for my cousin who was MIA, "She's very scared of ghosts and monsters and such. So you have to like, get into your pajamas and pretend like you're going to sleep right next to her. You know?" My aunt said hopefully.
"No. I don't know." I deadpanned.
My aunt looked at me in irritation, "I understand that my ruining your weekend isn't doing great things for our relationship, but she is your cousin, Sharon. And you have to take care of her as long as she's in this house. Do I make myself clear?"
I looked at her serious face and nodded slowly. "Yeah. We are."
She smiled at me and pulled me into a hug, whispering into my ears, "Becoming more and more like my sister. So beautiful."
I pulled out of the hug slowly and bade her farewell. As she was leaving she said, "Call me if anything happens to Arya!"
I saw more things happening to me than to the kid. Time to meet Satan's spawn.
"ARYA! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
I saw a little girl with curly hair step into the hallway, holding an Oreo in her hand.
"What Sharon?! Can't you see me eating?"
Don't let the innocence fool you. She was a bundle yes, but was intelligent beyond her age. And she was rude, bossy and confident.
YUP, She was pretty much a mini-me.
I looked at the watch signifying that it was 6:30pm and sighed, "Arya, you're under my roof till tomorrow morning. And we are not going to stand here fighting. What do you want to do?"
She looked at me and with an angelic smile said, "I'm hungry."
I laughed at her childish enthusiasm and said, "Alright. I'll ask the servants to fix up a meal for you. Come along!"
"NO! I want you to make the meal, Sharon! SHA-RON make the meal!" she screamed.
"Argh! Fine. I'll make pasta." I said dejectedly.
The kid smiled. She was E-VIL.
As I headed to the kitchen I asked her, "How's your brother?"
"He's good, Sharon." She said.
"Sharon?" the kid then asked me, slowly.
"Yeah, kid?" I said, looking for ingredients in the kitchen.
"You'll dance for me tonight?" She asked softly.
I froze, not knowing what to say. "Um, kid. It's been a while since I last danced. I don't know." I said.
She looked a little sad and said, "Okay."
I sighed. God, I hated disappointing this kid.
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In half hour, Arya was eating pasta on the kitchen table.
And I looked like the ugly stepsister. I had flour all over my top and had mayo on me too. I was a vision of ugliness at the moment.
"This tastes good, Sharon! You can improve though!" She said, between gulps.
I snorted in response. "Thanks, kid."
The second she got done I sent her upstairs to take a shower and change into her pajamas. She was to be sleeping by 8 and I would have it that way.
"SHA-RON! I'm not a baby, anymore! I wanna have a late night, please?"
"Arya, no. Okay? Mom said she wants you asleep and you will be asleep. Now go for your shower."
"SHA-RON!" She whined again.
"Arya, My house, my rules." I growled.
She sniffed and went upstairs to shower. I cleaned the kitchen table and looked around, it was 7:20. Maybe if the kid slept by around 8 I could chill out and relax for a while.
I then sent the servants home. Practically no job for them right now, considering the kid wanted me to do everything for her.
Sharon Raiprakash surrendering to the power of a mere child.
YUP, the world was ending.
I went upstairs to check on her and found her looking through my stuff in my room. "ARYA! Do NOT go through my stuff without my permission!" KIDS! SO nosy.
She looked down in shame and went and sat on the bed. I tucked her in when she whispered, "Story?"
"Huh?" I said, looking at myself in the mirror. I looked gross.
"Tell me a fairy story, Sharon." She said, playing with her fingers.
I looked at her and sighed. As long as she was going to sleep, I'd do whatever it took.
I sat down on the beanbag and asked her, "What stories do you know?"
She gave me a usual list of fairy tales and then I asked in curiosity, "You don't know Cinderella?"
She looked at me in confusion, "What's cin-de-de-de-della?"
Which mother didn't tell their kid the story of Cinderella?
When I started the story, Arya seemed to put the bits and pieces together. She vaguely knew the story, obviously. But didn't know much more than an outline.
The kid was smart though. When I was telling her the part where the animals helped Cinderella she snorted and then said that it was physically impossible for animals to do stuff like that.
Clever.
When I got to the part where Cinderella met Prince Charming at the ball, I knew I had her hooked. She was so absolutely fascinated by the idea that there was a prince who was that handsome. Could I blame the kid?
"What does he look like?" She asked in awe.
I stopped in the middle of the story and looked at her incredulously. "Who, Arya?"
"Prince Harming." She said, in the same awe-struck voice.
I rolled my eyes and said, "Price Charming, Kid."
"Yeah yeah, Sharon. What does he look like?"
I was at a loss for words, "Um. He has blonde hair-"
"Blonde?" The kid said, the disgust in her voice apparent."We're in India, Sharon. No one has blonde hair." She said, her voice rising.
Yikes! I had totally forgotten that the kid thought this story was true!
"Um. Okay. He has.. brownish hair. Kind of tawny you know?" I said, with more conviction in my speech. She was hooked again and listened intently.
"He's tall-" I saw her sigh in irritation. "DUH, he's tall, Sharon! He's supposed to be a Prince!"
Okay, someone needed an attitude check.
"Does he have a six-pack?" She asked, excitedly.
WHOA. Why were little 6 year olds bothering about six packs and stuff?
"Um. Yeah, I guess." Suddenly, images were going through my head of the rehearsal that day.
"AND?" She said, her voice getting more excited.
"He's got brown eyes, Arya. Deep brown eyes. And he's got two dimples, too. Right here." I said, barely even registering what I was saying anymore. "And he's got a tattoo, Arya. It's right here." I said, signalling to my left rib-cage.
"What does the tattoo say, Sharon?!" She jumped up and down in excitement.
This kid knew what a tattoo was. Why wasn't I surprised?
"Um, I don't know Kid."
I got flustered. What the hell was I saying? I was blabbering shit to a kid about a Prince! I was losing it for sure.
"Sha-ron! What about-"
The bell rang and I stood up in a jiffy.
"You better come up and finish the story, SHARON!" She yelled. GOD, this kid was demanding.
"Go to sleep." I muttered.
I went down and opened the door.
"Hey. Sorry I'm late." He said, his voice smooth. He looked dapper in his white shirt and blue jeans.
I found myself face to face with the boy I had just described less than five minutes ago.
__
"SWAYAM?" I half-screamed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
He looked at me in confusion and said, "Sharon, I'm going to barge in right now. I've no time for your scream-a-thon."
"YOU will NOT enter!" I screamed.
He looked at me in annoyance and said, "You told me to be here at 8 and I'm here. Is there a problem?" I could hear the anger rising in his voice.
SHIT.
I looked at the clock and then at his face and groaned. "SWAYAM. I meant 8 tomorrow morning!"
Even if he was suprised he showed no signs of regret. He looked at me slowly and then said, "Okay. Either way. I'm here now and you know this isn't going to take more than an hour. We'd rather just do it up now."
He then stormed right into my house and in frustration I caught him by the hand. "WHAT the hell do you think you're doing?"
He hissed and then I noticed that his hand was bleeding. "SHIT, your hand, Swayam!"
He gave me this look that roughly translated that I was a jackass and said, "THIS is why I wanted to enter in the first place. Now tell me, where's the band-aid?"
I signaled to the kitchen and walked behind him as he went in. I sat on the counter top, quite confused by the sudden turn of events.
I had Swayam Shekhawat in my house, much to my dismay. And his hand was bleeding. And we had to do work for the next hour.
"Top cabinet?" He asked. I snapped out of my thoughts and said, "Yeah, I'll get it."
He looked at me, smirked and said, "You're too short. Gimme a sec, I'll do it."
"SHA-RON! I WANT WATER!"
I flipped around and saw the little devil coming into the kitchen. She barely noticed Swayam and Swayam didn't give her a glance either. He just looked at me, amused.
I gave her a glass and then she began to observe what Swayam was doing. He was standing on his tiptoes as he opened the cabinet, looking for the kit. His shirt rode up dangerously and I had an asthma attack when I saw that tattoo peeking out.
Little did I realize that Arya was similarly in shock. For entirely different reasons.
He put on his band-aid and straightened his shirt and looked at Arya, almost in a strange manner.
"Niece, Sharon?" He said, amused. "Someone's obviously not at the mall today?"
I shuddered, took a deep breath and said, "This is my cousin, Arya."
She was looking at him, her eyes glazed. He bent down and gave her that smile. The one that gave me tingles all over. There were two adorable dimples on his cheek as he said, "Hey Arya! I'm-"
"Prince Charming." She muttered in awe.
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Everybody! :D
Thank you for the reviews. :) I appreciate it a lot. Please review this too. It really helps me improve as a writer. :D
And by the way, the tattoo Swayam is supposed to have in this story is inspired by a tattoo one of my friends has.
What do you guys think Swayam's tattoo says?
:)
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