8 Negotiations

Mehul silently sat next to Nitya and cleared his throat, "Niku, I am sorry baccha ('kid'). You know that I love you so much, even so much to say that you are like my own child, I didn't want to scream at you. Sorry once again katze('cat'); if you want to punish your dada, you can . Just please speak to me, don't stay quiet."

Mehul was prepared for Nitya ignoring him, as he knew his sister often ended up giving people a silent treatment after getting mad. But he also knew the fact that he couldn't stand it for more than a few minutes. He was thinking of some ideas to convince his little sister; but suddenly, defying his expectations, Nitya hugged her brother tightly.

"I am sorry Dada, I am so stubborn, I know- but please don't hate me. I know you also don't want me anymore; I am sorry dada, I am a very bad girl who always seeks attention, I will follow all your orders without even saying a word. But please don't stay mad at me and please keep loving me, if you don't want me anymore then Mukul also wouldn't want me and then Surbhi as...and then-" She was going on and on, when Mehul stopped her by patting her back affectionately.

"Hush, stupid! Who told you that I hate you, I can never hate you, even if I want to! But trust me, I have never wanted to hate you even once in my entire lifetime anyway! And I can't leave you as well; if I leave you then how can I survive without my little angel, you tell me? You will be the one who will leave me after getting married!"

"I will never marry anyone, so I never have to leave you!"

"Yeah , that seems like a great idea or we can just keep him with us, and his family as well? Sounds like a plan?"

"No, I will never marry anyone!" Nitya insisted.

"Okay, but what if you fall in love with someone; just like Mukul did?"

"For that, the boy will have to fulfill the entire criteria I have noted down for all of you-"

Mehul started laughing after remembering the list his sister had made for the first time, when everyone had been teasing her about not being able to find a boyfriend. She had shut everybody down, saying that being single is her choice and not her compulsion! He remembered how proud he had been, and how Mukul had ended up teasing her that with this amount of qualities, she was going to be single for her entire lifetime. He smiled and said, "Okay okay, you don't have to marry anyone, but are you going to finish your dinner or not? And I am really sorry kiddo, I have decided I will let you live by yourself but you have only one lifeline- that means one mistake, and I will take you with me."

"And what are things included in mistakes?" Nitya asked.

"If you have a single burn, even so much as a cut mark; or anything which basically hurts you, then the game is over! Are you okay with the rules?"

"Yes!" Nitya replied cheerfully.

"Now come and let's finish the dinner, okay? And let me teach you one more thing: we don't stand up in the way you did before when we are in the middle of our meal, it's not a good habit and you are a-?"

"I am a good girl!" Nitya quickly completed the sentence.

This made Mehul chuckle hard. "So, my little good girl, let's go and get some food in you."

"No! I won't go, I have one more condition."

"One more?" Mehul's eyes widened, "what's that now?"

"I am a big girl now! And I am going to turn 23 after two months, so stop calling me a little girl!"

Mehul laughed out loud saying, "Oh my God, Niku! You are really an expert in giving me little heart attacks. No matter how old you become, you will always be a baby for me, mom, dad and Mukul."

"Mukul? Why Mukul?! He is only five minute older than me."

"Yes, but older is older! You have to accept this fact, now come with me, otherwise we will end up chatting the whole night on this roof."

"Okay! Leggo!"

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The four people who had sneaked out were standing around the table; trembling in fear, when Chang Min tried to crack a joke about how he was the older one and still he was about to be scolded by the younger. But Hyeon literally roared out loud "Were all of you out of your mind? How can you all be so careless?"

"Hyung, we didn't know that it was going to rain today!" Ho-jin dared to speak, knowing he and Dae Jung were the only ones after Ji-hun, who would never get scolded by him, even after what happened today.

"That's why there is an option in our phones, known as weather forecast! Ever heard of that?"

Ho-jin and Dae Jung were shocked by his rude reply; afterall, it was the first time he had responded in this way.

While Chang Min couldn't hold it anymore. "Hey Hyeon, stop it. They are innocent, and J's trauma is not their fault as well. Ho-jin was even younger than him, and Dae Jung didn't even know him at that time. It is really unfortunate that he had to experience all this and went through the trauma alone at such a young age, but you know for a fact that he would have to fight from the demons in his head himself, and nobody else can do it for him! We all will not always be there to protect him every time."

Kaoru started pulling Chang Min's shirt to make him stop somehow. He had two reasons to prevent this from occurring : first, he was fed up with his two best friends fighting over his brothers- one of them was Hyeon's favourite, and the other was Chang min's. And secondly, Ho-jin and Dae Jung were unaware of the incident and he didn't want this truth to come out. He might have been able to succeed, but before that they all heard a scream from Ji-hun's room and they all rushed to his room in a hurry.

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