Chapter 28: Drenched!

“Shall I clear up the table now?” Aakash asked, pushing his chair back and standing up.

“Do the dishes too, then.” Aanya spoke as she followed his action, “I want to spend some more time chatting with Janya. It’s been ages.”

“And I need to call him.” Cabir sighed as he stood up, “My client. Some new development, he says in his message.”

“What am I gonna do, then? Play video games with the kids? I have no one to chat with or work to do.” Harshil asked with a snort.

“You aren’t welcome, Dad.” Kashvi stuck her tongue out at him.

“Hey, listen here, brat-”

“You can help Aakash wash the dishes.” Aanya suggested with an impish grin. “You can chat with him then.”

“I’m a guest.” Harshil looked aghast. “Is that how you treat your guests?”

“It’s not a big deal. Harshil, you don’t need-” Aakash began.

“What a bad guy…doesn’t even want to help a friend out. Look at how many dishes there are!” A snide comment came from Cabir as he returned to the table, drying his hands.

“Don’t you start the ‘bad guy’ thing again, man!” Harshil groaned. “Fine, I’ll help.”

As he rolled up his sleeves, Janya giggled, “Such a good decision.”

Harshil glared at her, “I do the dishes every day at home. You always take it easy.”

“I think you mean almost every day, dear,” Janya laughed. “And it’s not like you cook…after all, you have a knack for making something inedible. So, the least you can do is clean the dishes.”

With that, the two girls walked away laughing, arms around each other. The children followed them, chatting animatedly about some game.

“I hate you.” Harshil grumbled.

“Why did you marry her then?” Cabir mocked from the side.

“Why the fuck are you still here?! Just go call your client already!”

Cabir trotted away chuckling. Harshil turned, catching Aakash’s pity-filled eyes.

“What? Do you have something to say too?”

“Same as Cabir.” Aakash shrugged.

“Fuck off!”

*****

“Sooooo…” Harshil drew out the word as he washed the dishes.

Aakash scrubbed a plate with dishwashing soap and passed them to his friend to wash, “Yeah?”

“…You told Aarav about the time you two ganged up on me.”

Aakash sighed and gazed over, “You are still hung onto that fact. Stop being so childish. Weren’t you going on about not being so embarrass-”

“Okay. Fine, fine!” Harshil waved his hand. “What else did you tell him?”

“Hmm…let me see. Ah, the playground scuffle, Cabir’s failed attempt at sneaking out, and revealing that the girl I mention whenever talking about that scuffle was Aanya.”

Harshil burst out laughing at the last line.

Aakash ignored it and continued, “We also told him of the events leading to the ‘Song&Dance’ battle, the battle itself, how I met you, you getting beaten up and finally about that badminton match.”

“Quite a few fond recollections, eh?” Harshil grinned as he put away the last dish.

“Yeah. Well, Cabir and I recollected another event too. It was this afternoon when we went out, haven’t told Aarav about it. How I got my scar.”

“Hmm?” The psychiatrist cast a curious gaze at him.

Aakash lifted his fringe in response, “Same-same, eh?”

Harshil paused for a moment and then burst out laughing.

Aakash dropped his fringe, bewildered. “The memory isn’t that funny.”

“Not…the…memory…” Harshil gasped. Holding his abdomen, he pointed at Aakash’s hair.

Confused, Aakash raised his hand to touch his hair but stopped short. His hands were covered with soap and he got why his friend was chortling. Aakash hadn’t washed his hands before lifting his fringe.

“There’s soap in my hair?”

Harshil grinned in reply.

“Huh.” Aakash washed his hand and then lowered his face to the sink. After half-a-minute, he turned to Harshil, “All gone now?”

“Let me see.” Harshil leaned over and quickly ran his hands over Aakash’s hair.

Bringing them back lightning quick, he replied, “Yups. All good.”

Suspicious at Harshil’s disarming smile, Aakash ran a hand over his hair himself.

Feeling something soapy, he brought his hand to eye-level and saw the foam.

“You asshole!” With that, he flicked the foam at Harshil which stuck onto the man’s forehead.

“You wanna play?” Harshil wiped away the foam and turned on the tap near him. Enveloping the hole with his palm, he directed the water, spraying it onto Aakash’s face.

“Ughh!” Warding off the jet of water, Aakash turned on the tap near him, doing the exact same to Harshil.

“Oomph!”

The two friends went along like that for a short while like that until they were both drenched!

“Okay, stop! Stop wasting water!” Aakash called out. Laughing, the two twisted the taps and leaned onto the kitchen counter. Aakash pulled out a dry handkerchief to clean his spectacles.

*****

After a minute or so, Aakash heaved off and almost slipped.

“Shucks! I’m dead!” He muttered.

“What happened?” Harshil grinned tiredly.

“Aanya hates it when the kitchen floor is slippery. Let’s clean it up. Here,” He handed Harshil a mop as he grabbed one for himself.

“Oh, c’mon! I just washed dishes. Now you want me to clean the floor too? What am I, free labour?”

“I could smack you on the head with the mop too,” Aakash replied matter-of-factly, still holding out the mop.

“Okay, fine, fine.” Harshil grabbed the mop, resignedly. Then he laughed out, “Cabir missed out on this.”

“Hmm.” Aakash nodded as he began to mop. After a moment, he suddenly laughed. “Well, he would have loved this. Did I ever tell you? Back when we transferred schools, Cabir changed his house too. He lived near me so we came back by the same bus route.”

“So?” Harshil enquired.

“That dumbass drenched me so many times!” Aakash chortled. “I sometimes fell asleep on the ride back home. Those days he emptied his water bottle on my head! Like the water literally rolled off my hair, down my neck and inside the shirt. Especially in summers!”

“Oh?” Harshil raised an eyebrow.

“Not only did he ruin my sleep, but I was also literally shivering from the cold a few times! I splashed water back at him too. A lot of times, he dodged and the water fell on someone else. Then they started uncapping their bottles. It turned into a water-splashing fight so many times!”

“You did that? In 12th?” Harshil sniggered.

“Oh, there’s no age bar for fun. Didn’t we do something similar just now?”

“Point.” Harshil conceded. Then he slapped Aakash’s shoulder, “I can almost imagine your expression back then. Shocked, shivering and pissed. Hahaha. And Cabir pulled so many fast ones on you even when we were in DA Intl. Poor you.”

“I caught him off guard many times too!” Aakash complained. “Like-” Then broke into loud guffaws as he recalled something. “I’m gonna shock him a few days from now too! Hehehe.”

“What? How?” The look in Harshil’s eyes gave away the fact that the prankster inside him was certainly not dead.

Aakash flashed him a wicked grin, “You remember Prisha?”