《The Balcony》Chapter 6

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"Were you just going to hit me with an umbrella?" Her sister asked in an incredulous tone cowering behind the fridge with her arms raised in front of her face.

She lowered the umbrella and can breathing deeply trying to calm herself down. She exclaimed, "Naina! Oh God! What is wrong with you?"

Naina took the can and umbrella gingerly from her sister and laid it on top of the kitchen counter. Then she put an arm around her shoulders and calmly as though nothing had happened, said, "Kajal my dear, you gave me your spare key a month back. If you didn't want me to come, you should have told me. Why the theatrics?"

Kajal drew a breath and looked at her sister sideways narrowing her eyes into slits, "You call before you land up here, dumbo! You scared the living daylights out of me by rearranging my furniture. I thought it was a thief or something."

Naina giggled and collapsed on the beanbag. She looked up at her sister and said, "Go make some popcorn. I have a story to tell you."

She shook her head in exasperation and walked slowly up to the kitchen albeit with a small smile on her face.

Naina was the baby of the family. She had an aura of pure happiness. She had the ability to bring a smile on strangers' faces with a simple grin. She turned every situation into a happy or fun one.

She returned with a bowl full of warm popcorn and kept it on her sister's lap. Naina dug into the bowl happily and recounted her latest story. By the end of it, Kajal asked, "So you like this Nikhil guy?"

Naina gushed, "Noooooo of course not!"

Kajal laughed and said, "Of course you do. You just don't see it yet. Jeet is not the right guy for you. I told you this ages back."

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Naina huffed and walked over to the fridge saying, "I need ice cream."

When she didn't return, Kajal looked back to see Naina staring at the fridge with a thoughtful gaze. Naina said, "I look at your fridge once and I come to know everything about your life."

Kajal scoffed, "What? That makes no sense!"

She gave Kajal a shake of her head and dragged her to the fridge to say, "Look at it yourself! There are lists about everything. We are all here! Call ma: check. Buy chocolate: check. Iron pants: check. Go on blind date: check. How was that date by the way?"

Kajal made a face. Naina nodded and said, "Anyway, you see what I mean?"

Kajal shook her head and said, "You're not on here. But you're still part of my life."

Naina surveyed the notes again and exclaimed, "Aha! Here I am! Give key to N. Everything written in your tiny, neat handwriting. It's like this fridge is your boyfriend."

Kajal threw her head back and laughed. She continued to giggle as she said, "Well, he knows everything about me, keeps me well fed and keeps a cool head at all times. What more can I ask for?"

They both started laughing at that. Naina picked up a cap lying around and grabbed the felt pen dangling from the fridge. She scrawled the words "The Boyfriend" on the front and fixed it on top of the fridge. As Kajal smiled, Naina looked at the notes once again laughingly. She blinked mid scan and said, "This is not your handwriting."

Kajal looked at the note. It read, "I am sure you did not intend to shake the very core of this building." It was the first sticky note her new neighbour had sent. She didn't know what to do with it so she had tacked it up on the fridge. She replied, "I know. It's the noisy neighbour from upstairs."

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Naina goggled at her. She asked, "He is a part of your life now? When were you going to tell me?"

Kajal smirked and replied, "I don't even know if it's a he. It could be a seventy year old grandmother for all I know. Although I highly doubt that. And this person is not a part of my life. Unless you count making a racket at 8 pm every day a part of my life in which case yes, this person is a big part of my life."

Naina looked at her watch and said, "It's 8.05. There is no noise that I can hear."

At that precise moment, they hear a thud in the balcony.

"What was that?"

"How will I know? I am standing here with you!"

Naina shook her head at Kajal and walked over to the balcony to see a smiley ball wrapped in paper.

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