Papa nodded in agreement. "Allah sabar dai"
I glared at Ahad, who was still lounging in his chair, a stupid smirk plastered on his even stupider face.
God, I wanted to strangle him.
"What?" he asked, in innocence. "Why are you staring like that? Don't start a fight now, Miss." He casually reached for his glass of pineapple juice, sipping it like he hadn't just ruined my entire morning.
"Woah! so, now I'm the one starting a fight?"
Wasn't he the one calling me Sleeping Beauty and provoking me the second I stepped downstairs?
"Then who is starting it?"Ahad took another slow sip before facing me fully. "Obviously not me. You know I don't indulge in fights."
"Toh main hi ladaku hoon, hai na?" I shot back.He placed his glass on the table carefully. "Hmm. If you insist."
I swear, my mother almost laughed at that. She quickly made a face, trying to cover it up.
"You are so insufferable, Mr. Shah."
"And yet, here you are, talking to me, He shrugged. Well -actually, this isn't called talking. It's called fighting."
"Tumse baat karke pagal hone ke chances hain," I muttered under my breath.
Ahad smirked, leaning forward with annoying glint in his eyes. "And yet, here you are," he repeated, his voice dripping with amusement. "Tabhi toh main keh raha hoon, tum pagalon ki tarah behave kyun karti ho?"
This time, my mother couldn't hold back her laugh.
I turned to glare at her, and she immediately made an excuse to flee into the kitchen.
I whipped back to Ahad, anger bubbling up inside me.
"Tumse baat karna fazool hai."
He leaned in further, the mischief in his eyes growing. "Aap abhi tak baat kar rahi thi? I thought you were merely screaming."
My father burst into laughter but quickly turned it into a cough when I turned to him.
That was it. I pushed my chair back and got up.
He made puppy eyes
"Arrey, madam, please sit. Have your breakfast at least -" Ahad barely got halfway through his sentence before I was already climbing the stairs.
Behind me, I heard Mama calling out to him, "Arrey, Ahad beta, you eat. She can make something for herself."
Ahad laughed, then called out in a loud whisper, just to rile me up. "Woh toh tab, aunty, jab isse kuch banana aata ho."
Both my parents and Ahad burst into laughter.
Without turning around, I snapped over my shoulder, "Tum na, begairat ho."
And with that, I stormed directly to our library.
Papa had built it for me when he realized how much I cherished books. And no matter what was happening in the house, it was the one place I could always find peace. Unlike certain insufferable people, the library just listened. It held things in silence.
And right now, I needed that peace more than anything.