Ansh and Vansh

A boy, who looked sixteen, though his built showed hours and hours of gym work on his body, was tied to a table in the middle of the living room. His hands were tied behind his back by a thick rope which was tied to the leg of the table.

His messy black hair sat atop his round and a little chubby face. His long legs were spread and his eyes closed.

Shreya sat on a chair facing him, holding the same wooden spoon in her right hand and anger in her eyes. He moved a little and she held the spoon tighter in reflex. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her.

His eyes, so sleepy and confused, were the exact shade of grey-blue she had dreamed of last night.

“Who are you?” she snapped at him, though the words came out far softer than she intended.

“What the… Why have you tied me? What the fudge?” he screamed, pulling at the ropes.

“Did you just say ‘fudge’? What are you? Ten?” she laughed.

“So what if I did? Not everybody like swearing” he replied nastily.

“Whatever! Who are you? And what are you doing here?” she asked him and raised her spoon up.

“Leave that thing! Are you mad? I’m Ansh! Ansh Mehta!” he screamed, kicked his legs and pulled at his ropes again.

“You HIT ME AND TIED ME. OMG LEAVE ME.” he shouted.

“You are Ansh? Ansh Mehta?” she stammered.

“YES GODDAMIT” he screamed at her, still pulling at his ropes.

“Why are holding me captive? Don’t tell me this is some sick plan of you and Vansh!”

“You know Vansh?” she asked.

“Of course I know Vansh. Are you deaf? I literally said my name was Ansh Mehta. MEHTA. Vansh Mehta – Ansh Mehta, Mehta – Mehta, brothers – brothers.” He replied, repeating and emphasizing
every word.

“You are Vansh’s brother?” she asked.

“OMG How dumb is you? Yes I am”

“But…. But..” she stammered.

“Shreya, untie me” he ordered in a very calm voice.

She moved towards him and only then did he notice the redness around her pupils and puffiness
below her eyes. She moved on his command, her brain too clogged after her recent breakdown to catch up with whatever he was saying and to differentiate between what was real and what was just thought up.

She untied her rope and he quickly stood up. The height difference astonished her; he was tall, very tall, taller than Vansh too who must have been 5’9. His wrists had rope bites and the pain he must have felt brought an equal amount of guilt in her heart.

“I’m so sorry. I thought you were a burglar or a kidnapper and so I hit you” she said, looking at her feet, too ashamed at herself to meet his eyes.

“Why would you think that?” he asked as he rubbed at his wrists.

“Um.. you wouldn’t understand” she replied and adding, “I’ll get you a glass of water and some cream for the rashes” ran away.

“Then make me” he screamed after her.

She brought him a glass of water and applied the cooling cream on his wrists; every ‘oof’ he made was a stab at her heart. She hit him unconscious, tied him and gave him an almost traumatic experience.

“Why are you here?” she asked, at the same time he asked, “Were you crying?”

She ignored his question, pretended not to hear it and repeated, “Why did you come here?”

“Vansh sent me”

“Really? Why?” she asked, unable to contain the butterflies she felt in her stomach and tingles in
her core.

“Well, he lost his phone and he can’t detect his phone too, so he tried calling you from the Mehta
Corporation but before he could say anything you screamed and cut the call.”

“Someone shouted, ‘Why the fuck did you do that’ and I got afraid” she replied meekly.

“That’s my dad for you. Vansh wanted to come here but since he upturned the whole office in search of your number, he is not allowed to get out of there unless he sets it straight again.”

“This is why I came here, as the message delivery bird that got assaulted by the sender’s girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry again” she said and then asked, “What’s the message?”

He spread his hand and asked, “Payment first”

“Huh?” she looked at him, confused.

“I don’t deliver messages for free, give me my payment” he said.

“Okay. How much do I pay you?” she asked, felling a little weird and stupid.

“Oh no no. You don’t pay Ansh money, you pay him gossip. Vansh bhaiyya has got a silly smile on
his face from the first day he met you and even after a thousand tries I have failed to get the story of how you met and what you did for your date. So darling, if you want the message, give me the deets”

“NO” she laughed, and quoted “You are not getting any deets from me.”

“Oh but I am” he said in a confident mean way, the way she thought only mean girls could say.

“You are not” she raised her brow.

“I am, darling. Don’t you wanna know what he said to me? Don’t you wanna know where your next
date is or when that is? What will happen if he comes here ready to pick you up for a date and you sit here looking like a hobo? Is that what you want darling? Yeah? Tell me” he taunted in an
exaggerated tone.

“You can’t taunt me like that” she pouted.

“Don’t you wanna know what you have to wear? Do you even have clothes that would be right for the date he has planned? And you know I’ll find that story either way, by you or by him. But you on the other hand…..” he left it at that.

A tense silence later, she groaned, “Okay! You win! But you are not repeating it anybody and I really mean nobody. This ‘nobody’ does not exclude your best friend, brother or anyone else.”

“I’ll not repeat it to anybody. I promise” he promised and raised his pinky finger.

“Also, you are not allowed to judge me, shame me or call me names” she said in a strict voice.

“You just got me even more interested in the story, and why would I do that? God no! I swear I won’t!” he promised.

“Come closer” she said and he moved towards her.

“Closer” she demanded, and he moved towards her even more.

“Give me your ear” she said and screeched in his ear, “COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

“Ohhh! Oh fudge! What the fudge was that!” he screamed.

“Why would you do that?” he shouted and she laughed- the deep laugh right through the belly.

She bent down and laughed without making any sound, her cheeks turned red and her eyes watered.

“This is not fair! This is so not fair!” Ansh remarked.

“Oh but don’t you know? Life is not fair darling!” she smirked and twirled in her place.

“I’ll remember that! I’ll remember that! I’ll get my revenge” he threatened and walked out of the
door.

As the door shut, she chuckled to herself. ‘He is a masterpiece’ she thought and picked up her
phone to call Vansh on the number he had used to call her this morning.

The phone rang, and she held her breath. Not sure why, maybe because she was expecting his dad to pick the call and shout at her again. With any luck, he would still be there cleaning it up, she chuckled at the thought and heard his voice, his smooth sensual voice saying hello.

“Hey” she breathed back, her heart beat raised for some reason and desire shot up through her core.

“Shreya?” he asked.

“Vansh” she replied, her voice still breathy.

“Hey! I am assuming you met my brother and I apologize because I’m sure he must have troubled you for some ‘deets’ on us” he chuckled.

“He did, but you know I must be sorry. I hit him unconscious and tied him up to my table for
interrogation. Poor brother of yours, I must have scarred him.” she laughed embarrassed but feeling like a badass.

“Hold up! What did you say?” he asked, confused.

She retold the story, with some exaggerations and a lot of oohs, aahs and laughs.

“I can’t believe you did that, whatever reasons you built up in your head, you hit him. You really hit Ansh and that little darling got unconscious with one hit? Just one? You, my girl, are a fucking bad ass” he praised and her heart stopped when she heard him say my girl.

There was so much love and appreciation hidden in just two words.

She was his girl.

“What was the message you sent me by the way? He didn’t tell me anything, just tried to sell it for information” she asked, chuckling at the end.

“Right! I just wanted to ask if you were tonight, and if yes, can we Netflix and chill?”

“You just stole my heart, yes, we can” she replied, adoringly.

“Did I? Already? What will happen to all the plans I had hatched to steal your heart?” he asked feigning hurt.

“Sorry, you stole 1% of my heart. I am ready for all the plans you have hatched daddy and I’ll be the biggest fucking tease the whole while” she giggled.