Rags To Royals (Royal #1: Book 1) | ✔

61

-• hide and seek •-

Happy Holi ✨

I ignore the call.

I had many instances in the past to do this, ignore his existence that is, but being the fool that I'm, it took me a deception, false information, fake concern, and thousands of lies to understand that. But better late than never, I guess.

My phone rings again but a knock on the door distracts me. I press on the power button, silencing the call and open the door. Agastya stands on the other side, a bruise on the corner of his lips. I fly into a panic mode and step closer, my hand reaching out to touch the cut. Big mistake. He winces aloud, recoiling away from me.

"I'm sorry," I apologise. "Who did it? Yuvraaj Bhai?"

Agastya shakes his head. "He's not really a type of man to use his fist."

I inhale a deep breath, hoping it brings some patience along with it. "Yuvaan Bhai is getting on my nerves now." I try to walk past him. He grabs my forearm, causing me to look at him over my shoulder.

He sighs. "It's not worth it. And he's got it worse than me." He shrugs cockily.

I click my tongue exasperatedly but stop myself from going over and swearing at my elder brother. Instead, I decide to treat the wounds on Agastya's face. It's like I'm his appointed, unpaid nurse, always taking care of his bruises when he returns home after a fight at school.

"Sit here," I make him sit on the edge of my bed and head to the bathroom for the first aid box. Upon coming back, I find him trying to solve the rubix cube. "I don't think you're solving it in this lifetime." I taunt him. He chuckles, tossing the cube over his shoulders before interlacing his hands between his knees, waiting patiently while I pull over the desk chair and settle before him. "Who started it?"

He shrugs. "Both of us?"

"Or he said something that hurt you so you used your fist to retaliate?" I offer.

"Something like that." He nods reluctantly, hissing when I dab the disinfectant on his cut.

I drop my arm to my lap in annoyance. "How old is he again? Because he doesn't act like he's twenty." I snort, sorting through the ointments for the one suitable for his injuries. I pick one and open the tube, squeezing out a little on my index finger before I apply it on the cut at the corner of his lips.

The phone in my pocket rings and I clench my jaw. Fishing it out, I make sure the screen is out of his sight before I put the device on vibration mode and shove it back in my pocket.

The skin on his knuckles is torn apart in scratches and cuts. I apply a thin layer of ointment on there as well before spraying his bruises with the pain relief spray and patching them up.

"You guys should stop this. What if one day you hit either one's vital point?" I ask rhetorically as I pack up the first aid box.

"We make sure we're not hitting the vital points."

I roll my eyes. "You two need help." I shake my head and return the first aid box to where it belongs in the bathroom. Just as I close the door, my phone vibrates again.

"It's been ringing for a while. Why aren't you answering?" He raises a brow in my direction. I know he's starting to think it's suspicious.

"It's Arush. He's asking me for some history notes that I made for self study. If he needs them so bad, he'll come ask them personally." I bulk up a lie effortlessly. Can anyone tell there was a time I couldn't lie to save my life? I guess, strict families do produce perfect liars.