Kirti Kriti Aur Kartik Ki

Chapter 7

A/N: Confession time, I had a really tough time writing the first part of it... so sorry for the lack of descriptions, I suck at it. And honestly, I am feeling like shit after getting my braces, hence the delay in the update (even tho it is technically me just rewriting the chapter). On a side note, the chapter just jumped from being 2.6k to nearly 4k so... yeah.

Also, a few things I didn't cover the last time around: There are mentions of allergic reactions and tbh, I am not allergic to anything, and the only reactions I have personally witnessed are from lactose-intolerant people and people with a gluten allergy (again, not extreme) 

And therefore, I apologise for the inaccuracies of the portrayal for the extreme allergic reaction, if it seems over-exaggerated or underplayed. This is not intended to offend people who are prone to extreme reactions. I wrote it up with whatever I had read from the internet. The same goes for the treatment. I have no clue about the Ayurveda so I tried to wing it with whatever made sense.

"It is decided then. We leave for Hastinapur tomorrow." Yudhisthira said and they all agreed, an uncertainty lingering over them as to what will happen thereafter.

Though the debate never ended there. There was also the fact that they had to send a message to the city so that people can know what happened and proper arrangements could be made. Kritika and Kartik were being insistent that they would go ahead and inform the royal family about the demise but the mothers outright refused, informing that they'd already sent a messenger bird that morning and would get a reply soon.

"You know... you never revealed why you preferred keeping nicknames and insist that we call you by your names" Yudhisthira said.

"Wait, shit, you feel uncomfortable with that! Why didn't you just say so! We wouldn't have forced you" Kritika said, horror flashing in her eyes.

"No, we aren't... uncomfortable as such... just feels a bit weird I think... like all of us are used to calling people older than us with respect and not use names and then you come along and are like call us by our names... why is that?" Arjuna asked.

"Its... its something we are used to, back in our place I guess. Like... how to put this... sometimes, even if people are like elder brothers or cousins... no wait, let me put it this way. Kriti and I are cousins, right? We are siblings in a way, yes. But that doesn't mean that... This is tough to explain" Kartik groaned with a sigh.

"It's our preference. And the way we were brought up. Sometimes people would be way older than you but would be more comfortable if you call them by their first name. Some others would like to stress how elder they are to you and command respect just because of their age factor. If you feel uncomfortable with calling us by our names, you are free to call us didi or bhai or anything that is comfortable with you. We just... we didn't want to force you to call us that just because we were older you know" Kritika explained.

"Like there was this family where two sisters were born like 10 years apart, but the younger one always insisted on calling her elder sister by her name. It wasn't disrespectful in any way. She just didn't want to use something like an honorific to address her sister. But then another pair of siblings, who were just a year apart, they used to call the elder one anna and the younger one thambi. Doesn't mean that they were forced to call each other that way, it was just how they felt comfortable calling each other. So yeah, if you feel uncomfortable using our names, you can always call us whatever you feel comfortable with. Sorry if we didn't consider that. We are just used to calling each other by the names that we didn't consider that others will feel uncomfortable with it" Kartik apologised.