"But we already paid the fees….. No, fine, we understand, just refund us the fees…. Ya, thanks," Ishaan sighed as he held his head in disappointment.
The boys had been up for the past hour trying to secure a vendor for the snacks and food for the puja.
Aaron came carrying two cups of hot chocolate with him. "They're keeping the deposit with them?"
"Well, no, they will return at least 80% of it" Ishaan took a sip from the cup. "I was never too great at this. This was always Shantnu da's work; he practically knows every single person in Paikpara after all; he grew up there"
After a short pause, Ishaan asked with a hint of tiredness in his voice, "Anyways, how are the decorations coming along?"
"Well, managed to secure some people who will help with the structure and placement, but for the actual decoration…" Aaron sipped from his cup; dark circles had formed under his eyes.
"I have been trying to draw a few designs last night… though I was surprised to see this morning when I woke up, a few strips of my patterns were already drawn on the decoration sheets." Both of them stood there for a minute, sipping on their drinks.
As the boys were enjoying their beverages, the sound of the room curtains alerted them to change their posture and topic of conversation.
"Anyways, Dida was saying she was planning to take Izzy and Est to see the Shyambazar pandal…." Aaron seamlessly and smoothly changed the topic to avoid raising suspicion.
Isabella came in first, already dressed, eyes still half-closed against the morning.
"Good morning, boys", Isabella greeted the boys with her still half-sleepy voice.
Estella followed, rubbing her eyes, which refused to open.
"What are you guys doing up so early?" Estella asked as she looked up at the clock that showed the time 8:42 am.
"Ahhh…. Nothing just woke up with the excitement of puja and all." Ishaan quickly hid his phone in his back pocket.
Aaron looked at the clock. " You girls should head down now; Dida should be prepping your breakfast"
The girls just nodded and started to walk, but they had already noticed Ishaan trying to hide his phone and Aaron's phone that had just started to ring as they were about to leave.
"Seriously, those boys need a lot more training before they can hide stuff from us", Estella had a smirk on her face when she said this.
"Well, at least an A for effort" Isabella gave a gentle smile, and she tried to rub off the pencil marks from her hand.
As the girls entered the dining hall, they were instantly bombarded by the kids with their warm and hearty welcome.
"Good morning, Izzy and Estella di", greeted by Kaavya.
"Good morning, boys and girls, you guys already fully energised this early in the morning?" Both of them returned the greeting in their still half-awakened voice.
"Come on, girls, breakfast is ready", Dida called out, coming out of the kitchen with an entire plate of puris and dam aloo.
"That's quite the feast" Estella was shocked by the number of puris on the plate.
"You don't expect us to finish all of it just the two of us", Isabella said with a playful concern in her voice.
"Oh, don't worry. Once you start to eat it, you will not be able to stop," Bhaskar reassured the two.
"And anyway, the busy day you two are about to have today, you'll need all the energy you can muster", Dida said as she platted 3 puris each for the girls.
The girls, as if resigned to their fates, started to eat away at the puris, which, after the 2nd one, they could not help but ask for a few more.
"Didn't I tell you that Thama (granma from father's side) makes the best lucchi/puri's in the world?" Ankush boasted proudly as if he had made them admit defeat.
Both Isabella and Estella looked at each other and, with a sigh, conceded defeat.
The boys stood behind the dining room door, smiling, while messages kept arriving on Aaron's phone — another vendor cancelling, another asking for double the original rate.
"Well, it seems even princesses can escape Dida's cooking" Aaron softly gave an exhausted smile.
"What did you expect? She managed me when even Ma had given up," Ishaan said as he looked tirelessly through his contact list to find an available vendor for the snacks.
As the afternoon rolled around, the girls were swamped with the young cousins who were busy teaching them how to play carroms and cards.
"No, no, if you do that…." Before Kaavya could finish, Estella had already put the carrom striker into the pocket.
"Damn it all!" Estella cried out loud as Ankush smirked as he pulled out one of her pieces from her pocket.
"Ha, you really suck at this, don't you, Estella di" Dakshit gave a snarky remark to Estella as he effortlessly put another piece in his pocket.
"HAWWW !!! You little… just wait and watch the next shot I am going to pocket 2 at once" Estella was amped up as she rolled her sleeves.
"Come on, Est, seriously, you are letting kids get you riled up this much." Isabella turned her head, her face very calm, as she held cards in her hand, playing Old Maid with the kids.
"THIS ONE…. ah man.." Bhaskar cried out as he pulled the joker from Isabella's hand.
"Now, Izzy, which one?" he extended his hand as the game was about to end.
"Well, which one should I pick…" Isabella hovered her hands on the cards but her eyes on Bhaskar's face as she saw his face light up, "This one… Hehe, I won"
"No fair, how are you this good…" Bhaskar was giving up, as he had already lost to her twice.
"You know, Izzy, you have no right to say I am getting riled up when you are playing like this" Estella gave a very shaky laugh.
"Whatever do you mean, sis?" Isabella looked away.
"What do you mean you can't?" Ishaan shouted from the entrance door.
"You are backing out after you are halfway done…"
"I am sorry dada but i cant i already have 2 other places I have to be. I promise I'll do it before yours starts" The worker ran off after he finished his sentence.
Ishaan, already exhausted, just turned to the sofa and just laid their, all exhausted and defeated.
The girls saw everything from the window above, and after a momentary pause, they turned to look at the kids, who went silent.
"Anyways, I am curious why you guys are asking only us to play and not Aaron and Ishaan da?" Isabella asked the kids.
"Well, they are so busy, so we didn't want to disturb them", Kaavya replied.
"Is that really all there is to it?" Estella asked suggestively.
The kids stayed silent, suggesting they were hiding something from them.
"Did Aaron or the elders say something?" Isabella asked in a tone that suggested that she knew something.
"Well, yes", Bhaskar replied in a low tone.
"Promise us if we tell you you will not tell our parents", Ankush asked in a low voice.
"Don't worry, it will be our little secret" Isabella and Estella patted their heads.
Bhaskar spoke first, "Well, a few days ago, we overheard Aaron and Ishaan da talking with the boro(elders). The elders had suggested that Aaron and Ishaan da to take your help because they knew it would be difficult for them"
"Yes, but both of them said that they didn't want to burden you girls with this and told you guys that maybe not able to enjoy it like this for a while, so they wanted to do everything themselves", Kaavya carried on.
"Before we knew it, they had noticed us and told us to keep you guys busy because it may be a long time before we can meet again and told us to keep it a secret"
After listening to the kids, the girls just held their heads as if they knew the reason all along.
"Those two…" Estella giggled under her breath.
"They are so getting a good long lecture from us", Isabella added.
As the girls were contemplating the gravity of the situation, Amrita tugged at Isabella's clothes and with teary eyes she asked, "You will not leave us right?... Promise we will meet even after Durga Puja ends"
Both Isabella and Estella looked at the kids and then looked at each other with a soft smile.
"Promise we will meet every year with you guys" Isabella patted Amrita's hair.
"Anyways, is everyone up for a little pandal hopping?" Shouted Estella excitedly, trying to lighten up the mood.
Everyone stood up excitedly and rushed to change their clothes.
While the other went off to dress up, Isabella and Estella sat on the sofa near the entrance.
"Well, Izzy, it seems no point in trying to act indifferent" Estella stood up,
"I mean, if we don't act soon, those two might actually have a mental collapse like I cannot handle Ishaan going more psycho than he already is", she said with a gentle smile on her face as she looked at the goofy dance figure on her keychain.
"True", Isabella looked inside a small locket in which she had the picture Aaron drew for her, "Well, let's get to work, shall we?"