Our Library of Wishes

04

reminder : cast your vote ❤️

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✧.*  devil reincarnation  *⁠.✧

"Mumma, mumma, mumma! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" The girl tweeted like a damn bird.

Akira knowing what was coming next, cozied more under the sheets and tightened her grip over it. For someone with such tiny hands, Khushi did possess a lot of strength and it took an enormous effort from Akira to not let her daughter pull away the sheets from her face.

"Let me sleep!" The woman elder in age screeched in her groggy morning voice.

"It's morning, Mumma and we've pooja in our house. Jai Shree Krishna," Khushi chirped, unbothered and started poking at her mother's stomach who in return simply turned to the opposite side.

"I'm tired. Let me sleep." She yawned and snuggled more like a kitten trying to be as comfortable as possible.

Khushi climbed on the bed and then settled above Akira's back, both her legs on either side eliciting a yelp from the suffering woman.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" She whined. "Leave me alone. I'm tired!"

"But we've a pooja in our house and you always scold me when I wake up late for a pooja!" Khushi whined as she once again tried to pull away the sheets.

This time Akira let her. She forced herself into a sitting position and shot a dirty glare in Khushi's direction which had the kid scrambling to her feet and getting off her and the bed whilst looking at her with innocent, doe-shaped eyes.

Akira points a sharp finger towards her. "You— "

"Naniiiiii!" Khushi screams, cutting her mother's words off. "Mumma isn't waking up."

She gritted her teeth at the reincarnation of devil in front of her who pretended to be doing a noble job for the sake of humanity when in reality, it was just to get back at her mother.

Rekha was quick to come to their room, her gaze shifting between the mother-daughter duo warily.

"Mummy," Akira addressed her mother while keeping her intense stare fixated on Khushi. "Take this Satan's spawn away from my sight and leave me alone. My head hurts and I barely had few hours of sleep." She once again ducked under the sheets and closed her eyes, clutching the fabric firmly in her fists.

"Your daughter is wide awake, everyone else is too in this house and you're still in the bed!" Her mother shrieked. "What impression does this give?"

"Well, it's not my fault that Khushi has got some ten hours of sleep while I'm struggling with what, three? Four?" Akira yelled back.

"Well, it's also not her fault that you didn't have adequate sleep." Rekha pointed out in an admonishing tone, implying her late night rendezvous.

She fell quiet at that accusation.

Rekha sighed. "Did she use to do this in Cambridge too?" She asked Khushi in a small voice, faint but audible to Akira.

Khushi nodded erratically. "When she used to have off days, she wouldn't wake up and so many times, I had to call my best friend to help me get Mumma out of bed." She shook her head as if reminiscing a difficult time and blew out a breath.

"They're called off days for a reason! What am I supposed to do after waking up early? Stare at pigeons?" Akira snorted from under the sheets.

Now, Khushi was a great kid. Attentive, obedient, courteous, didn't take much time to mingle with people, smart, curious, cheerful and everything more but she was her mother's daughter at the end of the day. Just like how Akira kept account of everything and didn't let anything slide, Khushi did the same and more often than not, Akira found herself at the receiving end of her daughter's cruelties. For all the times, Akira would wake Khushi up early for the festivities, she would get back at her mother by not letting her sleep to her heart's desire on her off days and drag her for some or the other activity.