At the Vaidya household...
Jaanvi stood at the kitchen counter, gently stirring the daal like the perfect daughter she pretended to be when she needed a favor. Her mom was chopping vegetables, her dad reading the news on his iPad with a grumble about interest rates.
"Mom? Dad?" she started sweetly.
Both looked up at the suspiciously polite tone.
"Hmm?" her mom asked, instantly narrowing her eyes. "What happened?"
"Nothing! Just..." Jaanvi smiled like a Disney princess. "There's this week-long debate competition. Coach Carter's taking our team. It's five hours away. We'll stay at a hotel. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time."
Her dad raised an eyebrow. "Five hours?"
"Yes, Dad. But it's a very important comp. Only the top five got selected. I was one of them."
Her mom's face softened a bit. "Ohh... you got selected?"
"Yes!" she beamed. "With Aditya Singh. And a few others."
Silence.
Her dad blinked. "That's the boy whose name keeps coming up."
"No, it doesn't," Jaanvi said too fast.
"It really does," her mom added calmly. "That's the boy you debated so passionately last year you lost your voice. And also the one who brought laddoos to the Diwali event, right?"
Jaanvi sighed. Great. Even her mom remembered the laddoos.
Meanwhile, in the Singh household...
Aditya was raiding the fridge for mango juice when his sister, Maya, walked into the kitchen with the energy of a snitch on a mission.
"MOM! DAD!" she called.
"No, Maya, shut—!" Aditya hissed, mouth full of samosa.
"Guess who kissed a girl and is going on a week-long trip with her?" she sang like it was an Oprah giveaway.
Aditya nearly choked.
Their parents, sitting at the dinner table, turned simultaneously.
"What did she say?" their dad asked, looking confused but intrigued.
"He's going on a debate competition. Five hours away. With a girl," Maya added with dramatic flair. "And he kissed her. I have the footage."
"You WHAT?!" Aditya sputtered.
"Not my fault Coach Carter accidentally sent me the video too," she shrugged, sipping her coconut water like an evil mastermind.
Their mom folded her arms. "You kissed a girl?"
"Mom. It's not like that."
"Then what is it like?" their dad asked, leaning forward. "Because I remember when you tripped over your own feet during a handshake. How did you manage a kiss?"
"It's... complicated."
"So, magic?" Maya smirked.
"Shut up, Maya."
"Did she lose a bet?" their dad asked, genuinely curious now.
"Or was it like, a pity kiss?" their mom whispered.
"OKAY CAN EVERYONE STOP," Aditya groaned, putting his head on the table.
"Do you like her?" his mom asked gently.
"...No," he lied. Badly.
"Oh, sweetie," his mom cooed. "You're blushing. You like her!"
"I am not—MAYA STOP RECORDING—"
"Too late. Already in the cousin group chat."
"I hate this house."
Back at her place, Jaanvi got a thumbs-up from her mom, with a very specific list of rules:
No sharing hotel rooms.
No weird food.
No kissing.
She smiled, nodded politely, and mentally crossed her fingers behind her back.
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