Betrayed....or not?

Her nostrils flared at the thought of what had happened. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was ragged. Her mouth was set in a thin line. She walked briskly into her quarters. All in all, she was furious.

She was betrayed. By her own brother. She would never forgive him. They had had a pact. Their deal was pretty straight forward. They had an alliance that they would always, always fight opposite to their younger siblings. And now out of nowhere her older brother had grown a heart and changed sides. Who did that? It felt pretty heartless to her. He had gone over to the enemy and given them valuable information. Now what were they to do? Their younger so called siblings would now gloat at her defeat, and their so called victory. All because of him.

She had never felt so angry in her life. She was filled with seething hatred right now. All she wanted to do was to launch at her older brother (READ: Traitor) and scream at him and beat him up. But all she could do was cry shamelessly.

All she wanted to do was eat their share of chocolates in peace, after dinner. So she and her brother had hid them away. And now she finds out that he told their younger siblings where they were!? It happened like this always. Each time the older ones had something for themselves, their parents or someone told them to share it with the younger ones.

She knew that being the oldest sister (and the second oldest of all) amongst 6 siblings constantly came with responsibilities. She and her older brother (the oldest of all) were the honorary parents. Have siblings they said; it will be fun they said. But it was no fun. It was all fun until she was the youngest. But when more and more of her brothers and sisters came, she and her older bro had to make the pact. To always stick to each other in wars like this. And to show those little devils no mercy.

Don’t get her wrong. It was fun once in a while. When they pranked their parents or relatives. Or when they wanted to evade their chores and they rebelled together. But now those times were long gone. These times were grave. This was war for god’s sake! And her one trusty brother had changed sides. She felt like she was drowning. She was sure that they would win this time and that whatever may come they would not pull up that white flag; but that older so called brother of hers had switched the sides!

She had never regretted having done the pact before. Her older brother always had her back…so why this sudden change?

She just wanted to curl up in a ball and die. She was sure of their victory…and now- now all of her dreams were shattered. They had worked so hard to hide the delicacies. They had come up with the perfect location, strategy and timing and now all of those efforts lay in waste.

Was it so wrong that she wanted to eat those huge, delicious, lip smacking chocolates all by herself, just for once? She was tired of sharing those lovely sweets with her younger siblings. So she made a resolve. She would cry later, first get her huge share of chocolates. And that resolve would begin with the confrontation of her older brother.

So with purpose and confidence she moved to her brother’s room. He thought that his switch over happened in the dark, without her knowing about it. Oh boy! How wrong he was. The moment she entered his room, he greeted her with a soft smile…and what was it in his eyes? The look? That mischievous and devious glint that she saw didn’t go unregistered.

“Hey sis! Are you ready to eat those chocolates?” he asked her excitedly.

She was thrown away by his cool attitude. But she quickly regained her composure. Guess two can play the game. Right?

So with the same tone of voice she replied, “Sure. I will get them. You stay here.”

He was baffled by her change in plans. Originally they had decided that they would go together in the dark room, inn the dead of the night, and they would eat those sweets in peace. They had already lied to their younger siblings saying that they had not got any extra chocolates from their uncles. So the kids were already asleep.

“Or the kids should technically be sleeping, if their older brother had not suddenly grown a kind soul,” she thought.

But nonetheless he agreed.

So in the dead of the night she sneaked out of his room to retrieve their chocolates. While doing so, she noticed a small party of young men and women trying to get towards the pantry. They were her younger siblings. Unmistakably. But why were they moving towards the pantry? The chocolates weren’t there. They were in the storage compartment. And the original stash of sweets was already finished. It was over during dinner itself. So this meant only one thing.

She felt happiness and joy and pride course through every vein in her body when her older brother tapped her shoulder.

“You thought I gave us away, huh?” he asked without conviction.

“Yeah…I’m sorry about that. Shouldn’t have doubted you,” she said embarrassment lacing her voice.

“Whatever…no problem,” he said smiling softly. “Now let’s have those chocolates before those little devils find out that I lied to them,” he continued with the same excitement in his voice.

“How did you do it?” she asked.

“It was pretty simple,” he replied. “You just strike a bargain and then lie to them. They think that at the back of the pantry near the empty cupboards there is a big packet of chocolates. But in reality-”

“They are in the storage room inside the old trunk,” she finished.

“Right.”

Their faces burst out in infectious smiles as they slowly trudged towards the hidden chocolates, their hearts bursting in happiness.