4. Unfavourable Thoughts

Selvan thought that he had slept for long and that it would be midnight by now, only to be disappointed after checking the time on her phone. He had only slept for under one hour and nothing more.

Going over the incident that had taken place today, he still couldn't help but feel very guilty while brooding over the fact that he had been such a loose boy.

These unfavourable thoughts were making him more and more depressed, not knowing how he would face his family with some degree of self-confidence.

He was still engrossed with his thoughts until the sound of some breaking dishes drew his attention.

He already had some speculations as to what could be the case, so he quickly rose up from the bed and darted into the kitchen.

Thump! Crush! Shatter!!!

The ceramic mugs fell off from the sink and shattered into pieces upon hitting the kitchen floor.

Charvi, who was now returning home after a long day at work, heard the noise, so she rushed to check on what that was about, but Selvan beat her to it.

"Heh, Anup! Arun! What are you two doing?!' Selvan screamed in her head as he hurriedly pulled the three-year-old twin boys away from the kitchen sink.

"This is your doing, right?" Charvi asked the boys with a stern look. She looked kind of scary to them in that moment.

Just then, their father, Parvesh Vishwakarma, also returned from the office.

"What is going? Why are all of you in the kitchen...? He tried to ask, but the boys interrupted him with their cries as they ran to his side.

"Hiehheie! Papa! Hiehheie! Papa!" Cried the three-year-old, Anup.

"Papa! Papa! HiHiehheie!" Cried the three-year-old, Arun.

Parvesh automatically put his office bag and the polythene bag he was holding on the side and welcomed both of his sons into his arms and tried to calm them down while Sevina looked for a broom to sweep the broken pieces of ceramics.

"What happened here? And where is Nithya?" Parvesh directed his question at his wife, but she didn't look too happy, so he turned to his daughter for an answer.

"What did you think happened? Who else will do something like this other than them?" Charvi finally replied, pointing to the mess on the kitchen floor.

"Shhh! Now, stop crying. Otherwise, I'll not give you the Gulab Jamun (a type of dessert) that I bought for you two on my way home.

The boys stopped crying immediately.

But Charvi was not having it. "You'll not give them anything. There'll be no reward for their naughtiness."

Her statement made the boys start crying again, now that they're not going to get the dessert anymore. Only this time, they cried a lot louder.

Nithya is their live-in nanny but she was currently in the washroom.

Selvan, who was then done with the sweeping, went to his dad and took reluctant Arun from him and put the boy down.

He then did the same with Anup before dragging the two reluctant boys out of the kitchen for their evening baths.

Sniff. Sniff.

Charvi sniffed the air as Sevina passed by her while leaving the kitchen with the boys.

"Do you smell that, honey?" She asked her husband. It was only the two of them in the kitchen now.

"Smell what?" Parvesh asked. He moved closer and hugged his wife from the back.

Sniff. Sniff.

He too tried to also sniff the air but got no unusual scent.

"I can't smell anything. Let's go into our room and change from our work clothes first." Parvesh pulled his wife by the hand all the way to their bedroom.

"Really? Is it my nose then?" Charvi still continued while wondering where the scent had come from.

"Why? What do you smell in the air?" The couple was now in their bedroom. Parvesh sat his wife on the bed as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"I don't know, but it just smelt weird."

Charvi seemed to be troubled, so her husband sat before her and hugged her from the side. He tried to change the topic.

"You and your sharp nose. Maybe it could be coming from the neighbouring houses. It will definitely die down soon. Don't worry about it. By the way, how was your day?"

"My day? Mm." Charvi paused for some time. "My day was just the same. Nothing eventful at work. What about you? How was work?"

Charvi got up to also change so her husband continued with his as he responded.

"Work? Work. Hmm. Mine was very chaotic today."

"Hm? Why? Was there a problem?"

Parvesh nodded. "Yes. The company is currently in a serious lawsuit with some of its top AI researchers. For that reason, our current projects came to a halt because these researchers took with them their models and some other important documents."

"OK. But won't that also affect you, as you're also part of the research team?"

"Exactly! They asked me to lead and coordinate the projects for now, but that's not the main issue that I'm worried about."

"What is the main issue?" Charvi asked.

Parvesh turned to make eye contact first. "They want me to use Selvan's image for the humanoid robot project."

"How? Don't they have models for that?"

"Those models, together with the prototype, have been taken away by those who left, which is why the company is suing them."

"I don't know, but I don't like this."

"Don't worry, there's nothing dangerous about this. Selvan is going to be paid for that if only he agrees to it. So I was given the papers to bring to him to see first before she replies.

Now, can you help me to convince her to accept it? It'll be a nice deal too, and he can earn his first income from this. Wouldn't that be great?

"Hmm." Charvi sighed. "I don't know, but let's not discuss this with him today. From her facial expression earlier, I don't think that she's in a good mood. We can talk to her another time. Okay?"

"Sure. But what is the matter with him?"

"I don't know." Charvi shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, but deep down she wondered if Selvan's visit to his mother's place didn't go very well, but she couldn't dare to tell her husband about it.