Pathum POV

  Excitement spread across my heart when she said she could download the app. But still we had to respect the promise mom asked. Even though we both were doubtful whether we could follow that plan even in the short term. Still we could atleast try it in the short run. It doesnt matter whether we could keep going but atleast we respected her promise.

  The new app was great we not only had the ability to send a picture but send a group of picture in a blink of an eye while it would take hours on google hangout. I guess whatever it does the original quality of the picture do get reduce but nevertheless its good to have an app where we can share picture more often and quick.

  Pathum : I love this app, the sound of notifications and the app itself is great, how about you?

  Scarlet : I could say the same, i love it too!

  Pathum : Awesome!

  Scarlet : Yeah!

  Pathum : I think we need to respect her promise, its already eleven. Are you thinking about sleep?

  Scarlet : I dont want to leave you.

  Pathum : But sweetie we must respect her promise dont we?

  Scarlet : thats true, but I dont want to leave.

  Pathum : i know that sweetie but its for the best. To be honest I think you shouldnt skip that eight hour sleep, you must get it .

  Scarlet : Dont you want me to stay? It seems you are trying to push me away.

  Pathum : I want you , I want to talk to you all day if its posssible. But I shouldnt be selfish and reduce your sleep and cost your health issues. I shouldnt take advantage or disregard the repesect we have for our promise. I doubt whether we could continue our promise but still we may do it while we can. Control what can be now so that we have no regrets.

  Scarlet : Inspirational my prince.

  Pathum : Just prince?

  Scarlet : My short prince.

  Pathum : I am not that short ??arent you ashamed to be my bestie? I am barely 5ft.

  Scarlet : And I am 5ft 2inches. Guess what I dont care whether you are taller or shorter , whats important is the person in that heart, I respect him. And dont feel down your height is none of my concern and oneday when you get a girl friend I will make sure she respect your height , if she’s gonna brag about your height imma kickk her butt way before yoou notice it.

  Pathum : Aww my bestie cares about me.

  Scarlet : ofcourse I do care about you. Who do you think you are to say such nonsense! Aaaaheem I am so sleepy.

  Pathum : Ba ba ba da da da may my bestie fall asleep

  Ba ba ba da da da may my sweetie have sweet dreams

  Scarlet : *dead asleep*

  Pathum : gosh finally I get a rest, thank god she is asleep. Freedom .

  Scarlet : Dont even think you can get rid of me,

  Psthum : HEHEHE

  Scarlet : OMG pathum, I almsot got caught

  Pathum : What do you mean?

  Scarlet : Mom came to my room and I pretended that I was asleep. Gosh.

  Pathum : OMG wow! Hopefully lets not disappoint her and sweetie you need to have your eight hour sleep so do sleep sweetie.

  Scarlet : You really want to get rid of me don't you?

  Pathum : You are in a deep misunderstanding. I don't want to get rid of, I want to talk to you all day forever but unfortunately you need to rest and we should make sure we don't make mom mad. So stop thinking stupid things, I never wanted get rid of you , so stop that nonsense immediately.

  Scarlet : You are adorable ! I will sleep now, sweetie, study well until I come back.

  Pathum : goodnight sweetie!

  Once she went into sleep I focused on my biology note.

  And right before twelve p.m mom suddenly came to my room and said

  “Shall we go to Kalana’s home today?” She said, yawning.

  “Okay okay lets go.” I shouted in delight, a ride in a three-wheeler and to meet my brother means something else. I haven't met him in five months , bro must be starving to play some games and cricket. Well when it comes to cricket I always had the upper hand I dominated , rarely loosing a match to him and make a fond of my opponent .

  “Get ready, I will call either ruwan uncle or someone to take the ride there.” she said

  Soon getting out my room I ran to the well. And grandma was already bathing but excusing her I bathed quickly and removed the clothes and told grandma to wash them.

  Naked in the middle of the well? How shameful!!

  Save your humour I meant to say after bathing I removed them, not that I got naked I had a towel covering me.

  I managed to do all of this within 12 minutes. While i looked myself in the mirror I noticed the moustache. I need to get rid of it. So soon I went near the tap behind the house and shaved it, since I didnt had a mirror I was clueless whether I was shaving properly or not but anyhow I successfully managed to do it.

  All this while the ladies in the house were still talking about what to wear.

  Uh ladies!

  My outfit was simple. It was a denim and a black t-shirt with buttons. It was black and ash colour but still its a nice piece of cloth.

  Since mom were still arguing which to wear I came to my room and looked at the mirror. For some reason i felt good about myself.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  I am handsome am I not?

  Especially since I shaved my lil moustache, it brightens my face and my tan skin looks lighter.

  Thats when it pop up to my mind,

  Why not take some selfies , since you look jaw-dropping

  Seriously Pathum? Didnt you had a better word?

  Oh shut up handsome go take some and lets give the whole package to scarlet when she wakes up.

  And I took some pictures, they looked better especially with the sunlight falling to my face and the background cream colour of the wall. Anyhow i took about ten selfies and none of them were disappointing to my luck. They honestly look so good.

  Gosh I never knew I was this handsome.

  I took the pictures and forwarded them to scarlet.

  Scarlet was still asleep so I wasnt expecting a message from her.

  The journey was fun, a ride on a three-wheeler is always fun. Especially since we feel the wind kissing our face. Watching the scenery and enjoying the laughter was something I always admire. In case you are confused what a three-wheeler is just know it is a vehicle that could carry 3 or 4 people and it has 3 tyres and if that didnt made any sense just search ‘tuk-tuk Sri lanka’ your desires will be granted.

  Within 40 minutes we were at mom’s elder sister’s house or Kalana’s home.

  “Ah brother’s home.” he screamed when he saw our vehicle coming.

  Gosh lil bro is excited

  I laughed inwardly, knowing that the time I am about to spend now is definitely worth than anything. I wouldn't necessary say this is the best thing that happened today but still visiting our cousins is always a pleasure.

  “Pathum. How are you doing son?’’ Mom’s sister said wiping her face, I exchanged a wide grin in return. Actions better than words.

  You stutering fool thats a lie! That wasnt the case, its you. The problem is you, you are antisocial or more a coward or socially awkward.

  ‘’Shut up’ I groaned . Kalana who was eying for my mobile phone stopped moving.

  “What did you say?” he asked with wide eyed.

  “Oh nothing, nothing at all.” I laughed. I know one thing and that’s he cant wait untl i give him my phone so that he could play games.

  “Did you bring your phone?”

  I shook my head

  “Liar!” he tapped my leg.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you always bring your phone.”

  I smiled, its true. So I gave him the phone eventually. He eyes almost popped out of his socket when he saw the game launcher.

  “There’s so many games.”

  My smile only widen at his reaction.

  “How did you got the data to download this much?”

  “I am rich.”

  “Puff sure you are.” he gave me a slight punch.

  “Comeon brother tell me how did you got these?”

  “Oh I told you.”

  “I need the truth.”

  “Already told so.”

  “Specify it more.”

  “The dialog gave free data to everyone.”

  “Oh i know, our sister too got those free data from the mobile companies during the beginning of the lockdown.”

  “And used ‘time package’ from Hutch.”

  “So that’s how you got it huh?” I promise you I could count his teeth, I may miss the accurate number but I bet my life he hasnt washed his mouth in a decade. So without further note I fired the roast.

  “I can tell magic.”

  “Oh okay.’ he was so focused on the new racing game, Asphalt 7. It cost so much data, I am not a huge fan of it, but the graphics are a feast for the eyes except those races ended less than five minutes.

  “I can tell something about you.”

  “Okay. whatever .” I felt embarrassed. He just roasted me without actually trying to do so ,

  “The last time you brushed your teeth was two months ago, isnt that so right?” I laughed out loudly.

  “What? Are you joking?” he kept playing the game.

  “Well its a joke why arent you laughing.”

  “Its a bad joke, I brush daily.”

  “I guess brushing too much makes it more yellow.”

  “What?” he said, almost pushing me aside as he was taking a turn in his racing game.

  “Oh nothing. Nothing at all.” I walked towards a flower pot nearby while he was busy playing the racing game. It was a nice purple flower, i felt instant need to burrow it home.

  We spent the next few minutes playing a few games, taking a sip of tea and eating biscuits. An hour later we were on our way home. However at our departure we had one more member in the tuk tuk, that’s our little brother, he fought a war with his mother before winning the chance to come home with us.

  The ride to home wasnt as fun as arrival, the main reason it is crowded. But the new member wasn’t anything like annoying he was our brother so we managed. Once we arrived I changed my clothes but felt the necessity to bath mainly because I was sweating.

  Listening to some yelling from mom we both bathed in the backyard where the shower and tap is, since we dont have a proper bathroom it was in some sense funny and fun. The water was cold, since it’s almost seven in the night. I had to stopped using the shower since mom was angered by my childish behaviour with our 11 year old cousin.

  When we came from bath she had already woken up excited.

  Pathum : Good morning my dear bestie!

  Scarlet : A very good morning indeed!

  Pathum : Umm.. so…how are you? You seems very excited this morning? Did a handsome man arrived there.

  Scarlet : A very handsome man indeed!

  Pathum : Hehehe

  Scarlet : Brat! Those pictures of you are just flawless, gosh I can’t believe I am such a lucky girl to have a handsome bestie .

  Pathum : Aww thank you!

  Scarlet : Thank you indeed.

  Pathum : Honestly I was surprised as well when I took those pictures, they were really some good clicks. I rarely captures good pictures and more demaningly pictures of myself.

  We talked for few more hours but was periodically disturbed by our brother. He sneaked his head once in a while asking me whom I am talking to and every gossip.

  We spent the next few days as usaual. Even though I didnt specified who Scarlet is he burrowed the idea that she is a boy who help me with my writing. It wasn’t a lie though, half of his guess is ideal except just she is just not a male. Half of me wanted to reveal him the true identity of scarlet but shyness was taking a toll. And besides he saw the pictures why is he guessing its a boy? He is ten years old, is that a legal age to jump into conclusions such as scarlet might be my girlfriend. Honestly I haven’t thought of her in such a way. Never has and never will. Why? Because she is my bestie, I should be ashamed of myself if I ever had romantic thoughts about her. I value virginity and here I value purity of thoughts. Thoughts are everything, they are the cornerstone and backbone of life, we become what we think famously preached by Lord Buddha. So keeping your thoghts pure is essentially protects your identity and others around you. So yes have a cup of healhty thoughts wouldnt doom you to death instead it will leads your to higher spirits in heaven. The more good thoughts we prosper they goodwill we attract. Well that doesnt mean bad things or terrific things wouldnt happen, I never claimed to have said that I just mean it is a healthy habit to maintain good thoughts and eliminate bad ones.

  So over the next few days my phone had a new owner and that’s our cousin he played almost every game that could be played without an update moreover he downloaded some bus games, they were less graphic and cost a small number of data, but he enjoyed playing the vehicle games and I allowed him to take majority of my time which I could be spent with Scarlet. She is an angel, why would I think so ? Because it is what it is, she is an angel. When I revealed why I am being late to respond and who’s in charge of my phone she certainly smiled and said it’s okay. How did I know she smiled? Because it is what is, we are soulmates so I know every single move she makes.

  Eventhough Scarlet was pretty fine with bro taking my phone, you may think I wasn’t. Well to be frankly honest I was fine for most of the part except I hated when he celebrate over me. I know he is a little lad and I need to calm my nerves. But my anger is a little concerning factor.

  Also me and Scarlet found a meaningful way to spent our time and thats reading a book mostly this was a ebook either on wattpad or a one downloaded for free. I was the officer in charge, So we picked ‘Anna Karenina’ by a Russian writer. It was a pretty large book, because it had many pages to read and we both got a pretty good start. She lead the way since she reads faster than me and I had to seperate time for my studies and also make brother happy. So she was chapters ahead of me.