"What the hell!"
Rohan was flabbergasted as he kept gapping at his monitor screen. Five hours of sleepless donkey work in the night, now showed, 'Image not found'. Where had his laboured night slogging disappeared?
"Mithali!" He bellowed for his younger sister without budging from his place. Clenching his fists, he growled frustratingly and angrily hollered once again, "Mithali, come here immediately!"
He presumed, it was definitely her doing. No one else dare touch his computer.
"Is our roof on fire? What is it? I'm running late for college."
Mithali squealed back as she stood panting in the doorway of Rohan's bedroom. Rohan swirled around in his revolving chair, giving her a diamond hard glare.
"Did you mess with my PC last night?"
His words were measured and punctuated.
She shrugged her shoulders and said casually,
"Why should I?"
"Are you sure?"
She was about to leave and turned back to face her brother.
"Look, you and your PC, both live in a 'touch me not zone' okay? So it's useless asking me anything."
Rohan leaped from his chair and stopped her from going out.
"Don't act smart. I sat five hours through the night and now the image is missing. I'm supposed to give it to the client today. So be a good girl and tell me what funny monkey business you did with my PC?"
Mithali jerked herself free from his grip and closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She hated being accused for something she had no clue about. Opening her eyes, she began slowly,
"Rohan, for the last time, I didn't touch your PC. You must have saved it in some other folder."
Rohan held her hand and brought her near the table. He sat on his chair and made her sit next to him. Pointing a finger at the monitor screen, he remarked,
"I had saved it on the desktop, in this folder and now the image is missing."
Mithali stayed tight-lipped for a while, scanning the Windows desktop screen. Out of the blue, her eyes fell on a tiny icon in the left-hand corner under the recycle bin icon. It looked new. She tapped her french manicured nail on it and asked,
"What's this?"
Rohan followed her finger and double clicked the icon. In a flash, the screen was filled with the image he had worked on.
"Thank God!" He yelped with joy and impulsively gave Mithali a tight hug.
"You saved the day!"
Pursing her lips, she rolled her eyes and taunted her elder brother,
"No, no. I'm the one who messes with your precious PC, isn't it?"
Rohan pulled back and looked at her guiltily. "I'm sorry my dear sis, this client is very important and when I didn't see the image, I had cold feet."
Mithali stood up and adjusted her bag on her shoulder.
"Only sorry is not enough mister. Compensate in a better way."
Rohan chuckled and bopped her nose.
"Ice-cream in the evening? My treat."
Snapping her fingers, Mithali winked at her brother before moving out.
"Now that's more like it."
-Shamim Merchant ✍️
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