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“An island?’ he guessed, squinting at the blob on the paper.
Raashi glared at him. Then she drew some random squiggles around the blob and stabbed ferociously at the paper with her pen.
Harsh stared at the confusing mess on the paper. “An ice cube melting.”
A low, growl emanated from his bride-to-be. She scratched at the blob angrily and picked up a fresh sheet of paper. Harsh ignored the snickers from the rest of the group and tried to concentrate on the new mess emerging under her pen.
“A dog?” That straggly line at the back was a tail, maybe?
A high-pitched screech whistled out from between her clenched teeth. For a moment, he actually thought she would attack him. He shifted away from the lunatic with the pen and closer to Veda. If Raashi decided to stab him with the pen, he could hide behind Veda and toss her in as collateral damage.
“Time’s up,” Veda said, laughter seeping through her voice.
Thank God, he thought fervently. Next time it was their turn, he’d get to draw.
“It’s a freaking penguin.” Raashi flung the pen at him almost taking out his eye. He ducked at the last moment, saving himself.
“In which universe?” he asked, genuinely flummoxed. Raashi looked like she wanted to strangle him.
“Whatever we play, I’m on her team,” Veda said sotto voce. Now, Harsh wanted to strangle Veda.
“Does that look like a penguin to anyone?” he demanded of the group. Given the highly intelligent group of people they purported to be, they all declined to comment. Leaving him to put his very large foot in his even larger mouth.
“Honest to God, all it looks like is a blob.”
Raashi’s face closed off, her eyes shooting sparks at him. She clearly took board games very seriously. As did he, on a normal day, he acknowledged. But he hadn’t thought he was sitting down to play with the Hulk on his team. She morphed into the Green Monster pretty quickly. A Green Monster who couldn’t draw. It definitely wasn’t her superpower.
“My turn!” Veda sang out and picked up a card. She stared at it for a long moment and then picked up her pad and pen. Harsh watched as she sketched a car and a man lying beneath its wheel, a realistic pool of blood seeping from a wound in his head. Wow okay. So not all Gaddes were shit at drawing. Some of them were morbidly good at it.
“Accident?” Agastya guessed.
“Yes!” Veda kissed him enthusiastically. “You’re so good at this.”
“He’s so good at this?” Harsh laughed, a bark of sound. “He’s got freaking Michelangelo as his partner whereas I have-“ He stopped abruptly. Too little, too late.
“Whereas you have?” Raashi asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge to it.
“I have Picasso?” he asked hopefully, not daring to look directly at her.
Someone stifled a snicker, the sound dying even before coming to fruition.
“The same Picasso who draws blobs?” she asked, the edge in her voice now sharp enough to slice vegetables.
The snicker came again. Harsh glared at Priyanka, the blood traitor. She swallowed her next laugh and gamely put her hand up in the air like the good student she’d always been.
“Our turn,” Priyanka called out. She rolled the dice, moved their counter and then tossed a card in Aarush’s face. “You draw.”
Aarush peeled it off his face and stared at it for a long moment. Then he picked up a pen but he didn’t get very far before the door to the terrace opened and Ram stepped through. He took one look at the Pictionary board, and everyone sprawled around it and shook his head.
“No. No. No. No.”
“Tell us how you really feel,” Virat drawled from where he lounged with his glass of whiskey.
“I’m out.” Ram turned to leave but the terrace door opened at the same time, slamming into his face.
“FUCK!” he roared, his hands going to his face, cupping his nose.
“I’m so sorry.” Aadhya’s head of curls appeared around the door, her fingers curled around it. “I didn’t know you were there.” Then, she frowned. “Why were you there? Couldn’t you move?”
