Loud screaming sounded in the small house and Ros wasted no time to drop whatever she was doing and bolt straight for the kitchen.
"Upin! Ipin! Are you okay-!"
Ros' face changed dramatically when she saw her younger twin brothers standing on a chair. The older twin looking like he was about to fall off any second from the younger's death grip on him and with the constant rocking of the chair.
"Get rid of it, Ah-Kak!" Ipin pointed to the floor where a cockroach scurried away upon Ipin's pointed finger, causing him to scream louder.
Ros pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned against the doorframe with an unamused expression, "This was what scared you? A cockroach?"
"I don't need your input right now! I just want you to get rid of it!" Ipin cried.
"OW! That hurts! Let go!" Upin shouted and tried to push his brother off of him.
"NO!"
"Stop moving the chair! We're gonna fall!"
Ros continued to watch the twins bicker until Upin turned to her with a desperate look.
"Why don't you do it?" Ros cut in before he could whine. Catching a glimpse of the cockroach near the gap under the sink, "You're not afraid of bugs."
Upin gestured to his brother who had trapped him in a bear hug, "Can't you see what I'm dealing with here? He's not gonna let go!"
"Then that's your problem now." Ros waved him off dismissively as she proceeded to leave the kitchen to resume her homework.
She wasn't even halfway gone when she heard, "If you get rid of that cockroach, I'll clean your room for a week!"
Kak Ros turned back, smirking, "Make that 4 weeks."
Upin narrowed his eyes, "2."
"2 and a half." Ros gambled, hands on her hips before she heard a loud, audible groan from her brother.
"Fine. Just hurry up and get that bug out of this house so he can get off me!" Upin directed his last words to Ipin, but the younger twin was too scared to process it into his mind. He ended up wrapping his arms around Upin too tightly, nearly knocking the wind out of him, "Please!"
Ros shook her head and grabbed a few sheets of tissue from the dining table, "Okay, okay, I'm on it." On her knees, Ros carefully approached the cockroach which hadn't moved from its spot despite the all shouting. With the tissue hovering just above the bug, Ros brought her hand down quickly but not fast enough to squash it to death and wrapped it in the tissue.
"There. It's gone." Ros said, a triumph smile as she stood back up.
"It's not gone if you don't throw it away or kill it!" Ipin spoke with a slight crack in his voice. Ros wasn't surprised to see tears build up in his. Ipin never like cockroaches, especially those flying ones.
"We're not going to kill it." Upin said firmly and turning to his sister, "Do not kill it."
Ros shrugged, "If you want it so badly, you could just ask. I know how much you love biology-"
"We are not keeping it!" The twins yelled together in sync and Ros wandered if boys were just this complicated when making decisions or it was just her brothers.
"I heard you the first time, you don't have to yell!" Ros was already stepping out of the kitchen through the door that led to the outside of the house. Opening her hand, the cockroach landed on the ground before beating its wings in a frantic escape.
"Is it gone?" Came Ipin's voice when Ros walked into the kitchen.
"Yes. Now please let go of me." Grumbled Upin as his brother did as he was told and climbed down the chair.
"Terimah Kasih, Kak Ros." He thanked his sister politely who smiled back in response.
"Sama-sama, Ipin."
"Thank god that's over," Upin said, rubbing his shoulders as he too climbed down the chair. He shot his brother a glare, "Thanks for giving me a massage, Ipin. Nearly broke my bones too."
Ipin smiles sheepishly in reply, "Sorry. But think about it, even if your shoulder bones were broken, at least your other bones would still be intact and functional."
Upin gave him a look and before he could open his mouth to shoot back, Ros cut in again.
"Now that the cockroach situation has been resolved, I want you two to… TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KITCHEN THIS INSTANCE!" She threw her hands up as to gestured to all of the kitchen.
It had been a complete mess when she arrived upon their screaming; the floor was covered in flour and footprints, the cupboards were decorated in splattered eggs and chocolate, there was whipped cream all over the clean plates and utensils and worst of all, the assortment of berries she had purchased the day before were dropped near the fridge and some squashed.
The twins bowed their heads, unable to look at their sister in the eye.
"THIS PLACE IS A MESS AND YOU TWO ARE GOING TO CLEAN IT UP OR NO DINNER FOR YOU! FAHAM!?" Ros, red in the face, watched as her brothers gave silent nods and huffed, "Good. Now go tidy yourselves before you first before you clean the kitchen. You can tell me what happened AFTER dinner because I have homework to do at the moment."
Ros turned her heel and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving her brothers to themselves. When they made sure she was really gone, Ipin leaned towards to his brother, hand curled slightly near his mouth as if to tell a secret.
"We're not going to tell her what happened exactly, right?" Ipin asked, looking at Upin for an answer. The older twin shrugged slightly, still hurt from the pain.
"Lie about it for now. Kak Ros is super stressed and we don't want her to find out what we're making for her just yet." Ipin nodded before they exchanged quick glances with each other and the kitchen before running past the living room where Ros was to get to their shared bedroom.
Okay! That was pretty long! Guess what the twins were making for their sister.
The twins are 10 years old and Ros is 20 (basically in college/university at the moment and yeah it's pretty stressful).
Terimah Kasih = Thank you
Sama-sama = You're welcome
…I should be studying…
Anyways, let me know what you think of the story. I might reveal what the twins were making in another story but I'm not too sure about it yet.