I MEERA I

Remya rushed towards me with a squeal that could've burst my eardrums, as soon as she sees me. She pushed Vinash aside like you would swat at an annoying fly and jump-hugged me, making me lose my footing. If it wasn't for Vinash putting a hand against my back, I would've fallen on my back with this dumbass on top of me.

"Remya! If I had fallen, I would've had to attend the wedding in a crutch. Stop jumping on me", I say loosening my grip on her hips. She still does that, after all these years.

"What!? I missed you. Is that such a crime? You're so ungrateful. I should probably go find someone who's actually happy to see me", she says looking fake hurt.

"And you say I'm dramatic", I say to Vinash who just rolls his eyes.

"So, where's shraddha? I haven't seen her anywhere. Is she staying at the cabin?", she asks looking around.

The cabin almost looks like a twin of the summerhouse, albeit a little bigger version. It's where the adults are staying for the wedding. It's farther from the beach so they don't have to worry about getting sand in the house. The summerhouse, technically a beach house, is where us kids and few adults who doesn't mind the sand much is staying. Since it's closer to the beach you can always expect sand and sometimes even tiny crabs crawling inside.

"No she was just here yelling at me for dropping the bags in the living room a few minutes ago", Vinash says "maybe she's gone to find some other unsuspecting poor soul to yell at." He mock shudders. I swear all of them are drama queens and they have the audacity to call me dramatic. The nerve of these people!

Just then Ambika aunty and Tej uncle calls me and vinash. We exchange hugs and Ambika aunty scolds me to eat properly. Apparently I have too much bones. Tej uncle just pats my head after kissing my forehead.

"Where is Jai and Rekha?", Tej uncle asks, referring to my parents.

"They're at the cabin. They're making some last minute arrangements for Karthik's family since they'll arrive tomorrow", I say as I squish between Vinash and Remya on the couch. They both huff, I just ignore them.

"Well, then you kids stay here. We'll help them and don't cause any trouble. You're grown ups now, so behave like it", Tej uncle says maintaining a stern face before smiling and dragging Ambika aunty, who keeps huffing at him to walk slowly, with him.

"Well everyone's gone. And I'm starving.", Vinash says and as if on cue both mine and his stomach grumbles like the hungry monsters that they are.

"We'll order take out", Remya says pulling her phone out, laughing at us. We just flip her off at the same time.

I get annoyed when I'm hungry. As Remya places the order, Vinash turns on the T V and logs in to his netflix account. We search for movies and shows to watch and a dozen arguments later settle on Friends as usual, re-watching it for the gazillionth time. Just as we finish singing along to the intro song, our food arrives. We spend the whole evening munching on snacks and watching friends and switching to Big bang theory after some time.

"So.. did you invite your hot friends to the wedding?", Remya asks Vinash as she drops her head on my lap and throws her legs over the armrest.

"Nope", Vinash says popping the 'p'.

"Why not?", I ask in a whiny tone. His college friends are hot as hell. There is this dude who rides a harley and he has the whole badass biker vibes going on. It's so hot. Remya and I had a huge crush on him when we met him at one of their college parties that Vinash took us to.

"Because", he says rolling his eyes.

"Weddings are so boring without hot guys lifting heavy things to ogle at." Remya says as she places my hands on her head and wiggles it slightly beckoning me to give her a head massage. I reluctantly oblige.

"Don't worry, my brother-in-law's friends will be there", he said.

"Can you stop calling him your brother-in-law? It's annoying and he has a name you know", I say as I lean my head on his shoulder.

"They'll all be here tomorrow. And they're staying here. I heard mom tell dad that the adults should stay at the cabin so that they can get to know each other better. And since we 'kids' will party till the morning, it's better that they stay here", I tell them.

I'm not sure how I feel about it, on one hand there's gonna a lot of strangers living under the same roof. On the other hand, it would be  cool I guess, since there won't be any pissed off relatives asking us to turn down the noise or something.

Just as we are about to doze off, Shraddha stomps into the living room and without giving us a glance, she rushes to her bedroom at the end of the hallway, followed by a very exhausted looking Karthik. He quickly greets us and with an apologetic smile he follows my sister to her room.

"She is scary", Remya mumbles as she gets up and picks her bags up from the floor, throwing it to Vinash, who glares at her before throwing it over his shoulder. We climb the stairs and Vinash carries her bags to my room, which I share with her. He leaves after sometime, saying he has to meet some one, leaving us alone.

And since we are too damn lazy we don't bother to prepare her bed, we both sleep through the whole evening and night after catching up with each other, in my single bed, hugging each other.

***

The next morning, the house is buzzing with activity when Remya and I come down. Everyone is busy settling in and making introductions. The three of us stumbles down to the living-room where Karthik makes quick introductions to his family and friends. I have to make small talk with all of them. Karthik's parents are great, I especially like his mother, though she asks some weird questions that had me panicking, especially when she started talking about marriage.

Mom and my aunts made breakfast for everyone. My dad told my mom that we could arrange a catering service for breakfast and lunch, but mom and my aunts disagreed. They love cooking, they're almost competitive in the kitchen. And feeding us their home cooked meal is their love language.

Remya and I end up eating breakfast in the kitchen counter, where Vimala aunty feeds us her freshly fried signature pakoras once in a while.

"Don't they feed you anything at your hostel? I can see your bones. You too Remya, your arms look like twigs", Vimala aunty says as she places another Appam on both of our plates, ignoring our protests.

"I eat a lot. It just won't show on my body", I say.

"Do my arms really look like twigs, mom?", Remya asks Ambika aunty as she inspects her arms as if expecting a leaf to sprout any minute.

"I thought they were twigs and almost shoved it into the wooden stove", Ambika aunty says as she pours batter into the pan.

"Wow, real funny, mom", Remya rolls her eyes, "You tell me Rekha aunty, you always tell the truth", she says turning towards my mom.

"You definitely got thinner, my dear. But your arms look fine. They're as long and beautiful as always", my mom says, "Don't skip meals."

"Aww. See? That's what you're supposed to say", Remya says pointing to my mom and she and mom high fives as the rest of us rolls our eyes at them.

It's true that out of all of us, my mom loves Remya the most. Just like I know Ambika aunty loves me the most. To Vimala aunty, we're the daughters she wished for but never had. So, she spoils us the most, even when we were kids, she was the one that bought us the things that our mothers refused to buy us.

"Did you two mingle with everyone?", Vimala aunty asks.

"Mmhmm", Remya and I give a non commital response and all three of them stare at us.

"You two are the bride's sisters. You're supposed to talk to all of them. Why are you eating breakfast here? Go, shoo, go eat with them. We're all going to be one family and you're not even talking to them properly", Ambika aunty says.

"Hey, they probably wanted to chat with us. That's why they decided to eat here. They'll get to know them later, after breakfast. Isn't that right, my dears?", Vimala aunty says softly, as she comes to our defence.

"Yeah", Remya and I nod at the same time with pitiful, puppy dog faces.

"You're the one who asked them if they were mingling", Ambika aunty says, planting her hands on her hip as she gives Vimala aunty the side eye. I muffle a laugh when Vimala aunty turns to the stove, suddenly deaf.

Remya and I finish breakfast and sneakily leave the plates in the sink before running away. I hear my mom and Ambika aunty yell at us to wash our plates but we're already climbing the steps up to our room.

It isn't until almost noon that the house quiets down, as the adults move to the cabin. Our living-room is filled with Karthik's cousins and friends. And some of our own cousins, whom we haven't seen in probably a decade, are also there, sitting in different groups.

Vinash talks to them and becomes quick friends. He really is like a golden retriever, just more annoying. Even Remya is usually very friendly with new people, but she doesn't leave my side because she knows how awkward I can get around new people. So after, talking with them for a few minutes, the three of us head down to the beach.

It's as we are walking along the shore that we see Raj stepping out of a taxi, with a girl wearing a silk saree on his tail. He grabs her hand and walks in the direction of the cabin. I guess he knows who all are staying at the summerhouse and wants to avoid us.

That clever bastard.

The three of us look at each other before following him at a safe distance.

"Oh my god, who is that girl?", Remya asks looking shell shocked.

"You didn't hear? That's his girlfriend. Vinash heard him talking to Vimalamma about bringing her to the wedding", I say trying to calm my breathing as we speed walk behind them. I'm way out of shape.

"Are we talking about the same Raj here. The Raj who couldn't even look me in my face when I was talking to him because he is shy?", She asks incredulously.

"That's exactly what I asked him when he told me", I say, "apparently he's not so shy as we thought. I think he just doesn't like us."

"Oh shut up!", Vinash snaps at me looking annoyed.

Ooh! I think I hit a nerve there.

Just as we reach the cabin, the girl stops making him turn around. We duck behind a parked car just in time. They start talking and a few minutes later, he hugs the girl before kissing her on her lips quickly. Remya and I look at each other wide-eyed.

If someone told me yesterday Raj had a girlfriend, whom he openly showed affection to, I would've laughed. Believe it or not, he was that shy around girls. Avoided girls like they were the plague, or maybe it was just Remya and me that he avoided.

They enter the cabin and we rushed towards the back door and luckily it wasn't locked. We quietly enter the cabin and move towards the kitcken that's next to the living-room. We hear commotion when Vimalamma introduces him to everyone.

She hugs Raj for a long minute before asking him about the girl. He pulls the girl closer to him as he introduces her to everyone.

"Mom, everyone, this is Pooja, my girlfriend. Pooja, This is my mom, aunts and uncles", he says as he points at people. We can hear mom, Vimalamma and Ambikamma cooing at how beautiful she looks in the silk saree.

"Mom , can I share my room with her?", we hear Raj ask.

Silence.

We look at each other stunned. Isn't he full of surprises? And Vinash looks a little hurt that Raj doesn't want to share the room with him.

"But we already made all the accomodations. You'll be sharing your room with Vinash like usual and Shraddha agreed that she'll share her room with Pooja", vimalamma says looking a little shocked at her son's unusual behaviour.

But the three of us have sympathetic smiles on our face as we look at Pooja, poor girl has to share her room with Shraddha. I didn't think Vimalamma would be this cruel towards her possibly soon to be daughter-in-law.

"It's okay, Aunty. I already told Raj that I'll be okay. He's just worried since I don't know anyone here." We hear Pooja say in a soft voice.

"Oh don't worry about that Pooja, we'll introduce you to his cousins. They'll make sure that you're comfortable", Vimala aunty says patting Pooja's head.

"Raj, go call them. They're at the summerhouse.Vinash probably already told them about her, that boy can't keep a secret", she says and Remya and I snort before covering it up when he jabs us with his elbow, "I'm sure they're dying to meet her. And please remind Shraddha about sharing her room with Pooja."

"We're here", Remya shouts suddenly, earning hisses and glares from me and Vinash.

.

Hey guys!😊
Hope you're enjoying the story till now. I know the storyline may seem a little slow but I promise it'll get better after a few more chapters. Next chapter onwards I'll also include Vikram's pov.

If you don't like any part of the story or the story as a whole please do tell me in the comments. And don't hesitate to correct my mistakes.

Also don't forget to like and share.

🖤