EDITED.

CHAPTER 2: Breathe

ONE YEAR LATER

A year into Bhavna and Adithya's marriage, things were as good as they could get. They were so compatible with each other. I mean, I guess that's how it would be when you have been with someone for eight whole years.

Off my seven siblings, I'm closest to Shruthi and Bhavna. Since we were babies, Shruthi, being six years older than me, was always the older sister type, sometimes even the motherly type and Bhavna and I, being two years apart, were like best friends.

"AVNI!" I heard my mother scream somewhere at the back of my mind.

I woke up with a start and was nearly blinded by the bright sunlight streaming through the window.

I said some nonsense that I, myself didn't understand and hauled my tired body to the kitchen.

"Good morning Ma, Ajji," I mumbled, scratching the mess that was my hair.

"Morning?! It's nearly afternoon! You can't be waking up whenever you want like this Avni. You're 24 now, not a child!"

Ladies and gentlemen, my mother, the drama queen.

"Give it a rest, Asha. She was working till late night." my Gran said. God bless her.

My mother shoved a large cup of coffee in my hand, I grumbled a thank you and quickly trotted off to my room.

You have one new message.

Aarav: Good morning, beautiful! :)

Me: Hi! Good morning! :D

Aarav: overslept, have we? :P

Me: Yep. Good ole Avni.

Aarav: Do you have plans this evening?

Me: I'm having dinner with my boyfriend. You? ;)

Aarav: Avni, you're free now? I need to talk to you about something.

Me: Is there something wrong?

Within a minute, Aarav called.

"Avni," His voice slurred.

"What is it, babe? Are you okay?"

"Yeah babe, I'm fine. I was thinking," his voice trailed. I could barely hear him. "I was thinking of coming over to your house today."

"But my mother and father will be at home today, Aarav. Maybe I can meet you out somewhere?"

"That's the point. I want to come over to your house to tell them about us."

"What?" I asked, my heart beating really fast.

"It's about time, don't you think? So what do you say?" He asked.

"Absolutely! Let's do this!" I replied, my heart was definitely about to fail.

"Great! See you tonight!" He said and hung up.

Aarav Singhal. My boyfriend of two years. We met at college and were friends throughout. At the end of last sem, we realized that we both wanted more and sort of stumbled into a relationship.

Not that I'm complaining, he really was the best boyfriend ever!

Six feet tall, dark brown hair, coffee brown eyes, a smile that could knock me off my feet, he was quite amazing!

I have always wanted to tell my parents about him, but I was scared, as Aarav is North Indian, and I was a pakka south Indian. It wasn't a problem for us, but my parents wouldn't agree as, even though we belonged to the same religion, our culture and our customs were very different. Plus, my parents have always made it clear that they would never be fine with it.

My older siblings, being the perfect children have all married their spouses with full blessings and consent of the whole family.

Yeah, thanks a lot you guys.

Plus, for some reason, Aarav wanted to keep it low key. He never found interest in 'letting the world know about the love we have for each other' or whatever. And when asked, he would dismiss the topic with utter disdain.

"I just don't feel like publishing our private relationship, baby. That's all. What's between us should stay between us, right?" he says.

The past two years, I just have gotten used to it, no questions asked. Shruthi, Bhavna and Sid were the only ones in my family who knew about Aarav. Bhavna and Shruthi were all for my relationship. As long as I was happy, they were happy. Sid, for some reason, was against it.

"I don't know, Avnu, I always have had a feeling that he'll end up breaking your heart." he explained.

I would assure him that Aarav is, without a doubt, my future.

"Whatever it may be, you need to talk to Ma and Pa first. You owe them that much! You even think of running away, I will turn you into chutney pudi." he threatened.

"Ha! Is that a threat, brother?"

"Doesn't mean I don't mean it Avni." he says in all seriousness.

So you can imagine my nervousness. I knew for sure Shruthi, Bhavna and the rest of my siblings would be okay with Aarav and Dad and Ajji, with a little bit of persuasion and a tinge of emotional blackmailing would agree. But Mother, oh, she will definitely be a task.

How the hell was I going to succeed? I really don't know. And to even think about what was going to happen tonight was enough to make me faint.

"Avni! I'm home!" I was brought back to the present by the voice of the person I've been longing to see- Bhavna!

It was more than a month since I last saw her so I ran downstairs and launched myself at her.

Once I was done hugging her and almost choking her to death, the rest of the family had assembled around us. My twin sisters Rutu and Naina, who were the babies of the group, had locked Bhavu in a tight hug and refused to let go.

The twins, who were seventeen years old, gave the best and most magical hugs. That's what I love most about them. They have such pure hearts, that their hugs literally have healing powers.

Another fun fact about our family is that in almost every generation, there exists at least one set of twins. And to top it all off, in our case, twins ran in both Mom's and Dad's side of the family!

My Mother has a fraternal twin Swathi Chikkamma, who also has twins. My mother's mother, who we call Mummy, had twin siblings and the list goes on!

Rutu and Naina were both equal airheads, who by the stroke of pure luck were extremely brilliant. They were typical teenagers and were into the same things too. The only difference was, Rutu was into sports but Naina wasn't. Other than that, they were photocopies of each other.

"Bhavu! Perfect timing! Lunch is ready!" Ma said.

"Great! When is Pa coming home? We have something to tell the family." Bhavna said looking serious.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Akka, Anna, you aren't moving away, are you?" Amay asked, looking worried.

"Amay, it's nothing to worry about! Will everyone stop looking so scared?" Adi added.

Ajji waltzed in and on seeing Adithya, jogged towards him and gripped him in a warm embrace.

She's just too adorable.

Ajji was the most bubbly and vivacious out of all of us. She made it a point to love and cater each and every one of us. Not that she needs to try, there is no one on this planet who has met Ajji and not fallen in love with her. For an 84 year old, she was so forward in her thoughts.

This made my mother very nervous as their thoughts would always clash. But it was all in good fun, as their bickering would turn into a comedy show for the rest of us.

At the lunch table, everyone noisily chattered away when Bhavna cleared her throat. At the same time, Adi dialled Shruthi's number and put her on speaker.

"Adi? What is it? Are you going to tell me what you were going to tell me?" she asked.

"Ma, pa, we're pregnant!" Bhavna exclaimed holding Adi's hand.

It felt like a large weight was lifted off my heart.

There was an outburst of cheer, headed by Ajji and everyone huddled around Bhavna and Adi.

This was such great news! They were going to make great parents!

"How far in are you?" I asked her.

"We just found out, actually. We couldn't keep it a secret!" She said smiling.

The afternoon passed with me being stuck to Bhavna like superglue.

At 7:30, my nerves had taken full control of me. I explained to Bhavna the scene that would shortly unfold.

"Avni, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, looking concerned.

"Yes Bhavs. We have been secretly dating for two years. I feel so guilty not telling Ma and Dad."

"But like this? So suddenly?" She asked.

"Whatever happens, I will handle it. For now, I just need him to get here." I said, having the urge to bite my nails.

At 8:30, Aarav was still a no show. I was sitting alone in the hall, little finger bitten to the point where it was nearly bleeding and driving myself nuts.

"It's okay Avnu. He'll be here." Bhavna comforted.

Me: Aarav, where are you?

At 9:30, I lost my patience. Where the hell was he and what was he doing? Did it slip his mind that he was supposed to meet my parents?

Bhavna, who was having a heated gossip session with Ajji looked over to me with an expression meaning 'What's wrong?'

I shook my head and punched his number into my phone.

"Aarav, where are you? Are we not doing this today?" I asked in a harsh whisper.

"Hello?" I heard him say. He sounded like he was mid sleep, as his voice was heavy.

"Hello? Aarav, where the hell are you?"

"Avni, sorry, I fell asleep." He said, still sleepily.

"Are you not coming to talk to my parents?" I asked.

"Your parents? About what, exactly?"

Is he telling me he FORGOT?

"You told me you were going to come and tell them about us!"

"What? When did I say that?"

What pissed me off to no extent was the chuckle I heard when he said that.

Having had enough, I cut the call. Is he kidding?

Without saying a thing, stormed into my bedroom and lied down. Bhavna followed me to my room and sat next to me.

"Avni, what's wrong?" She asked me.

I told her everything as she held on to me and grazed her fingers through my hair.

"What? He doesn't remember?" Bhavna asked, her eyes wide.

"The worst part is, I don't know if he was just messing with me or if he is being serious."

"Avni, if you know me at all, you'd know I am the worst at soothing. So, I know what might cheer you up." She said and grabbed me by the hand.

"Wait. Before that, I want to do something." I said and picked up my phone.

Me: If you think our relationship is a joke, then I suggest you go play your games with someone who actually wants to. I am done with trying to make things work when you are clearly not interested.

I hit send, threw my phone on my bed and followed my sister out of the room.

She gathered the whole family and forced us into the garden where we resorted to playing the most brutal game of Bluff we had ever played.

At around 11, we decided to call it a night and retired to our respective rooms.

When I checked my phone, I had seventeen missed calls from Aarav.

Wanting to get it over with, I dialled his number and sighed.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked, once he picked up the phone.

"I just wanted to say that I am so sorry, Avni." He said.

"Yeah, whatever. Good night."

"No, no! Let me explain!" He begged.

"Fine, you have two minutes."

"I don't want to lie to you Avni. I went on a night out with my friends and got really drunk. When I messaged you in the morning was when I got back home and after that, I passed out. This whole day has been a blur and I am really hungover. I hope you can understand."

"Classy. Good night." I said and switched my phone off.

The interesting part was, I always thought that if I ever lose Aarav, I'd loose myself. Like my world would be over. But tonight, when all the signs showed that Aarav may never come back into my life, I didn't feel a thing. I slept like a baby.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys! I hope you like how my story's going so far! I would love to hear about what you'll think would happen in the story that follows. :) If you have any suggestions on how I can improve as an author, please feel free to tell me!

If you like my story, please vote and share amongst your friends!

Until next time, A.