CHAPTER 9: Lucky

The past few days were a lot easier than I thought they'd be. Most of the credits go to my family, who refused to leave me alone even for a second.

Ajji, Rutu, Naina and I would spend all mornings gossiping merrily about the latest scandals that have happened amongst our cousins.

"You know, Sunita's daughter Sakshi posted a photo in a very short dress yesterday, ante! In some site called Instagrama!" Ajji said very excitedly one evening.

"Instagrama alla, Ajji! Instagram!" Naina had responded, choking with laughter.

"Haan, adhe! Sunita was very upset."

"Ajji, so what if she wears short clothes, it's her life!" I replied.

"Ayyo, not like that Dolu! It seems her bum was also showing!" Ajji exclaimed, her eyes as wide as ping pong balls.

With that, the twins and I squealed with laughter. Ajji always had the most fascinating takes to stories.

Amrita and I would spend most of our time bullying and laughing at Amay so much that he would give up trying to defend himself and just listen to all the nonsense we spew. Maya and I would watch all the Hindi soap operas (even the repeats) and drag Sid with us. He, having no other choice, would be forced to sit and watch them, swearing very eloquently at us in the process.

And when I am not with my younger siblings, I spend whatever time I have left with Shru and Bhavna talking, shopping and playing cards with Mum and Dad.

Today was an especially pleasant day and so, the whole family had decided to congregate in our garden in the evening. I was given the orders of getting Bhavna and Adi to join us, so I made my way to their room. I stopped at the door just to catch a glimpse of Bhavna and Adi in each other's arms, swaying to and fro to Adi's low but tuneful humming. He had one protective hand at Bhavna's small tummy and bent down and gave it a kiss and then kissed a laughing (because she is very ticklish) Bhavna.

I, not wanting to disturbed them, quietly made my way back to the garden, smiling to myself thinking about how perfect Bhavna and Adi were for each other.

Will I ever be as happy as she is? Sigh. Only time can tell.

My family has resorted to playing Dumb Charades by the time I got back. Ajji was brutally destroying everybody else and there was no way anyone else could win now. Looking at the statistics, Rutu and Naina were the first ones to give up, as they had lost all hopes and interest in the game. Slowly, the rest of my family gave up hope too, except for Ajji.

"Oh come on! We just started!" Ajji exclaimed.

"No Ajji, I am going to back out with the small amount of dignity that I have left." Amay said.

"No Ajji, he wants to text Priya. That's why he's backing out." Amrita said. She was the only one in our house who gave a little competition to Ajji.

"Avni, Vihaan is coming tomorrow na?" Shruthi asked me.

"Uh, yes I think so. Why?" I asked.

"She doesn't think so Akka. She hopes so." Rutu said, nudging me. I could feel my cheeks turning into a faint shade of red.

"Ma, Dad, we have some news for you." I heard Bhavna's voice from behind me.

Why does she always have to tell us something in such a serious tone?

"We've actually known for a while now, but didn't really have a good time to tell you all." Adi said.

"Plus, we actually wanted to keep this to ourselves for a while before telling everyone else." Bhavu added, smiling brightly.

"And...? Tell us already!" I exclaimed.

"We are having twins!" Bhavna exclaimed.

There was an uproar of excitement and all of us charged towards Bhavna and Adi for hugs. This was one of the most amazing news ever! Ajji looked like she was going to start flying; by the way she was jumping up and down.

I was so glad that my family was beginning to get more good news these days after the wave of bad news that I brought.

"This is wonderful! More twins in the family!" Dad said, clapping his hands together.

"As if we didn't have many already!" Ma chuckled, kissing both of their forheads.

"I'm going to give them names, okay?" Ajji asked Adi. Of course, they wouldn't have a choice on the matter anyway since Ajji was and is the president of the naming department in our family.

"Do you know if they're identical or fraternal?" Shru asked.

"They're fraternal!" Adi smiled.

"Oh man, I was wishing they'd be identical like us!" Naina said. It was true; Rutu and Naina were mirror-image twins. If one doesn't notice the tiny mole on Rutu's left cheek and Naina's right (at the same spot), one cannot distinguish between them.

Something deep in my heart kept telling me that this was going to be the end of all my troubles, and that from here on forward, whatever happens, will happen for the good. Thinking of it made my heart flutter like a humming bird.

****

MAY 7:

Shruthi and Dhyaan had chosen an amazing apartment for themselves in Ulsoor, Bangalore. It had four spacious bedrooms, a large living room and kitchen. Basically, it was the house Shruthi had always imagined living in. Since Dhyaan wasn't too keen on rituals, they had planned a small party for all our close family and friends.

Not wanting to disappoint the senior citizens in the family, a small pooja was done which went on from early morning and ended by lunch. The party was expected to go on 'til night.

At around 4 in the evening, Vihaan, Dev and their parents entered the house. He looked so handsome in his cotton kurta and jeans. He looked at me and gave me the widest smile I have ever seen him pull. I went over to them and welcomed each of them with hugs, making sure to give Vihaan an extra tight hug.

Since the whole incident, my respect and gratitude towards Vihaan had increased tenfold and I had no intention of hiding that fact either.

"Hi hero! Glad you could make it!" I said.

"Wouldn't have missed it, Avni. You look stunning!" He said pointing at my blue saree.

"Thanks! Hi Dev, Uncle, Aunty! I am so glad you could make it!" I said, trying to be as warm and welcoming as I possibly can.

Once the awkward Hello's and Hi's were done, I dragged Vihaan and Dev to my siblings, to introduce Dev to them. Dev seemed to be the calm, composed and quiet types; which was completely contrasting to my loud and boisterous siblings.

Dev looked very uncomfortable when he got a rather loud welcome from my brothers and sisters. I left him to be by himself and shifted my focus on getting Rutu and Naina to stop shamelessly staring at Vihaan, like they had never seen him before. Vihaan on the other hand was having an extremely animated discussion with a very red Ajji, who was completely stumped by him.

"Vihaan, come here. I have two very excited people wanting to speak to you." I said, taking him by his elbow.

"Hi!" Rutu, as Naina looked like she was about to faint with excitement.

"Hello girls!" Vihaan said warmly. He was having too much fun, I could tell.

"You look nice today, Vihaan." Naina chimed in. "Or should we say Vihaan Bhava?"

"I'll hit you!" I said, mockingly. "Scurry away! Illa andhre-!"

With that, they jogged away, snorting with laughter. Vihaan looked at me quizzically and chuckled.

"Bhava?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh hush." I replied, nudging him with my shoulder.

As the get together went on, I found a place next to Amrita, who was listening to loud metal music on her iPod.

"Ammi, what are you doing? Remove that! There are guests here!" I said.

"So what, Akka? I'm so bored! I have no one to talk to." Amrita said and turned the volume even higher. I wondered how her brain didn't melt when the volume was up so high. All I could hear was some guy scream on top of his voice. How she liked such music really went above my head.

Amrita was happily mouthing the words to the song when I noticed that Dev, who was sitting next to her, was also mouthing along with her.

"Wait, isn't that Peephole?" Dev asked Amrita. But her volume was so high, that she didn't hear him. I gave her a violent nudge and removed one of her earphones.

"Dev is talking to you." I hissed.

"Were you listening to Peephole?" Dev asked again looking very amused.

"Wait, you know System of a Down?" I don't think she had ever come across another human who might have the same taste in music as her.

"Know them? I live for that band! I can't believe you know them!" Dev exclaimed.

"When your stars are bent and your rivers fly..." Amrita sang.

WHAT?

"Do you ever believe that you're stuck in the... SKY..." Dev continued.

WHATTT?!

"When you're hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!" Both of them said. At that very instant, everybody in the apartment stopped dead and stared at the two of them. Dev, looking embarrassed sank low into his chair and hid his face.

"Hey, what did you mean by you not believing that I knew them? Are you stereotyping me? Just because I have sisters like Rutu and Naina, doesn't mean I am like them, you know?" Amrita joked.

"Haha, I'm sorry. But you have earned like a thousand points for listening to System of a Down. Very cool! I'm Dev by the way."

"Trust me Dev, I know who you are. I'm Amrita." She said and shook his hand.

"Wait, where do you stand in the eight siblings?" He asked.

"Excuse me?" Ammi asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry! I meant, like, are you the youngest? Middle? Like that." He said, sounding flustered.

"Oh, I'm number six." Amrita chuckled, to which he responded with a low whistle.

After that, the both of them plunged into a deep conversation about metal music, which frankly I stopped listening to since I didn't understand anything. I got up from my seat and went to stand by the entrance

As I leaned against the door, I scanned through the apartment and looked at everybody one by one.

I could hear Bhavna's laugh that sounded like bells ringing and I could tell Adi was cracking her up and also the group of people surrounding them.

Pa and Ma, along with Dhyaan's parents were having a very colourful discussion with Ishaan and Aanya and were talking complete nonsense which Aanya happened to understand.

Shruthi and Dhyaan were being the perfect hosts and went around the whole room hand in hand to talk to each and every guest.

Sid and Maya were happily chatting with Ajji, Rutu and Naina and were making Ajji laugh really loudly.

Looking at all of them so happy, made me wonder... Will I ever be this happy? Will I also have someone who can make me laugh and smile and make me want to look forward to every new day? Will I ever have someone who love me like there is no tomorrow, someone who I can trust and be myself around, with the guarantee that he will never break my heart.

My train of thoughts were interrupted by Vihaan, who came and stood just a few inches away from me.

"Avni, can we talk please?" he asked.

"Sure! Do you want to go somewhere quiet?"

"Let's go to the terrace." He said and led me out of the apartment.

On my way out, I caught Rutu, Naina and Ajji giggling and Sid winking at me.

"This is really important, Avni. I have been wanting to speak to about it for quite some time." Vihaan said.

"What is it? Is everything okay?" I asked. Where was he going with all this?

Without saying anything, he took my hand in his. Within a millisecond, my heart was racing at top speed. Unable to look into his eyes, I lowered my gaze.

"Avni, I know you have through a lot these past few weeks, and I can't even begin to imagine how you're holding up. But listen, I am here to stay. Trust me when I say this, I will never break you the way he did. I will never make you feel inferior. I respect you so much and I will treat you like you are the most important woman on this planet, which you are, for me at least." He stopped and took a deep a breath and continued, "I'm falling in love with you, and I am in this for real." He finished.

Understanding my silence, he continued, "I am in this for the long run, Avni. I don't expect you to trust me; it seems foolish for me to even think that after what happened. You can have all the time you need to think about this, I'll always be there."

Funnily enough, after whatever I had been through, I believed him. Every word he said. I didn't know why, but I started smiling.

"You have no idea how good it feels to have listened to what you just told me, Vihaan. Thank you for being honest with me. Trust me, all I want is to forget about the past month and move on. You have been the most amazing person to me. You have been such a huge support to me. I would be lying to you if I told you that I haven't felt something too. But, I need to think this through."

"I completely understand, Avni. I promise you, more than anything; I will be there for you as a friend till the very end."

I closed the distance between us and hugged him. In his arms, I felt home. It felt like a place meant just for me. However, I just got out of a very long relationship.

However bad it ended, and how much ever I wanted to get out of it when it ended, I owed it to myself to take a breather and figure things out for myself.

As much as things with Vihaan felt good, I did not want to rush into anything and jump into a relationship this soon.

Aarav may have been a complete arse in the end, but from my side, I was true to him. There were true feelings there, at least at one point. I did love him, and want a future with him. Somewhere down the line, I lost track of myself, and of reality. I shouldn't have, but I did. And I had to reach firm ground before taking off like a complete idiot again.

Not wanting to give the family any excuse to start assuming what Vihaan and I were up to, we headed back to the apartment.

The scene had slightly changed from when we had left it. Amrita and Dev had shifted to the balcony and were involved in some kind of a deep discussion. About what, I could not make out.

Whatever. I ship it.

Amma had completely given up and was sitting with her arms and legs stretched out, looking completely exhausted. Pa was sitting at her heel, smiling at her, massaging her legs. He looked like he was trying to lighten her up, cracking jokes now and then.

Amay, Sid and Maya were all engrossed in their phones, and Ajji was in a deep discussion with Vihaan's parents, simultaneously braiding Naina's hair with Rutu listening intently.

"Yes, yes. Avni is a very independent and strong girl, Harsha. She has always been the best example to her younger siblings. Our bangaara she is." Ajji said.

"That's wonderful, wonderful." Harsha aunty replied. Naina and Rutu looked at each other and giggled.

"Looks like Ajji is trying to increase your fan club." Vihaan sniggered.

I nudged him playfully and joined Bhavna, Aditya, Shruthi and Dhyaan, who were all in deep discussion about something.

"Ah, Avnu! There you are! Where had you disappeared for so long?" Bhavna asked, wagging her eyebrows at me.

"Oh, nowhere. I was showing Vihaan around the building." I said casually.

"Showing the building or the terrace?" Shruthi laughed.

Blushing profusely, Vihaan tried making up some nonsensical excuse.

"Mr. Vihaan, you are speaking to two couples here! We have had our fair share of sneaking around. We've been there and done that! We can spot a lie when we see it!" Dhyaan chimed in.

Totally giving up, I realized just laughing along was the best option.