“That’s life,” said Arun. “But at least Rani made her first visit to India in eight years for their wedding near the end of 2021.”

“Amit-anna’s also,” said Karthik. “His wedding was one month before Ravi’s. What, Arun Uncle? I thought you were remembering!”

“Yes, thank you Karthik,” said Arun, laughing. “Rani and Amit went to India together, I remember now!”

“And Elena?” asked Aarush. Arun shook his head.

“Rani decided not to bring her. She said it was to ‘avoid drama’, and after what happened in LA I honestly don’t blame them for making that decision.”

“And I actually noticed something different about Rani when she came that time,” said Karthik. “The way she spoke. Her accent wasn’t fully American anymore, it actually sounded little more Indian now. But the way she was talking seemed more… ‘relaxed,’ kind of.”

“That makes sense,” said Arun. “And I can’t believe you noticed that!”

Karthik laughed.

“How did Dad and Avva react to her visit?” asked Aarush. Arun slowly shook his head.

“Your grandmother simply avoided those topics altogether. She made sure not to bring up either fashion or Elena, which she could do because Elena wasn’t there. And Ravi of course just did as Sandhya did, as usual. It was a tense atmosphere in our house during those two months.”

“But I at least remember one ‘memorable’ scene from the day before Ravi’s wedding,” said Karthik. “All of us cousins were chilling in his dressing room. What happened that day was very weird.”

*******

Rani Shivaram was walking down the hallway of the dressing room area in a wedding hall, wearing a shimmering new lehenga for her brother’s wedding. She was sweating a little though, the Chennai humidity was beginning to take effect on her.

She rounded a corner and opened the door to the first room. Inside she found her brother Ravi, and her cousins Amit, Shyam, and Karthik, all wearing matching kurtas.

“Hey!” said Shyam, looking up from his phone. “This room is for boys only.”

Rani flipped him off and sat on the bed next to Karthik.

“What’s up?” said Karthik. Rani fanned herself.

“There’s air-conditioning in this room, that’s what’s up. What are you losers doing?”

“Haaah, don’t ask,” said Karthik, shaking his head. Amit chuckled.

“Rating Insta models,” said Shyam, opening his phone. “Like this one– Ravi bro, check these out!”

“Oooohh, nice!” said Ravi, leaning in. “But are they real, though?”

“I don’t even care at this point,” said Shyam, pretending to pant like a dog. “They’re not of this Earth, bro!”

Rani rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, grow up.”

Shyam turned to her, confused.

“What? You also like boobs, no?”

Amit and Karthik frowned at him while Rani tried hard to control her temper. Ravi made a hesitant chuckle.

“I mean, have you seen that chick she's dating?” said Shyam. “Because I’ve seen the pics on Insta, and I’m telling you bro, they’re HUGE! Wait, Ravi, you met her once, no? Were they real, or–”

“SHYAM IF YOU SAY ONE MORE WORD ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND’S BOOBS I SWEAR TO GOD–”

*Knock-knock*

Amit got up to answer the door while Karthik gently got Rani to sit back down. A staff-member was at the door, and Amit returned a few seconds later while holding a wooden box.

“This is for you Ravi, from Aditi it seems. Apparently she told only you should open it.”

Ravi took the box, a little confused. Shyam suddenly got up and snatched the box from him.

“Bro you should definitely open it right now! Or no, wait–”

Shyam placed the box on the bed, whipped out his phone and started filming.

“Okay, now open it!”

Rani scoffed in disgust as Ravi slowly opened the box. Amit and Karthik watched curiously.

“What the…”

The box seemed to be filled with heart-shaped pink and magenta confetti, and right in the middle was a folded-up sheet of A5 printer paper. Ravi opened it up to reveal a badly formatted letter typed in Calibri font.


Dearest Ravi,
Words cannot express how excited I am to be marrying you. You are the love of my life, and when I met you it was like destiny.
I am so happy to have met my soulmate.
Love,
Aditi


“What the actual hell…?” said Rani, bewildered. Amit and Karthik both burst into laughter.

“I don’t think she wrote this!” cried Karthik.

“You sure?” said Shyam, putting away his phone.

“No, Karthik’s right,” said Rani. “I mean come on, she walks around wearing Yves-Saint-Laurent heels and a Dior handbag. Everything about this woman is hollow and performative, check this out–”

Rani opened WhatsApp on her phone and navigated to Aditi’s profile.

“Look at her status.”

The men huddled around Rani’s phone. Amit and Karthik started laughing again.

Success is wen ua signature becomes ua autograph :)

“She types like one aunty only!” said Karthik, unable to control his laughter.

“Big deal,” said Ravi. Amit turned to him.

“What?”

“I said big deal!”

The others all looked at Ravi, completely stone-faced with the letter still in his hand.

“You think it’s performative, Rani? Well I don’t actually care, because not all of us can live in ‘fantasy-land’ like you. So take your self-righteous homo crap and get out of my face!”

Rani looked at him with shock, then disappointment.

“Fine! I will get out of your face.”

Rani stormed out of the room. Karthik glared at Ravi and followed her out.

*******

Aarush looked a little bewildered.

“That love-letter doesn’t sound real.”

Karthik laughed.

“It doesn’t seem like it, right? But it was real. We still laugh about it sometimes.”

“What was Mum like after the wedding?” asked Aarush. Arun sighed.

“Obedient and unquestioning, which is everything that Sandhya wanted in a daughter-in-law. But the thing that personally frustrated me about her the most was how she’d spend every spare moment glued to Instagram.”

“My Mum wasn’t an… airhead, was she?” asked Aarush, a little worried.

“She was, unfortunately,” said Karthik. “She at least started to get better after you were born, but back then she was spoiled, whiny, and so dumb. Rani had told she also was a class topper in school, but back then I couldn't even understand how!”

“Rani’s interactions with her were even more funny,” said Arun. “She spoke to Aditi as though she were a child, while Aditi kept showering her with hollow praise. ‘Wow you’re so smart’, ‘wow you're so pretty,’ etc. But Sandhya at least hated seeing that.”

For the umpteenth time that night, Aarush's face fell.

“What did Dad think of all this?”

Arun shook his head.

“Nothing. He just kept his head down. And unfortunately, after the way Ravi blew up at his sister that day before his wedding, they would only barely speak to each other again until the next time Rani went to India.”

“When was that?” asked Aarush softly, dreading the answer. Arun took a deep breath.

“Eight years later.”

Aarush's eyes widened.