“But anyway,” said Karthik. “Let’s talk about another scene that happened before my wedding. We cousins had gone to a restobar in Bangalore for a small ‘pre-wedding party’, and Rani decided to bring Elena. Interested?”

Aarush nodded.

“Sure, tell me.”

*******

Rani Shivaram got out of a cab and held her hand out for her girlfriend, who took it without hesitation. Surrounded by the bright lights of Indiranagar’s pub corridor, Rani helped Elena navigate the chewed-up sidewalks characteristic of Indian big cities.

“You need to be careful where you step here,” said Rani, yelling over the traffic noise and honking. Elena laughed.

“Please, I’m from New York! I think I know how to watch my step.”

The two women entered the glitzy-looking restobar that the cousins had arranged Karthik’s little pre-wedding party in. The inside was much bigger than it appeared from the outside, and the speakers were booming out yet another derivative of that “Calabria” track.

They walked around for a few seconds before spotting Amit waving at them.

“Rani! Elena! Come come!”

“Hey, Karthik! Amit! Are we the last ones here?”

“Yes, but don't worry, we got starters.”

Rani and Elena sat down while Ravi, still in his work clothes, briefly glanced at them uncomfortably. Rani introduced everyone at the table.

“So you’ve already met Amit... and this is Karthik, the man of the hour and Amit’s brother.”

“Hey!” said Elena, offering a hand. “Rani’s told me a lot about you.”

“Same with you,” said Karthik, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you finally!”

Rani then pointed to Shyam, who was staring.

“This is Shyam. Maybe watch your drink around him.”

Elena waved at him with a cautious sort of smile. Karthik then slapped him up the back of the head and he snapped out of it.

“H-Hi…”

A waiter arrived and the group ordered drinks. After he left Karthik turned to Elena.

“So Rani told you work in marketing?”

“Yeah,” said Elena. “It’s a big social media company in San Francisco, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Though despite all the politics upstairs I’ve been moving up so it’s alright. What do you do again?”

“Business,” said Karthik. “I co-founded small shops and restaurant franchises all over Karnataka.”

“Oh, that’s so cool! So you’re like a small-business tycoon!”

Karthik laughed. Elena then slowly turned to Shyam.

“And what do you do…?”

“Besides wasting his Dad’s money on dating apps,” muttered Rani. Karthik chuckled while Shyam frowned.

“Easy, Rani,” said Ravi. “Jeez…”

Shyam shook his head and regained his composure somewhat.

“I’m… uh… between jobs right now, but I have this awesome idea for a new theme-pub–”

“Ah, here we go,” said Karthik, rolling his eyes.

“Hey, it’s not dumb, okay?” Shyam whined. “It’s called ‘The Thirsty Haathi’ and it’s gonna work bro, trust me!”

Rani and Amit both scoffed while Ravi frowned at them. Elena watched this exchange with fascination.

“Yeah,” said Karthik, a sarcastic smirk on his face. “But before that you tell first what happened to your ‘phone repair shop’ idea from last month.”

“That wouldn’t have worked out, the market is, uh, too saturated.”

“Ah, and the pub scene in Bangalore isn’t, no?”

Shyam, sensing defeat, decided to change the topic.

“So, Rani and… Ele-nah. How long have you been, uh, together for now?”

“Oh, it’s been, what, fourteen years now?” said Rani, turning to Elena who was smiling back at her. “I’ll never forget the day we started dating.”

“Or the day we met,” said Elena, somewhat dreamily. Shyam began to stare again.

“But… how does that… work?”

Rani raised an eyebrow.

“And what the hell do you mean by that?”

“I mean… is it like the… you know… the ‘videos’? Because that’s kinda hot…”

Elena turned to Rani, bewildered that someone could actually say something like that. Rani meanwhile slapped her forehead in disgust, while Karthik glared at Shyam.

“Idiot…”

“What?” said Shyam. “I’m just asking questions, okay? I have that right.”

Rani slammed the table.

“You’re 35 years old, still live with your parents, have never had a job or a date in your life, and you creep on women when you think they’re not looking. You don’t have the right to ask anything!”

“And there she goes again with the self-righteousness,” said Ravi. “Leave the guy alone Rani, that’s just how he is!”

Rani looked at him with anger and shock.

“Oh, of course YOU’D defend him! You’re just as much of a mamma’s boy as he is–”

“Rani!”

Rani turned her head to see who called her name. It was Amit, and next to him stood a waiter.

“Enough. Drinks are here.”

The waiter cautiously distributed their drinks and left as quickly as he could. Amit cleared his throat.

“Everyone please listen. This night is for Karthik, so I don’t want to see any more arguing. Okay?”

The others all nodded their heads. Amit then raised his glass.

“Chalo, let's cheers. To Karthik and Gracy!”

*KLINK*


A couple hours later Rani was exiting the women’s restroom when she ran right into Ravi, who was exiting the men’s. Now, despite Rani staying in Ravi’s apartment the twins had barely spoken to each other during that whole month, and now found themselves frozen in place while looking around awkwardly. Finally Rani spoke up.

“What do you want?”

Ravi looked at his sister like she was a broken toy. Rani looked at her brother like he was the least important thing right now.

“I want you and your, uh, your… friend… to stop talking to Aarush so much.”

Rani crossed her arms.

“Really? And why is that?”

“I don’t want you two… uh… confusing him with your… well… whatever this is.”

“We don’t confuse him with anything,” said Rani, frowning. “All we do is tell him the truth. Maybe you should try that, he might actually listen to you then.”

Ravi scoffed.

“Look, Aarush keeps clinging to you both and I don’t like it. If you stop indulging him then he’ll lose interest!”

“You just keep getting worse, don’t you?” said Rani, now impatient. “You know what Aarush told us the other day? He said that he likes us better because his Dad ‘never listens’ and is ‘always shouting’. What do you think that means?”

“It means he doesn’t do what he’s told, obviously!” said Ravi. “He’s becoming every bit as stubborn and rebellious as you were, and I really don’t want you encouraging that behavior with your… ‘brainwashing’.”

Rani took a deep breath and turned to head back to the table.

“Maybe before accusing your own sister of ‘brainwashing’ your son ask yourself why he says you’re ‘always shouting’ to begin with.”

Ravi stared as Rani walked away, genuinely unaware of what she meant by “ask yourself”.

*******

Aarush crossed his arms.

“I am not brainwashed.”

“No one told you are,” said Karthik, chuckling. Aarush didn’t think it was funny.

“But my Dad did! How can he say that? Rani-attha and Elena taught me so many things about life, love, and following my dreams, and he calls that brainwashing! Meanwhile what did he do? He just kept quiet and simply did what Avva told him to do! HOW CAN HE SAY SUCH THINGS??”

Aarush was breathing heavily. Arun and Karthik both stared at him, a little alarmed.

“Anyway…” said Aarush, calming down. “What happened next?”

Arun looked away. Karthik now looked at Aarush with an air of foreboding.

“My wedding day.”