Two Birds One Arrow (Completed)

Chapter 19

All the wedding preparations are going in full swing. I am getting married within two days and tomorrow we have all of my pre-wedding ceremonies like Mehendi, haldi, Sangeet. We also have all the decorations in the home going on side by side.

Generally, when a festival or a celebration takes place in my house, I tend to get pissed off to a whole another level. But, this time I am very elated about everything happening because for the first time since forever, I do not have to take part in doing any job. Even if my Mom occasionally assigns me any job, one or the other relative comes to my rescue and does it all for me.

However, this has a downside too. Since the wedding is too close, Gautham and I are not allowed to meet each other. Phone calls are allowed. However, we cannot engage in calls at this point of time since both my house as well as his, is flooded with relatives which means two things- 1. The elders will rebuke/ tease you (totally depends on their mood). 2. The younger ones will totally try to eavesdrop or snoop into your conversation.

And strangely, I am not getting pissed off by this. I am actually happy to be spending time with my entire family. Moments like this don't pass by all the time.

And also, they say, patience makes it worth it.

Since morning, there is continuous playing of songs since everybody is getting ready for the Sangeet.

"Aunty, please." Manisha, my cousin pleads my Mom once again, seeing that she is quite shy when it comes to dancing and hence she withdrew herself before any of the relatives could compel her into.

Manisha is not the one to give up too. So she begins following my Mom into the kitchen still pleading her.

I take her baby into my arms. She is around four to five months old now and the cutest species I have ever seen. I pull her cheeks and cradle her in my arms. She stares at me and giggles whenever I tickle her. I kiss her cheeks and look at her as she stares at me with utmost fascination in her eyes. I notice that after some more time of us being in the process of being best buds, her eyes start dropping. A quiet yawn leaves her mouth and I 'aww' at her before rocking her back and forth in my arms.

Soon, she falls asleep and I decide to place her on the bed and inform Manisha. But before that, I'd do something else too. I try to take her back in my arms but my attempt fails as I get scared whether I'll disturb her and she'll wake up. So I brought my head down to her, took my phone out and clicked a picture of me kissing her cheek.

I stare at it and decide to send it to Gautham. Merely a few seconds later, I get a reply from him.

Never thought I'd be jealous of a baby. But, here we are.

I send him a grinning emoji as a reply and he soon sends me another message.

Anyway tell her that she only got a kiss on her cheek. I had gotten one on my lips too.

I gape at his message with my mouth wide open.

Pervert.

I send him the message. Seconds later a loud noise of a kid shouting 'Nehaaaaaaa' snaps me out of my trance. My initial reaction is to shush the kid down for he could wake the baby up. But, once I realise who the kid is, I shout back 'Aadityaaaaaa' in a louder tone.

Who is Aaditya? Well, I have this cousin brother who is very close to me. We used to be best friends and all. But soon after he got married, he had to move to Canada with his wife. So, our conversations toned down. However, I did speak to Aaditya, his five year old son, atleast once every month through video call.

If Aaditya was here, it naturally meant that Bhaiya and Bhabhi were here too. I get up from the bed, lift Aaditya in my arms and run towards the direction of the living room.

The entire family is crowded around my Bhabhi. But, once she finds me, she immediately hugs me which left no room for any conversations with others.

"How are you?" I ask her.

"I am fine. How is the bride doing?" She asks me in return and I smile instead of replying with any sentence.

I scan around and find no trace of my brother. I look for some more time and since there's still no sign, I ask Bhabhi.

"Where is Bhaiya?"

"Oh, he couldn't make it to the wedding. He had some important meeting with some clients. He asked me to apologise on his behalf. He told he'd call you." She informs me.

"What? He wouldn't be there? He told me he'd be there. He already missed my engagement and all. I thought I'd see him atleast during the wedding. Wouldn't he even attend his only sister's wedding? What kind of a brother is he?" My face falls down.

My entire childhood was spent in my brother's company. Our families used to live in the neighbouring streets, so we were always around each other. I did not have friends when I was younger, but he always played with me and also let me play with his friends so I wouldn't feel left out. When I got caught doing some mischief, he always took up the blame so that my Mom wouldn't hit me. We went from that to only WhatsApp texts once in a while as we grew up. I thought if he came now, we could make up for all the lost time. But, he chose to stay back there.

"Sorry, Neha. The meeting was very important. It's a deal he wanted to crack for a lot of time. He also felt bad about not being able to attend the wedding." She tells me, remorsefully. "Sorry, Neha."

"It's okay, Bhabi. You are not at fault anyway. Why apologize? I guess I mattered only that much to him." I hug her again, just because I felt the tears coming to my eyes and I didn't want anyone to see me cry.

While I was still engulfing her in a hug, I felt someone tug at my hair. I discretely wipe my eyes before turning to face them. But, surprise- it was my brother in deed.

"Bhaiya!" I exclaim seeing him, I tackle him in a hug immediately and now let my tears flow freely. "I thought you really didn't come."

"What makes you think that I'll miss my least favourite person's wedding?" He mocks me and I hit him. "No matter what happens, I will be there with you. I'm sorry that I missed your engagement." He tells me. "I thought I'd simply mess with you. But, madam ji started crying and thought no one noticed." He laughs at my expense. "I never knew I was loved this much. I always knew I had some crazy fans, but not to this extent." He says and wipes away a tear from my face.

And that, my friends, is why sometimes family comes first.