Say You're Mine (Lovestruck In Bangalore #1)

Chapter 1

I MEERA I

If there is one thing you should know about my  sister, it's that she is the bossiest person I've ever met in my whole life and that has to say something considering the fact that my mother is very much Indian.

So when I say I dreaded the day my sister decided to get married, I mean it. Because she has been planning her wedding since I can remember and according to her plans, her wedding is supposed to be an epic adventure with everything, from the wedding destination to every single design on her jewellery, planned to the point. It sounds exhausting and trust me, it absolutely is.

But even though we're not as close as I'd like us to be, my sister being older and serious all the time being the main reason as to why we're not close, I love her to bits. So, even though I hate weddings, especially when it's the wedding of someone close to me and my family, I was also excited and a little sad that my sister was getting married. Though we haven't lived under the same roof in years, I felt a little heartbroken that she will now have a family of her own, that doesn't involve me and our parents.

It's really hard when you realise your sister is not just a side character in your story, but she has a story where she is the main character.

Since it's the first wedding in our family in a long time, our parents wanted everything to be grand. Among us 'kids', Shraddha is the first one that's about to get married. Her wedding was something the whole family was excited for as she is the oldest. So every single relative, even ones I've never seen before in my life, were invited.

But the excitement quickly gave way to terror as my sister started ordering everyone around. Gossiping aunties learned to shut their mouths around her real fast, after she chewed them out for calling her a much vulgar Malayalam version  of 'shameless girl', after finding out her marriage with Karthik wasn't arranged and that she has been living with him for the past few years in Bangalore.

How they found out about her living together with Karthik, I don't know. The gossip mill is undefeated.

It was funny watching Shraddha year into them, because one of those ladies, just the previous day, gave me hell for wearing short shorts, in my family home, around my own parents. The audacity of some people!

Shraddha is usually respectful towards elders even if they are disrespectful. But she and Karthik, that's my future brother-in-law, in case you didn't realise it, were planning the whole wedding by themselves. It must be taking a toll on her, because no one does things the way she wants and she has to do it herself. I couldn't get home earlier to help her because I couldn't skip any more classes, I've already maxed out my leaves, especially with the wedding. And it's not like she'll let me help.

It's only been three weeks since her engagement and she's already turned into a bridezilla and not in a cute way they show in movies but a scary don't-get-in-my-way-or-I'll-kill-you way.  I'm sorry, maybe I'm exaggerating because she cussed me out for messing with the playlist she prepared for her wedding reception. But in my defence, I think "Another one bites the dust" by Queen must be included in the playlist, for obvious reasons.

Since the playlist incident, I was demoted and my roles were reduced to running errands and welcoming the guests, the worst duties ever. But she did buy me a pair of chunky gold earrings, so it's all fair and lovely. It's not. But I'll act like it is, because I don't want to seem ungrateful.

But now I'm standing at the bottom of the stairs, eavesdropping on my sister telling off our cousin Avinash, or Vinash as we love to call him, for not getting here two days earlier. Its not like I have to sharpen my ears to her what she is saying, since she's yelling right now. Karthik took her to the beach to cool them both down from all the pressure of the wedding plans. My sister ended up clogging her ears after swimming in the salty sea water for a long time and now she thinks she's speaking normally, when she's, in fact, shouting.