Sharing Life

6. Photograph

The priest called the elder brother to perform the Kanyadaan. Shivina called Shubham.

Ram was aware that Shubham will perform it and had prepared himself for this. Though he had accepted them as his family from.day one, for them he was still their step family. He was merely a provider for them. He fulfilled every responsibilities towards them wholeheartedly and never complained. He isn't the kind of person to exercise his right over anyone or anything. He believed in giving others without expecting anything in return.

Smilingly, he asked Kunal to see where Shubham is while he stayed near the mandap if at all he was needed.

"Shivina, don't you think Ram bhai should perform it?" Akshay interrupted.

"Par woh toh Sautele hai na. He is not my real brother," she replied in a causal vein.

He glared at her.

"What?"

She did not understand the gravity of what she had said and how hurtful it was. Since childhood she had seen how Shubham has been treating Ram. Even Ram never objected to it. For her, it was no big deal to say that.

Meera leaned down to adjusted Akshay's garland. In a low voice, she asked him to remain quiet and let it go for now. Owing to the wedding, he agreed.

Shubham arrived and they proceeded.

****

Even the 'I'm okay, it doesn't affect me' smile on Ram's face faded for a brief second when he heard Shivina saying it. He looked down, hiding, but instantly looked up. This time with a broader smile as he watched the ceremony begin.

Few moments later, he unbuttoned the first button of his sherwani and tried to loosen it, like it was suffocating and he needed to breath.

Adi called the waiter and handed him the glass of water.

"Yaar, don't worry. It's just too hot here," he justified and gulped the water.

"Correct. Very hot in an air conditioned hall," Vikrant shrugged his eyes.

Priya observed everything. Spending last few days with him to coordinate events for the wedding, she had seen him. She had always felt the isolation, the invisible line between Ram and his family. She wondered why she felt this.

Today she got her answer. Suddenly, him standing with his friends all the time away from his family, the photos she saw in his room, made sense to her.

Her heart sank.

She could see the confliction on his face, the pleasing smile and the moistening eyes. He was trying to hold back his tears. Everyone focused on the ceremony but she could not lose sight of him. His every action. Every minute detail was being observed.

One had to be inhuman to know what he was going through and yet remain unbothered.

She was hurt seeing him hurt. She was furious because he was not.

Like they say, you attract what you are.

Some more time passed.

He pretended to scratch his beard and expertly wipe the tear which was about to flow.

Witnessing this, her eyes turned watery. Her heart sobbed for him. She remained least bothered about the surrounding or the wedding anymore. He occupied her thoughts. Her eyes stayed on him while Brinda's on her.

Ram might have stopped the tear to roll down, but it did unmask his 'I'm happy' mask. It managed to go through the layers around her heart. The layers of pretence and denial which she created to protect herself.