Dear Sweetheart!

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"Why won't you marry, Shivaay?" Choti Maa questions for the millionth time.

Why can she not understand that Bhaiyya does not want to get married? Who cares that he is 35?

"I am not entertaining this conversation again." Bhaiyya declares and leaves the breakfast table.

I want to glare at my aunt. Bhaiyya just left without eating. Again.

"Pinky." Chote Papa sighs.

"AAP CHUP RAHIYE!" She stands up dramatically. "Our son needs to get married."

"You cannot force him when he is not ready, Pinky. Give him time. He is focused on business." Dad butts in which only fuels Choti Maa. Everyone considers my dad to be this genius but the man is quite dumb.

Moments like these prove it. And, the old man has the audacity to say that I should use my brain-cells.

"Rudra." I hear O's voice. The annoying man locked himself in his studio the past two days.

"Hello, O. You finally remembered my face." I give a mock smile and leave the dining room. O can get his ears hurt by the argument that Dad and Choti Maa engage in. I am not up for it this morning.

"Rudra." He instead follows me.

"What?" I pout like a baby, I know. I should be understanding, creativity and solitude might go hand in hand. But, I was just alone these two days when my brothers should be with me.

I came back from a gym licensing deal in Goa to see my brother hole himself in the study and O in his studio.

"Here. This will erase that pout." When I look, I know O's right. My protein shake ready and to-go is always the way to my heart.

"I am so touched, man." I feign tears.

"Stop." O makes a disgusted face and looks at the dining room. "Another day, huh?"

"At this point, Bhaiyya will run away if Choti Maa does not stop." I say.

"Again?" And, my face falls.

I glare at my older brother, "He did not run away."

"He did leave."

There are some things O does not get. There are some things I'd not get too.

Because we both are not the ones that have to save this family every time.

"I will have you know, O, Bhaiyya had no choice. You and I decided to go on our own paths, while everything was suddenly put on Bhaiyya. He left to bring back previous glory and came back with so much more." I grit out every word.

O has the decency to look a bit guilty. As guilty as I feel.

But, the only thing that matters is that we are so proud of my brother. Shivaay Singh Oberoi did it.

He did it all.

"You, gadhes, tells your brother." Choti Maa enters where we are standing and haughtily pushes her hair off her shoulder.

We suppress our laughter.

"Guggi!" She screams and leaves.

"Maybe we should. If anyone deserves that ishqbaazi Dadi is so fond of, it is Shivaay." O muses.

"True." I agree but the way he steers off love, marriage, or any sort of relationship is alarming. Maybe he does not want it.

"Ru, I am leaving for work. You two have lunch. Tried the new recipe today, so let me know how that is. Make sure Dadi has her medicine." We stop his smooth flow.

"Make sure you have your medicines." And, Bhaiyya smiles.

"I will never do that." It is a weird smile. O would know the better words to describe it.

"Have a good day, man." O and I wave like a bunch of kids. That is what Bhaiyya renders us to.

As we are about to relax and even join Dadi, we hear Guggi scream, "JIJI!!"

All of us in the house rush to the living room.

"Huva kya hai tujhe?" Choti Maa pinches Guggi. That must be painful. I shake my head: their bond is weirder than what I and Chubby share.

"Looks at this." Guggi points to a box.

"Where did you find this box?" O asks.

"In Shivaay sir's room." No matter what, Choti Maa's kid is always 'sir' to her.

"You wents through his room. How dares you?" I can tell my aunt itches to slap Guggi.

"Jiji," She looks at all of us. "Aap sab, jab bhi aap shaadi ke bare mein kuch kehte hain, Sir aapne room kuch karte hain. Aaj, I spied, okay? I am sorry, Jiji, par yeh box mujhe mila."

So what she is saying is that Bhaiyya goes through this box whenever marriage is mentioned. That she spied on our brother. I rage but my curiosity takes over me.

"Where did you find this?"

"Ek secret cabinet mein."

Secret? What rubbish.

"Opens the box. I wants to see which kala jaadu has my son say no to shaadi." Choti Maa orders.

Guggi nods eagerly while Dad, Dadi, and Chote Papa sigh. Mom looks tired. But underneath it all, we are curious.

"Ji... ji..." Guggi trails off, taking out a piece of paper out of the box that treasures many more papers, I think.

"Gives it to me." Choti Maa takes it and her eyes widen.

This is like Bhool Bhulaiyya where Vidya Balan's character discovers Manjulika's jewellery.

"What is in there? A ghost? Manjulika's ghungroo?" I whisper to O, who laughs quietly.

"Shaktji." Choti Maa's expression, though, turns somber. "Our son—I thinks he is in loves with someone."

It is like time freezes. One moment we were standing, and now, we all stare at the paper—photo—that Choti Maa put on the coffee table.

Bhaiyya holding a woman in his arms.

His nose touching her cheek.

All of it is so shocking. But what shocks us more than anything is the happiness on his face.

That sheer smitten expression.

The woman's laughter has been captured in the photo along with Bhaiyya's glow.

What the fuck.

Choti Maa comes out of her shock and ransacks through the box.

Cards, post-its, pictures, and objects are all exposed to us.

I pick up one of the notes.

"Dear Sweetheart," It reads. "I made dinner. You just sleep after eating."

"Dear Shivaay, thank you for letting me fast for you. Thank you for fasting for me. Thank you for taking me out afterwards. But above all, thank you for creating memories with me." O reads whatever is on the back of the photo we were ogling at.

"What is the name of this woman?" Chote Papa asks.

Whoever she is, she is someone special enough to have Shivaay Singh Oberoi look at her like that.