Dear Sweetheart!

Who?

I stare at Bhaiyya. Those perceptive eyes, laser sharp focus, the clenched jaw—he is a predator that rules the business world.

There is that side to him, and there is the other: the one that rubs Dadi's aching feet, takes care of Mom and Dad, is the best son to Chote Papa and Choti Maa, the one that listens to O's artistic gibberish.

Now, I realize there is a third side to him.

A man madly in love. At least, he was.

My brother that frowned upon the notion of love was in love. Either the woman broke his heart, he did, or it was a mutual thing.

So many questions, I- we want to ask. But, we stay mum, watching him eat.

"Why are you all so silent today?" He questions and looks at Choti Maa. "Why haven't you started your 'shaadi karlo' nonsense?"

"Beta, if you love anyone, let us know. Your mother and I have no problem with it." Chote Papa says, cautiously.

Bhaiyya stops eating. "If I loved someone and brought her to our house, you guys would have no option but to accept her. Nothing you guys say will stop me from making her mine."

Woah. The intensity in his eyes is- wow. This is maybe the first time Bhaiyya is asserting his dominance over the family. After Dadi, well, he is the one that everyone looks up to for a decision. Truly, like he said, if he brought someone and declared that he wanted to marry her, it would be his words against anyone else's.

Whose words can counter the power of his?

"Well, do you?" O's voice fills the dining room. "Do you love anyone enough to bring them to us?"

A wry smile crosses Bhaiyya's face and he looks at Dadi, "Dadi, did you ever feel scared of losing Dadaji to something more sinister than death?"

"No..." Dadi looks as confused as we feel.

"No, because Dadaji was as honest as he could have been in this world." Then he looks at our parents. "How about you, Bade Papa and Dad. Did you guys fear losing your wives to something more sinister than death?"

To my surprise, they nod.

"Because of Kalyani Mills?" Bhaiyya acts like he is guessing but he knows that is the answer.

"Yeah." Chote Papa whispers. Between the two, he is the one to admit easier.

"When I bring someone, I put them in danger of paying for something that she is not at fault for." I shake my head, hurt, because neither are we, Bhaiyya, O, or me at fault too.

It is the sins of the fathers that Bhaiyya is scared of. And, he admits it. A man as calculative as Bhaiyya admits that he fears losing a person.

It is admirable honestly, but I am also a bit jealous. Did that woman bring so much love and change to my brother?

When he came back from Toronto, Bhaiyya became this man that owned the world. He always had that aura around him, but he came back with this realization that being vulnerable is fine.

Something O understood more than me.

While he still represses, Bhaiyya is more open in the sense... well, O can explain better.

I look at the deep thinker in our family and share the same look: jealousy and hurt.

It is irrational but the fact that Bhaiyya did not mention this love he harboured for someone, it hurts.

Why would he hide this from us?

Maybe because O and I badgered him as if he abandoned us when he moved to Toronto.