Better Together | ✓

5 | bro time

Chapter 5 : Bro Time

Abhi was generally a healthy person. He ate healthy on most days except the Saturdays and Sundays. So when Shelly Bua had put together nachos with  cheese sauce he didn't mind joining the party. 

Currently he was seated at the island in the kitchen, which they seldom used for the main meals, with Ashvi and his aunt Shelly, discussing the hot topic of the house in recent days— Aadarsh's marriage.

"I should have known Rajjo wouldn't do a good job at the screening. If she hadn't put that woman on the list, Aadarsh would have never chosen her. She spoilt the last day of my trip to Andaman with a frantic call. How could she be so silly as to put the girl on the list in the first place!"

"Bua, can we think of a way to fix it?" Abhi said exasperated. Shelly Bua and Badi Bua were typical sisters. On one day they would kill for each other and on the other kill each other. 

"Did he mention her again?" Bua asked curiously, flipping black her light brown hair that had red highlights.

"He's been avoiding talking about it ." Ashvi answered, staring at the nachos wondering if she should give in and help herself to one or two pieces. Surely, one or two wouldn't do any harm to her sleek figure.

Abhi grabbed the nacho she had her eye on, "Yep, he said to not fuss and trouble him about it."

"Hmm, you say he likes her?" Shelly turned to Abhi with a thoughtful look.

"A freaking eight on a scale of ten, that's how much he liked her." Abhi remarked.

"Wow, that's generous coming from him." She muttered.

"Very," Abhi added. "Apparently she ticked all the boxes on his list. But believe me his list is shitty. If this alliance goes forward it will be a disaster." 

"Stop exaggerating!" Ashvi remarked finally picking up a nacho from the plate after much internal debate. "You haven't even met her to judge her."

"Exactly what I have been telling you all!" Dai Jaan spoke up as she finished wiping dry the dishes and carried them to the cabinets built on the wall across the kitchen. She had been listening to their pointless discussion for long enough.

"Sarla please, I know these types well."  Shelly remarked. "Middle class single women are the dangerous of all. All they want is a sugar daddy."

"What's that?" Their beloved Dai Jaan asked oblivious to the scandalous term.

"A man who is rich and ready-made daddy to her kid," Shelly Bua answered as a matter of fact.

Ashvi stared at her brother exchanging a look of surprise as their aunt used a modern day term but mistook it's actual meaning. Her brother grinned and quickly wore a straight face. Their aunt didn't quite use the term correctly but they were used to that. Shelly Bua tried hard to be Gen Z  but failed miserably whether it was in her choice of clothes or words.

"This girl is no different she will make our Aadi boy a puppet in her hands. For her daughter, she will get a father and she will boss over us."

Sarla forced a smile and turned away. She had lost her husband at a very early age too. Her son was barely five. She had raised her son—Mohan— single handedly and who now worked for the same family as an errand boy. He was soon going to a reputed engineering college under Aadarsh's sponsorship. She had been a silent listener to all talk about this mysterious woman who Aadarsh had met. 

She wondered how she was as a person. Aadarsh was a very sound judge of character. She had seen him grow from a reckless young boy to a responsible family man. If he liked that woman then there might be something about her that was worth his time, effort and his family's involvement. She glanced as the trio continued debating on the better options Aadarsh could have at a bride. She sighed and finished stacking the plates and left the kitchen to take care of other work. In the end, it would only be Aadarsh's will that would translate into reality.