Only You.....Just You.....

Chapter 18: Family Court (Part 2)

The sun was on the head and so was the sword hanging on me. One after the other my eyes met everyone.

From the bride’s side, Alisha’s mom and dad had arrived. I didn’t know what to say at that time. My position was again right in front of dad. I was told to be seated and Armaan was sent in his room. Then began the personal round of interview.

“How long has it been?” asked Alisha’s father.

“What …” I asked very hesitatingly in a low voice. I was actually perplexed, what was he asking about. How long for what? For our love, for the live-in relationship, there were a lot of things to speak about.

“How long has it been since you both are staying together?” asked my dad in a stringent, rude voice.
“Around a month…” I said in the same hesitating voice.
“So, all this is limited to this stage or you want this to be carried forward.” Alisha’s father asked in a normal mode.
“Carried forward…??” I asked as I didn’t get him.
“Carried forward means, you just want to live with her or you guys want to get married.” dad interfered again.

I thought that the conversation is going in the right direction. I blushed and said, “Of course we want to be soul-mates. We want to get married have children and then…” I wasn’t done yet, but I had to stop because my dad had already growled.

I bowed my head down and was waiting for the next question. The next voice was from my dad. This time it wasn’t a question, rather it was a suggestion. He said, “Why the hell do you want to spoil your life getting married to that girl? Ignore that girl, you have a got a career to establish. Think of it, marriage will be a barrier for you.”

Dad was followed by Alisha’s father. He said, “Your dad is right. You have a future to make. And as far as I am concerned with my daughter, she is not your type. You will yourself quit this relationship. I have seen her with her boyfriends. She is of those girls who ride many boys at a time. You won’t be able to handle her.”

A sarcastic grin ruled my face. I said,
“You guys are right, I shouldn’t get married to her. I won’t but, I will never stop loving her neither she will. Talking about my career, Alisha inspires me to dream big. She motivates me at all the bad phases of life, she loves me. Uncle, I will never be able to delete the prejudice about your daughter from your mind, but one thing I would like to suggest and that is, you must have stood by her. The heart knew nothing about her, while it started loving her. I just met her and started falling for her. You might not like the way she talks, but I like it when she scolds me or even abuses me when she is annoyed. You might not like her bold attitude, but I like it when she becomes a rebel against anything that is not right. She is not like those girls who sleep with any boy for fun or for money, but she is a kind of girl who embraces anything that needs her warmth. Well, all these things are just to answer you, but the reality is that even I don’t know why do I love her. I just know that I love her and despite everything, I will keep loving her. Our relationship doesn’t need a ceremony to be verified, because we have immense faith in our love. The only thing we are concerned about is love and nothing else.”

I know the girls who have random hook-ups are not bad, but I couldn’t say this to them. That time it was important for me to make them realize that their child was awesome and fun-loving.

“I don’t mean to hurt you people, but it is a fact that you must break the stereotype,” I said again.
All the people had gone into deep thinking now. Suddenly, my mom said,
“But she is your sister.” I looked at her face. She was grinning. I said, “Not again mom. She is not my sister.”

All of them started laughing. Mom told the servant to get the sweets. I was perplexed. I was surprised.

What was happening over there? I stood up and with a smiling face asked, “What is all this going on?”

“Just be seated, I’ll tell you everything.” mom said smiling.

I conquered my seat back and started listening to the story. My mom said,
“Firstly we are so sorry for what we did and what we spoke about your Alisha. After knowing about this we talked to Samaira (Ginni masi) and discussed this with her. I got to know that she already knew about this. We then dialled Alisha’s father and discussed this with him. We know your girlfriend is a nice girl. He had no objection to this relation. So, we went to Mumbai to meet you and inform you about our status. But after waiting for three long hours we couldn’t reach you. It was obvious for us to be furious at that time. We came back to Bangalore  on the same day and then with a cold mind decided to test you, whether you can handle this relation or not. Means, are you able to handle both your girlfriend and your parents together, without hurting anyone of them? How can you manage to keep both of them happy in such adverse conditions, when the opinions of these two don’t match? So basically, this was an aptitude test. And we are glad to inform you that you have passed with distinction.”

“My son, marriage is not a child play. We are sorry to do this but for us, you were still a kid, we wanted to see if you were ready for this or not.” my dad said coming to me. His face showed the proud for his son. He embraced me and said, “Go get her.”

Dad took a sweet dish and put it in my mouth. The next one was for Alisha’s father. Armaan had now joined the party. The sweet ceremony was over and now it was the time for lunch. We were on the dining table, when Alisha’s father said, “So the engagement is fixed for three days later.”

I was surprised again. I said, “But uncle this is not just my decision. We haven’t discussed with Alisha. After all, even her opinion matters.”
“I know her opinion matters, after all, she is the one who has to get engaged. But if we will do all the things then what will you do. It is your responsibility to bring her here on the day of engagement. I don’t know how are you gonna do that, but I want my daughter-in-law here.” dad said and claimed Alisha to be her daughter-in-law as if I had already got married to her.

Everybody on the table started laughing listening to his intimidation. I was blushing and my mom was teasing me for this. I said, “Ok then I am leaving now.”
“Awwww… the groom got upset. Ok don’t worry I won’t tease you.” said my mom in a dramatic funny manner.

I was still blushing and trying to hide my face. My mom got a chance again she said, “Oh… see someone is blushing a lot.”

This time, even though the grin was the blush, I stood up and said, “I will have to convince Alisha and for that, I will need some time. So, allow me to leave for Mumbai today itself.”

“Come on, don’t tell a lie. You don’t need any time to convince her. I know her she will listen to this news and will jump over you. You are missing her. Hmmm…” Alisha’s mom also spoke finally.

I just didn’t wait for any other comment. I went upstairs to my room, took my bag and came down. Dad told the driver to drop me to the airport. He also gave me some cash. This is how my dad is. He knows everything without even saying anything. I just love him. Now it was time to surprise Alisha…