Tying The Knot With Ex's Brother

CLOSER

Papa was back at home and was having tea when Ma returned from the kitchen with a plate of cookies in her hand while her other hand carried her phone.

"Look at this. Aww, they look so cute together! Hope their love and happiness never get affected by evil eyes!" said Ma while looking at something in her phone with eyes full of love.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you prying into their privacy and clicking their personal pictures? Seriously, you women!" said Papa.

"I didn't go to their room to capture their romantic moments on my phone. They were doing this in the open."

Papa shook his head and began sipping his hot tea while Ma kept looking into her phone and kept smiling.

"OMG! Ma, this is so cute!" Ma and Jeevika were on video call.

"Your Papa said I was being intrusive and I shouldn't have clicked those pictures."

"Ma, you know how Papa is. Forget about him, just look at the way Bhaiya and Bhabhi are hugging each other in broad daylight. OMG! This is so romantic, Ma."

Ma had encountered that hug and couldn't stop herself from capturing those moments in her camera roll. She shared the pictures with Jeevika as well and they both simped over the lovely newly-married couple who seemed so much in love.

Soon after Sid came and Ma showed the same pictures to him as well. He didn't respond in any way and went straight into his room.

"I don't know what's wrong with this boy nowadays! He's acting really strange." said Ma.

"You're the one who is strange. He must be tired and you began showing him the pictures you took without permission," said Papa while watching news on TV.

"What permission do I need? They're my kids, I don't need any permission to snap their pictures. And I didn't go and hide in their room and clicked their secret pictures, they hugged each other at the stairs where anyone could see them and they still did it because they didn't care if anybody saw them as they are husband and wife and it's not wrong at all. You always argue with me."

"No man can ever fight an argument against his wife! Sorry, my mistake!" said Papa and his words brought an innocent smile on Ma's face.

In his room, Sid sat on the bed with his fingers dug into his hair. He seemed angry and his face turned red.

"You can't do this to me. I love you. I love you so much. I know you're doing this for your revenge on me. You want me to regret and break down. You still love me, I know that," murmured Sid while he stood before a mirror.

Soon it was dinnertime. Ragini helped Ma by cutting the vegetables and kneading the dough for chapatis. The rest was taken care of by Ma. Ma was a great cook and that was the reason why they had housekeepers who took care of everything from cleaning the house to washing clothes as well as dishes, but cooking was solely her responsibility.

"Sorry, Ma! I couldn't do much to help you," said Ragini while they sat on the dining table.

"You've helped me enough. You're not completely healed yet, so take care of yourself. Don't run around too much."

"Sid, is something wrong with you? I've been watching you and thought something was up with you? Is there anything I can help you with?" said Sparsh.

Ragini sneaked a glance at Sid with her frightened eyes. She knew he would not bring their past up in front of the family but nothing in this world comes with a guarantee.

"I'm just stressed about office work, nothing serious!" Sid replied.

Ragini took a sigh of relief.

After dinner, the whole family enjoyed ice cream in the living room.

"So, you're going back to work tomorrow?" said Papa to Sparsh.

Sparsh glared at his wife and then nodded.

"You've been on leave for a long time. What if they hire someone else?" said Ma.

Sparsh laughed and said, "Ma, I'm not a fresher who they can fire anytime."

"Whatever! Don't worry about your dear wife, I'll take care of her, even better."

Sparsh chuckled and Papa followed him.

"You're being too sarcastic nowadays," said Papa to Ma.

Everyone laughed except Sid. Ragini thought she knew Sid well but he seemed like a riddle to her now. She had no idea as to what was going on in his mind, she wanted to talk to him and explain things to him. She wanted to calmly makw him understand that their past was already in the past and they should not dwell in it.
And it could only happen when she got some time to be alone with him.

"And what about you Ragini? When are you thinking of going back to work?" asked Papa.

"Actually I... I don't need to go anywhere. I mean, I've resigned."

No one knew about this, except Sid.

"You used to work for an MNC, right? Why did you resign? And when?" asked Sparsh.

"A few days before our marriage. I just wanted to take a break. But I'm gonna apply for positions at other companies. I've a strong and impressive CV so I'm sure getting a job won't be difficult for me."

Sid stood up and Ragini's heart pounded faster, she was scared he would say something which will not be harmless for any of them.

"I'm tired and sleepy. Good night everyone." And left for his room.

"This boy! He's acting like a teenager these days," said Ma.

"So, why exactly did you leave?"

When Papa asked this question, Ma interrupted and said, "Why does it even matter? She has resigned, that's all. Why are you making her feel like she has conmitted a sin or something? If she wants, she can go to work. If she wants to stay at home, she can do that too. Why are you both questioning her like she's a criminal?"

Few seconds of silence passed before Papa said, "Sorry, child! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm an old man who is curious about everything his kids do."

Ragini shook her head and parted her lips to say something but Sparsh spoke instead.

"Exactly! Sorry for asking too many questions. We didn't know you had resigned, so we were just keen to know the reasons. And yes, Ma's right. It's your decision whether you wanna work or not, so don't worry about us and our opinions. Am I right Papa?"

Papa nodded.

"You don't need to apologise to me, I understand. I know I should have informed you about this before our marriage but it all happened in such a hurry that my family and I forgot to do so. I should be sorry for being careless. I'm sorry."

Ragini felt like she had cheated them and was really sorry towards them. They convinved her that it was okay but her heart didn't listen to their kind words.

"It's okay, it's not even a big deal. You must have had your reasons to resign and I know we got married in such a short notice that you and your parents forgot about it. Relax!"

Sparsh tried to comfort her when they were in their bedroom. They had changed into their night clothes and laid beside each other.

"Remember our last night conversation? You allowed me permission to know more about you. Think of it as the first thing I got to know. There are still many more yet to discover and I'm anticipating each and every detail I'll come across about you," said Sparsh while he caressed Ragini's cheek with his warm fingers.