Arranged to love

#4: Madame Madonna.

Chapter Four: "Madame Madonna."

Meera was currently in her suite at the lodge. They had reached the lodge that morning and all of them went to their provided suite. Meera was lucky to get her own. Since the guests were way too many for the engagement to accommodate in the hotel, they had to limit the number of rooms they used. The married couples were to share a room each which included Arvind and Ramya together with all their parents.

Ajay and Arjun in were one room, Sweta and and Nithya in one, Vijay and Varun which left Akash and Meera. Since Akash was engaged to Nithya, the grown ups felt weird for the two of them to lodge together.

They've had sleepovers together before and they trusted them as they were literally like siblings but with her engagement, they did not want any of the guests having a wrong idea. It would ruin their reputation and hence, the pair was allowed to lodge separately.

Most of them slept through the morning due to the exhaustion of the road trip and had ordered lunch through room service. Now that it was evening, a dinner was scheduled for the family to attend and that was what Meera was getting ready for, in a fancy dress picked by Nithya and Arjun, and a pair of her fine snake-styled high heels. She styled her hair such that her locks of hair dyed in rosé gold, framed her face perfectly.

She added a touch of pink lipstick and a tint of eye liner and was set to go. She carried a clutch that matched her outfit for the evening which contained her phone and wallet.

Just as she slipped into her heels, the repeated doorbells made her ears bleed. Whoever, was behind the door was going to get it from her for pressing on the bell so many times.

She opened the door to reveal Ajay wearing a dress shirt that matched her dress. It all suddenly made sense as to why Nithya and Arjun were so insistent on Meera wearing that dress tonight.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, the ease between them the previous night gone.

"Well my parents told me escort you down to dinner apparently because we are the 'new couple'", he replied, air quoting 'new couple'.

"Everyone else is already at the dinner so if you could hurry up I am famished" he finished, leaning against her door frame.

"Whatever" Meera replied simply, not happy with the current situation she was in as she grabbed her key card and dropping it into her clutch before shutting the door behind her.

The two silently walked towards the restaurant. As they reached the entrance of the restaurant, a woman in a suit opened the door for them. Meera smiled at her and was about to go in when she was stopped by Ajay. She looked questioningly at him when he held out his arm for her take.

"Just do it for the sake of our family" he said, his voice edgy.

Meera sighed as she held his arm by the inside of his elbow. The gesture made them both shiver. Ajay had rolled his sleeves up his forearm which made her hand come into direct contact with his skin. The air was suddenly awkward as the two walked in.

"Aw look at you guys, so lovely" Ajay's mother gushed as soon as the couple made their appearance.

The two of them smiled, getting used to the talk of the two of them as a couple. The family had cleverly left two seats beside each other empty, clearly meant for them.

Ajay took the seat next to Varun while Meera sat next to him with Arjun by her other side.

"How's my brother? Is he romantic enough?" Arjun whispered beside her. Meera glared at him which made him put his hands up in surrender as he went back to eating his pudding.

"Why don't you answer him? Aren't I romantic enough for you? Or should I press a kiss to your hand and ask you for a dance, Madame Madonna?" teased a voice from the other side. Ajay.

"Glad you're enjoying this" she replied quietly with a tight lipped smile, not wanting to fight with him and make a scene.

"Believe me I am"

"Careful Bro, my sister is a boxing professional. You are in for a tough fight if she decides to let her fists speak for her" Varun advised Ajay with a smile, amused by the pair's banter.

It just never seemed to get old with them. His sister was very mature and made decisions with promptness and perceptive calculations. But when it came to Ajay, she would fight over little things like who gets the last piece of chicken nuggets.

"True Bhai, I guess I have to be on my guard so that my future wife doesn't kill me off" Ajay said jokingly as he laughed with Varun. Meera rolled her eyes and tuned out the conversations between the cousins turned brothers-in-law as she scooped another mouthful of butterscotch ice-cream.

Despite being the least favourite cousin of Meera, Ajay was always favoured by Varun. Varun had always been Ajay's favourite cousin.

He not only liked him as a cousin but saw him as a brother. Ajay was the older one in his family but Varun always made him feel like he could still be a kid as he had Varun to be his older brother. Ajay had developed a deep respect for Varun.

The way he took care of his sister, Meera, the way he handled problems or fights between any of them when they were younger, the way he always knew what to say to help him feel better, the perfect balance of childishness and maturity, everything about Varun was commendable to him.

Though he always fought with Meera, Varun never spited him for that. He helped both of them out and never took sides.

Ajay wondered if it could be Varun who influenced Meera's maturity. He might fight with her, but he admired a few aspects of hers and one of that was her selfless love for her family and her maturity.

She took her brother's place as the heir of the company, knowing that she would have to travel frequently even though planes made her sick to her stomach, knowing the amount of pressure the position comes along with, knowing her life would never truly be hers with her father setting the path for her, knowing she would have to sacrifice her dreams and ambitions go just so that Varun could be set free of that control and pursue his passion for art.

If that didn't prove her love for her brother, nothing could ever top that. He glanced at the girl next to him, eating her ice cream with an annoyed expression, and chuckled.