Best Friends and Cousins? (An Indian Love Story)

Chapter 3

Anya and Naina dash out of the car as soon as it is parked, leaving us to carry their bags.

"Oi! We're not carrying your bags for you Anya! I'm leaving them in the car. Pick them up whenever you want to." Nikhil shouts out to Anya. "I'm carrying Naina's though!" He adds a second later.

"Yeah fine by me! Just don't put the keys where I can't reach them, which, knowing you, will be exactly what you will do!" She shouts back.

Anya, compared to me, is short. The top of her head reaches just about the top of my chin and seeing as Nikhil is about a head taller than me, Anya always looks like a dwarf beside him. Something Nikhil often uses to his benefit and our entertainment. When we get upstairs, he slips his phone out of his pockets and starts texting someone.

"Is it your Juliet, Mr. Romeo?" Anya appears in the doorway, carrying her bags.

"Yeah, that's her. I'm just texting her to tell her I will not be having proper internet connection for the next few days."

"Why's that so? We have perfectly good connection in this house." I ask.

"I'm not that stupid to talk to a girl I am seeing, to try and get my mind off my very long-term crush, when my best friend has just decided to forgive me and go back to the old ways after ten fricking years." He snaps. "I'm sorry, it's just...she's very clingy, the complete opposite of who I want. Honestly, all I can feel right now is the urge to end this relationship."

"Then do it. End this with her and try your chances with your crush. Do it. Its fine. You don't deserve someone like Vaishnavi. I know her well. Even Neha knows her. In fact, Neha knows her better than I do." Anya says softly.

"What? Neha knows her better than you do?" He slowly turns to me. "How many more things are you going to hide from me?" He almost shouts at me. "First, the fact that you liked me. Then the fact that you cried every day because I didn't speak to you. Now this! How much more are you hiding from me?"

"I never said I didn't know her. When you introduced us to each other, I knew she recognised me. She pretended not to know me. Still I didn't try to bring up the fact that we knew each other, because she thinks I'm eyeing you. She always did. Do you have any idea how that feels? When someone who has bonded with you over wildlife survival pretends not to know you, just for the affection a guy offers you?" I start with barely a whisper and my voice rises to a shout, my eyes welling up.

He opens his mouth to say something, but I turn around, into the hallway, and make my way up into the attic. I grab my old blanket and climb up onto the roof. The water that has been threatening to spill over my eyes flows out, and I don't even try to stop it.

I hear the trapdoor creak open, and Anya strides out to come and sit beside me. "How does it feel? You know, when you tell your crush you like him, but he's dating someone else, and he barely notices anything about you? Ah. I'm sorry. I'm asking the wrong person. You've always had relations which started off as puppy love." She sighs.

"You're not supposed to know this, but he has loads of stuff for you in his bags, you know? You get almost everything. I'm not jealous or anything. I mean, I did push him away when all he meant was good for me. I wasn't expecting anything, He still got me and Naina something. He does notice the small things about you." She just looks at the drone flying over the fields.

"Why would he? I mean, he doesn't like me or anything. Until this point, he was perfectly happy with his girlfriend. And he actually likes you, being around you. Not in that way of course. He probably hates me right now for breaking our pact." I whisper. I hear the trapdoor creak open again, and I see, out of the corner of my eye, that Nikhil climbs onto the roof. Without sparing him a second glance, I walk away.

"What's wrong with her? I'm not apologizing for something she did. She shouldn't have hidden things from me." I hear him say, as I climb back down into the attic.

.........time...skip.........

At dinner, Gramma and Grandpa take out some official papers, and call for our attention. "We have something important to tell you people."

"All of you are growing up. We understand that you can't visit us often because of your complicated studies, and your parents have extra work piled up on their heads because they will retire in a couple of years."

"It gets a little lonely here, so we decided to adopt a baby boy."

Anya's, Nikhil's and my spoons clatter onto the plate, while Naina and Megha erupt in cheers. I don't think they understand what's happening.

"Gramma, Grandpa, I know you people have practically raised nine kids, but are you sure you will be able to handle a baby at this age?" Nikhil expresses his concern.

"We've thought through this a lot. We have decided after a lot of speculation. Its not like we're going to raise him alone, right? We have a lot of house help around, so its not going to exactly be difficult."

"If you want to do this, go ahead. I'm ready to help. I am also ready to adopt him if and when the time comes. I support you Grandpa." Anya says.

"Thank you. We have informed your parents and they are coming tomorrow, so I expect you people to go pick them up. There will be some ceremonies tomorrow to celebrate his arrival, so I want you people to be ready in the evening." Gramma states. Once a business woman, always a business woman. We all groan. It's going to be one long week.

Megha and Naina run into the kitchen, gathering the used plates and start doing the dishes, while Nikhil, Anya and I go up into the attic and begin setting up sleeping quarters for tomorrow night.

.........time...skip.........

I wake up to the smell of sweet peas, and realise I'm snuggled into Nikhil's chest. Anya had claimed the mattress on the floor the previous night, before we could even discuss, so I was left to deal with Nikhil for another night.

I wrinkle my nose, though thoroughly enjoying the sweet-pea smell, and push myself away, using his chest as a 'launchpad'. He jolts awake, realises that he has his arms around me, and quickly releases me. The morning sun filtering in through the window makes his face glow pink.

"Wake her up." I say, without looking at him. "We need to pick our parents up." The rest of the morning was spent without a word between us, Anya being the 'owl' that delivered our messages to the other. We went in the camper to pick our parents up at round 10.30 in the morning.

I was driving, and I made sure Nikhil hit his head at every chance. That oblivious shithead who broke my heart on several accounts and...well, we neared the Pick-up point. By the time we parked and got out, Nikhil was a bit wobbly. I smile to myself, though my conscience makes me feel guilty for hurting my love.

Our parents file into the camper, and Anya takes the wheel this time, no longer able to stand Nikhil's complaints. We were kind of surprised to see that they had only carry-ons, expecting them to stay for a while longer. Turns out they came only for the ceremonies and were leaving the next night, each to a different city, for their work. They had left the rest of their luggage at their accommodations in and around Delhi, where they had gone for their business works. We would all later meet up in Hyderabad, attend Saathvika's graduation, and then travel back to our own places.

I would go back to London and finish my undergrad specialization in biotechnology while my parents would stay in Hyderabad, Megha living with them. Anya's parents would take Naina back to Doha with them, while Anya herself would be flying to Orlando to finish her training at the Kennedy Space Centre. Nikhil would be flying to Toronto, to finish his Neurobiology course at UToronto, while his parents would go back to Bangalore and start their grooms' search for Saathvika, Nikhil's sister, who could not make it due to her graduation ceremony that was taking place in Hyderabad next week.

I feel sad, knowing what Gramma and Grandpa would go through, but now that they are adopting a baby boy, I hope they shall be okay.