Will You Write With Me

14

“Come on Arun, this is our last month before graduation. I really want you to meet my Dad”, Navya pleaded with her desperate face.
“What can I say to him? He would probably kick my ass once he sees me for kissing her daughter right in front of his house”, he said and hung his head down in anguish.
“Come on man, you are scared as if everyone else except you, kiss their girlfriends privately in America. See there”, Palkha pointed out a couple who were kissing at the table beside theirs in city place. All the three friends chortled.
“Dad will love you as much as I do”, she said with her glittery smile. Arun accepted to meet her father for her sweet innocent smile, which gave him a heavy dose of hope.
She invited both Palkha and Arun that night for a dinner in her home. Navya was excited about that night, while Arun was nervous and Palkha was as usual hungry. ‘DING-A-LING’, the calling bell rang. The door was opened, it was both Arun and Palkha standing there with gifts on their hands.
“Come in”, Navya’s father greeted them gently. Both Palkha and Arun rested themselves on the sofa. Navya came and greeted her guests for that night. They delivered their presents to her. “This is my Dad, and this is my stepmom”, she introduced her parents to his friends. Arun could visibly see that her stepmom was pregnant, but Navya didn’t utter a word about that to him.
“Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes. Do you need something to drink before that?”, Navya’s stepmom offered them.
“No thanks”.
“Yes please”. Two different answers came from each other’s mouth. They stared at each other’s face.
“Dude! Show some manners. You are in someone’s house”, Arun muttered at Palkha.
“You can act like you are an innocent baby, who don’t want anything to eat in his father-in-law’s home. But I am damn hungry man, let me fulfil my stomach’s desire”, he said.
Navya brought two glasses of juice and gave one to Palkha, he accepted it with a gratitude. The other one glass was still left.
“I don’t need”, Arun rejected believing that she would give that to him.
“This is not for you. It’s for me”, she said grinning and sat beside her father who was sitting opposite to the guests. Arun looked at Navya with his annoyed face. She replied with a romantic wink.
“What are your parents doing in India?”, Navya’s dad asked Arun with a smile.
“Dad is a real estate businessman, and my Mom is a housewife”, he said with nervousness.
“Acha”, he said and gave an emotional look on Navya and continued, “I was a good father to her in the beginning of her life, and after her mother’s demise I became a mess and failed as a father. Now I wanted to do what a good father will do. Navya is strong mentally, and she learned it all from her grandma. I know that her choice will not be a mistake. I believe in you as much as I believe in her”.
Navya’s eyes turned wet after hearing her father’s words. She hugged him with her tearful eyes. Palkha finished his last sip of his juice that time and gave a heavy burp. For a moment everyone’s attention fell on him. He managed to cover his awkwardness with a sheepish smile.
“What about your parents? Will they love my daughter like you?”, Navya’s father asked Arun with a concern.
“Yes, Uncle. I hope so”, he said with his unusual voice.
“Because I know about people in India. They don’t much appreciate their children when they love someone”, he said.
“Dinner ready…”, Navya’s stepmom’s voice came from kitchen and interrupted their conversation. Palkha’s moment had arrived as he rushed to the dining table and took a seat before everyone.
         After a yummy dinner, both Palkha and Arun bid goodbye to Navya’s father and stepmother. Navya was outside their house talking with Arun while Palkha decently sneaked out from their privacy and waited inside the cab.
“How was the dinner?”, she asked.
“Yummy”, he said with his innocent charming smile. She smiled back and gave a small peck on his lips.
“Yummy than my lips?”, she quietly asked him. He then brought his lips close and tasted hers.
“No, not even close”, he said smiling. She blushed and hugged him.
“When are you going to introduce me to your parents?”, she asked hugging him.
“When the time is right, I will do it”, he said. She then released her curving hands from his body and frowned at him.
“This is the right time Arun. We can talk with them in the video call”, she said.
“Why are you so adamant in this?”, he asked her with temper.
“You are the one who told me that you want to write a story with me till the end. You are more than a boyfriend to me Arun. If we want to live a life together, we need the blessings from our parents. We can’t marry each other without their grace, cause it will be equal to eloping”, she said.
After a sigh, “Fine, we will talk with my mom tomorrow. Happy?”, he said. Navya flashed her sparkling smile and gave him a good night kiss for that day.
            “How do I look?”, Navya asked Arun in delight. She was dressed in a red salwar and was undoubtedly divine like the goddess Venus.
“You look more than beautiful today”, he complimented her in awe. She blushed for some seconds.
“Enough, call your mother now”, she ordered. The skype call was connected to India, and a female face was appeared on the screen.
“Hi ma”, Arun said and “Hi aunty”, came from Navya’s words. She stood right beside Arun.
She waved her hands brightly and said “Enna da vellakariya la friendu pudichita pola? Unn friend per enna da?” (Looks like you got a foreign girl as your friend. What was her name?).
“Ma eva India tha ma. Naan love pannra ponnu, friend illa” (She is from India mom, not a foreign woman. And she is not my friend either, she is the girl I love), he said in his hazy voice. Navya stood numb as she didn’t understand the language of communication between the two.
“Love ah? Tamil ponnu ah? Enna jaathi nu kettiya?” (Love? Is she a Tamil girl? Have you asked her about her caste?), she asked him.
“Hello ma. How are you?”, his mother started a conversation with Navya.
“Fine aunty. How are you?”, Navya said.
“I am fine ma. What is your good name?”, she enquired.
“Navya”, she said smiling.
“Nivetha?”, she asked.
“No aunty it’s Navya”, she corrected.
“So happy to see you. What is your caste ma? Do they have caste in North India?”, she asked her.
Navya awkwardly turned her gaze on Arun and he knew that Navya was not really happy with the caste subject.
“Mom, can you please stop talking about caste”, he argued. For the next five minutes, his mother blabbered something in Tamil and Navya could not understand anything. The call was hung up after that, Arun with his bizarre face approached Navya. “She doesn’t like me, does she?”, Navya asked Arun.
“No, it’s not like that”, Arun said.
“No. I am sorry, she doesn’t like my caste, or the fact that I am a north Indian”, she said.
“She like you once she gets to know you. She just doesn’t know you. We will wait, we have time”, he said and tried to convince Navya.
“I don’t think that she would like to know me”, she said in her gloomy voice. Arun held her hand tight and said,
“She is my mother; she will love you just like how I love you. Wait Navya, we will figure it out”.
“I don’t think so. People who are fond about caste will not know what love is. She loves you because you carry her caste’s blood, not because you are her child. If she thought you as her child, she would have listened to you and your desires”, she complained rudely.
Arun released his hand from hers quickly after her statement.
“You don’t have any rights to talk about my mother. Neither my mother nor my father will sleep with others like how your father did, even if one of them die. I tell you what, your father is the selfish Dad I have ever known. He has a 21-year-old girl, and still slept with a woman and made her pregnant. Wow, your father sucks”, he hit her back with his words.
“You are disgusting”, she said with her tearful eyes and walked off promptly from his sight.