SS - Say it again - Update - Part 4/Pg 7 - Page 5

PART 4

 "They look adorable together, don't they?"

Aham didn't have to look in the direction, to know she was talking about Jigar and Rashi. When he thought about Rashi the word adorable didn't come to his mind.  Loud, silly, lame, impetuous were more like it.  When Jigar had first started dating Rashi two years ago, the words 'gold digger' got added to the list.

He and Jigar had always been very close growing up.  They had waddled together as infants, played together as children, and had been good friends throughout. But the day he had found about Rashi and Jigar's relationship put all of that in danger.  They had the biggest and nastiest argument of their life yet, and hadn't spoken to each other for months after that.

Aham paced around the room hotly, waiting for Jigar. He needed to have a word with that boy. He knew his brother was sweet and innocent, and he had always known that this would happen one day. But he had hoped that some sweet, nave girl fell for her brother. But what had happened - 

"Bhai!"

Aham whirled around as Jigar came in to the room and plopped down on the sofa, a big goofy grin on his face.

Clenching his teeth, he counted from one to ten before starting his tirade, "Jigar. What was that I saw today?"

Jigar looked up at him questioningly, and quickly looked away as understanding dawned, " Oh! Woh - Rashi and I -" he stammered blushing.

That did it. Aham clenched his fists, " Jigar, are you mad? Rashi? Rashi Shah?" was all he could say in his seething anger.

Jigar's eyes snapped back at him, his brows creased in confusion, " Kyun, Bhai? What is wrong with her?" he asked, shooting up from the chair himself, a firm edge to his voice.

" don't you take that tone on me" Aham snapped. Jigar clenched his jaw, "and you cannot talk about my girlfriend like th-"

" GIRLFRIEND? It's gone THAT far?"

" Yes. I don't know what your problem is" Jigar snapped, his fists clenching.

" Rashi is my problem" Aham snapped back

" Bhai, please!" Jigar yelled, "I'm sorry but - "

"You will be very sorry" Aham cut him off, "If you don't stop seeing that girl. She is just a gold digger, and you, Jigar are making the biggest mistake of your life" he shouted, breathing heavily as he finished talking.

For a few seconds neither of them spoke. Both of them stood there, shooting daggers at each other. A few minutes later, Jigar scoffed.

Irritated, Aham spat out, " WHAT?"

" It's rich that you have to warn me about the girl I date" Jigar bit out. Aham had never seen such a nasty edge to his brother's face or voice, "You are so blind that you're actually dating that witch."

" SHUT UP"

"YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS" With that Jigar whirled around and stormed out of the room.

Aham had juvenilely blamed Rashi when his relationship with his brother had soured. But as the months passed, he had had to reluctantly accept that Rashi made his brother very happy.  Those two seemed to be nothing short of soul-mates, if something like that even existed.

It was then that he had decided that someone who made his brother this happy had to be trusted. So he had grudgingly dropped his hatred for Rashi, and accepted her relationship with his brother. 

But that did not mean he was fond of Rashi. She was definitely not on the list of his favorite people; he still found her loud, lame, silly and impetuous. But he didn't have a problem with her anymore. And that had been good enough for Jigar. Jigar had been extremely happy about this, and they had mended their relationship too.

"Aham ji?"

That soft voice shook him out of reverie, "Yea" he said vaguely, throwing Gopi a brief look "they are happy"

He was aware of Gopi giving him a strange look, but she didn't ask anything else, so he kept quiet and went back to sipping the glass of juice in his hand.

A few beats of silence passed as both of them watched the dancing couple on the floor.

"Why don't you like Rashi ben?"

Somehow Aham had been prepared for this. He calmly finished his drink and put the glass down, "Is it important that I like her?" he asked, turning to face Gopi.

Gopi blinked her big black eyes twice, before answering, "Ji. Of course, you are going to be family"

Okay. This he had not been prepared for, "W-What?" he sputtered.

Gopi threw a glance at her sister and his brother before turning to him again, "They are in love.  One day they will be married. You will be Rashi ben's brother in law. It's important that you like her, Aham Ji" she said as if that was the most natural thing on earth.

To her maybe it was - people in love got married. Plain and simple.  But to him - well, he had found out days ago that the person he had wanted to marry was cheating on him.

Anger bubbled up inside Aham.

"Not every relationship ends in marriage" he snapped.  He shouldn't have, it was not her fault, but he couldn't help it

"You wanted to marry Anita" she said right back.

He clenched his jaw and glared at her, "Wanted. Past Tense" he growled, and later added as an afterthought, "I used to hate your sister"

"Used to. Past tense" 

They glared at each other. Okay, he was glaring at Gopi; she was shooting him an impassive look.

Two whole seconds passed, before the game winded up.

He blinked, and then he smiled.

****

"Gopi!"

Gopi squealed as Rashi caught hold of her and spun her around. Giggling, both the girls fell on the bed harshly, dizzy from all the twirling. Gopi massaged her temples, the room was still spinning. "Thanks for the best evening of my life, Gopi"

Gopi chuckled, "Rashi Ben, Jigar ji left twenty minutes ago" she commented, laughing lightly. Rashi glared at her, "I know that! I am not - I am just - " she sputtered, a slow blush rising up her cheeks. Gopi looked on and waited patiently for her cousin to finish what she was trying to say.

Giving up with a loud hmph Rashi sat up, folding her feet under her, "I just wanted to thank you for making this the best evening of my life, and we-"

Gopi sat up too, mimicking her cousin's action, she folded her feet under her, "Rashi Ben" she said slowly, drawling out her name, "I repeat. Jigar Ji left - ow! Rashi ben, that hurts!" she yelped, rubbing her arm where Rashi had just hit her playfully.

Rashi smirked at her, "Good. Now shut up and listen"

Gopi stuck her tongue out at Rashi, who smirked back at her.

"You did go out of your way to make sure I had a great evening. And we aren't even close. Heck, Gopi, the last time I saw you before you shifted back here was when you were five years old"

Gopi grinned at the memory, "I broke your doll and you - "

"Chased you around the house until your little feet got tired, and you stopped running" Rashi completed for her, grinning back at Gopi victoriously

A small giggle escaped Gopi, "My feet hurt so bad, I cried for hours and hours not knowing why. And you told me that it was Kanha Ji punishing me for breaking your doll"

"And you believed me." Rashi dissolved in peals of laughter, plopping back down on the bed again.

Gopi thought back fondly, smiling.

Rashi ben and she had been close as kids.  Her mother and mami had been best friends from childhood, and her mother often said that it was even better when mami got married to mama. They had lived quite close to her Mama's house.  Quite often, her mother would take her to mama's house, or mami would bring Rashi ben to their house.

Both she and Rashi ben had been more of sisters and less of cousins back then. They played together all the time, and fought like crazy sometimes. So much that their mothers had to come and physically pull one off the other.

A wave of sadness washed over Gopi as the force of the memories that was coming next hit her.

But then, a few months after her fifth birthday, her father had disappeared, and hadn't come back till date. No one knew why. Even she didn't know what had happened to papa, and why he had left them. And to make it worse, her dadi had called her mother and her back to Hardwar, and she had grown up there with her dadi and mother.

For the first couple of months, she had asked her mother everyday where papa was and why he had left them. Her mother never answered her. One day her dadi heard her pestering her mother, and had told her off for doing so. Being only 5, she had indignantly cried out at dadi that she loved her father even if dadi didn't love her son.

What had happened after that made Gopi shudder even now. Dadi had gone as white as a sheet, and just haphazardly plopped down on the couch. For hours, she wouldn't talk to anybody. She had just sat there, tears streaming down her face. Gopi had stood in a corner, terrified, that she had done this to her beloved grandmother.

That night, Gopi cried herself to sleep, right there on the floor. Try as she might, her mother couldn't pull her away from there. Not when Dadi was like this.

She had woken up the next morning, in her own bed, crying loudly for Dadi. As soon as her little feet hit the ground, she had run, searching the house for dadi. She had found dadi in the small mandir. Sitting near Kanha Ji. She had slowly crept closer to Dadi, and had crawled fearfully into her lap, proceeding to painstakingly rub off every drop of Dadi's tears with her tiny hands. She didn't even stop when her hands started to ache so badly, since dadi never stopped crying. After a few minutes, her own face was drenched with tears, as she had promised dadi in broken sentences that she was sorry and she would never talk about her father from now.

Dadi had hugged her tight and explained that it was not that they didn't love her father anymore, talking about him only caused pain. Gopi didn't understand. But she didn't want dadi to cry again because of her, so she had nodded.

And she had never mentioned her father again.

"Gopi?" Rashi called softly, getting up and laying an arm on her shoulder, shaking Gopi out her painful memories. Gopi hastily brushed off her tears, and turned to look at Rashi, "I missed you Rashi ben" she said softly.

A flash of sadness waved over Rashi's face before she quickly re-arranged her features, "I missed someone to bully around as well", she drawled off-handedly. Gopi knew it was not mean to be off-handed.

A small smile was flashed her way. Gopi smiled back in return. Wordlessly, Rashi extended her hand and caught Gopi's. Gopi entwined her fingers in her sisters without looking up at her. Time passed as both girls sat like that in the small bedroom, hands tightly clenched together, neither of them looking at each other, but both hoping to catch up on years with that handshake.

***

okay, so that's that!! This part held a lot of insight into the brothers' and sisters' relationships, and Gopi's past of course. I tried doing a fair job to the feel required for this part.

Let me know if I succeeded? Leave me your thoughts, as always, and criticisms more welcome than ever! :)

Mrids