Annie

Chapter five

'This is Sam, my youngest cousin.'

A woman dressed in a white Anarkali, probably in her early twenties smiled at me.

'Hi.' I said.

'I hear you're a surgeon?' There is something with the way she asked and I know that tone. She would humour me, ask me if I know this doctor or talk about the pain she has in her body.

I look for these sort of questions in social gatherings. If they start with their medical history, I suggest a specialist but they give me a did you buy your degree look, just because I can't operate a knee replacement surgery when I'm a Neurosurgeon. At first, it was weird and funny, but my family made sure that I got habituated.

Being the only doctor in a family is not easy, they don't understand or bother knowing. To top it all, they use to ask how many more years I'll study when all my cousins are working. For them, I wasn't a surgeon after my graduation as I failed a semester but little do they know. Then again not everyone is super annoying, some are lesser than the others.

'Good thing that you are or I don't know how you'd live with a raging volcano under your roof.'

Sam and I laughed while Annie counted to ten. So, everyone in her family does know what sort of a hot pot she is.

'She's not that hard to live with, and all doctors are not patient, many get annoyed easily.'

'Maybe, but if you're patient our Nene will be in good hands.'

Annie punched her cousin's arm. Although it looked like she's playful with that forced smile on her face, only me and Sam know my wife isn't fun at the moment. If any she's ready to strike whoever comes in her way.

'Thanks for that Sam. Why don't you go and have dinner? Your parents might be waiting for you.' Annie said, with fake sweetness dripping from her words.

'Oh please Nene, I won't bite him. You can keep him to yourself and Peter, call me anytime you want to talk about her.' She pulled Annie to her side as she struggled to move away from Sam. 'This one here is my chaddi buddy.'

'I'll keep that in mind.' I said and Sam walked away to a group of girls. Sam is quite interesting and I can tell she's close to Annie as only those close can tease her. If an outsider tries to pull the same, a storm of sarcasm will hit them on their face.

'So embarrassing.' Annie muttered and before I could tell her that it's fine, we're bombarded with another guest.

She spoke to the woman who just approached us, smiling as if she knew her for a long time. Annie looks pretty in pink and I never saw her wearing this colour. It complimented her dusky skin tone and the sparkles on her saree glittered whenever she moved. Her skin is flawless like always, her hair is wound in an elegant hair-do and the little make-up she had, masked those tiny imperfections which make her, Annie. Her smile if real would have added a spark to her but she has to fake it to ruin everything for me.

Nothing in her changed, except for her thick wavy hair that now reaches her waist and the baby fat that she used to have. I'm happy that she's still the same, not that I have a right to decide how she looks but the Annie I met is so real that I use to think she can't exist.

'Look how great you both look together!' The women gushed, grabbing my attention, 'And Peter, we know our Ruth is beautiful but spare your stares at least until your wedding night.'

I smiled but Annie, on the other hand, paled out. I've never seen her scared to death like this. Maybe I should scare her like this sometime in the future

I wound my hand around Annie's waist and caressed her arm. 'I know, did you have dinner?'

'We will, congratulation again. You got a charmer here, Ruth.'