Chuck & The Girl From 4B

Chapter 44: Out of The Shadows

nomsann here it is. He's coming clean!

Chuck's POV
My father takes the trophy for being the most brutal father in law in history.

It started with a man called Marcelle Giovanni Balotelli Bale. My father and his father are close. They go way back and they have enough history between them to warrant not questioning each other on anything. Marcelle fell in love with my father's first born, a hellcat we call Reina. I don't know the details of their relationship but my father wasn't included in their wedding. Naturally as any father would react, he was furious. But because Marcelle is his best friend's son, he did nothing but play a passive aggressive role with him for years! It's only when they recently got divorced that my father started to get along with him.

The second blow came after Reina's secret marriage. It was in the form of a disinherited hacker by the name Renée. Everyone knows that dad's mortal enemy is Renée. They clash on almost everything. Every conversation is an opportunity for an argument. It doesn't help that Renée is headstrong. When she was disinherited, she met a man and dad got to see her royal wedding on TV. The shock almost killed him. What did dad do? All the aggression he had bottled up for Marcelle was channelled to his new son in law, Reli. He got physical with a reigning king and the bodyguards were not allowed to intervene. However, the strangest thing is that they get along. Maybe it's Relic's pacifist mature. They just get along somehow.

The third blow was his youngest daughter, Laila. She eloped in Las Vegas and hid it from dad. When he found it, Alexander paid dearly. He separated them and it took the whole family's intervention to get dad to at least let them be together. They get along because Laila is always making peace.

My dad is a brutal father in law. Marcelle knows it. Reli experienced it. Alexander is aware of how ugly he can get. The only brother in law who gets along with my father like he's a son to him, is Rafael Vasquez.

He did it right. He asked for permission and Charle is the only daughter my father got to give away.

All my brothers in law told me the same thing when I asked for their advise. They told me to get out in front of this. They said it's the right thing to do. They agreed that shortcuts are a recipe for disaster.

"Mr Varma." I stood up to shake his hand. "Thank you for coming."

"I was surprised by this invitation. I hope you haven't changed your mind about the house. I'm not in a position to refund you."

"I haven't changed my mind about the house. This is about something else entirely." I observed him. Reli said I can't just drop marriage on him. He said I need to build up to it. He asked me if I needed him to come to this meeting but I told him I'll be fine. "I met Gayatri ten months ago. It's almost a year now. At first she was just my neighbor. We talked occasionally but I started to feel attracted to her. The thing about your daughter sir,is how she can grow on people. She's got the kind of personality that radiates pure warmth. I was drawn to her like a moth to a bulb. I couldn't resist. I fell in love with her."

He looks almost pale. I don't even want to guess what is going on in his mind.

"I expressed my feelings for her and she felt the same way. We started dating. Sir, in simple words, I am madly in love with your daughter and it's time you know that."

He cupped his face with one hand. Come to think of it, Gayatri resembles him. She makes the same face when she's thinking.

A period of silence passed between us. The frown is getting thicker.

"...what?"

"Sir-"

"Ten months? You have known her for ten months?"