The four lettered word (LOVE)

chapter 9

Standing there was none other than Priya’s brother Shiva.

Shiva looked confused at our reaction first but then he asked, “Jenny when you called me here, you never said it was a get-together with all our friends.” I gave Jenny a disbelieving look and asked, “You called him? Why?”

“Well I called him to get more help for Nithya’s orphanage. How am I supposed to know that there is going to be a romantic proposal from Gowtham today?” she said in defense. I shook my head not able to believe that she had blurted out the matter we are dreading to reveal to Shiva, just like that. She seemed to have realized the mistake she had made and she quickly clasped a hand over her mouth.

Nithya smacked her forehead by herself and Priya’s face paled even more in fear if it was even possible. Gowtham buried his face in his hands not sure how to react to Jenny’s revelation.

Shiva seemed oblivious to our reactions and asked with genuine surprise, “Nithya runs an orphanage? Wait before that Gowtham proposed to someone? Who is that lucky girl?” The bouquet of red roses was before Nithya on the table which led to Shiva’s misunderstanding and he asked, “Nithya? Are you that lucky one?”

Nithya looked at him with a hardening stare and said, “What? No! Gowtham and me? Ew… I can’t even imagine that”

She cast a quick glance towards Gowtham and apologised , “No offence Gowtham. But that’s so not happening.”

“Then who is it?”

“Before you jump to any other conclusions” Jenny interrupted “It’s your sister Priya”

The silence that followed after, even if it was for a few minutes, was deafening. Shiva was staring at the floral pattern on the table intensely but it was clear that he wasn’t seeing it. He was trying to wrap his mind around everything and his silence was doing a good job of making his sister panic. Gowtham looked like he was holding his breath and if he didn’t let it out he would burst any time soon.

After a good five minutes, Shiva started talking. “How long have you been dating?”

“Five months” answered Gowtham and he waited for Shiva to ask any more questions. But Shiva remained silent for another minute so he continued, “Shiva, I love Priya”. That earned him a hard look from Shiva. Gowtham tensed under his stare and swallowed nervously but continued anyway, “I know you haven’t known me for more than two years and you may even think I am not a guy who values commitments. I never imagined my life with a steady career and my own family with a perfect wife and kids. In fact I never thought I would get married or even fall in love before I met Priya.” Priya’s downcast eyes met Gowtham’s sincere ones and he continued, “I don’t know if I am perfect husband material. I can’t assure you that our life will be a bed of roses forever. Of course there will be ups and downs. But I will remember I fell in love with you for who you are and you fell in love with me for who I am and these silly quarrels and misunderstandings are not worthy of ruining our love for each other.” Gowtham’s words made Priya’s eyes to glaze over and she was looking into his eyes intensely. It was as if they were communicating through a language that can only be spoken and understood by their eyes. They even seemed to have forgotten they had some audience including Priya’s elder brother.

Shiva cleared his throat and this brought them out of their trance. He looked into Gowtham’s eyes and started talking. His voice had a serious edge to it that indicated what he was about to say was very important and if Gowtham ever messed it up he would be in deep trouble. “I am not going to lie that I am going to outright approve your relationship. And as an overprotective brother it is natural for me to think there is no one in this world that is good enough for my little sister. I would ask you only one thing. Treat her right because she deserves it and prove that you deserve her. And if you even think about hurting her for a minute you can be sure that I would make your life a living hell.” Gowtham gave a curt nod to Shiva’s words and it was evident from Shiva’s posture that he was still trying to recover from the shock of the news. He gave a sharp look to Priya and said, “And you have a lot of explaining to do.” That made Priya to tense a little bit and she lowered her eyes again unable to meet Shiva’s.

The air in the room became thick due to the tension building and Jenny took the initiative to change the atmosphere. “Ok guys, enough of death threats. I am starving. Let’s eat.” Everyone agreed to that without a word since we all know that a hungry Jenny is a force to be reckoned with. Our food arrived and as Jenny was about to take a bite Shiva asked, “So Jenny why did you call me here?” Jenny shot him a death glare for interrupting her and before she could burn him into ashes with her look, I took the initiative to save him. “Jenny must have called you here for getting more help for the orphanage ‘Love for Everyone’ run by Nithya and some of her friends. They are going to celebrate children’s day function on the 14th of November. They are financially laid back at present and could use as much help as they could get. Jenny has already agreed to cater for the function and if you decide to help too then it would be great.”

Shiva didn’t even think about it and answered, “That’s great Nithya. I would be happy to help. Besides I will get as much help I can get from my friends too.”

Gowtham and Priya joined in and offered to help too. Nithya seemed really happy about so many people agreeing to help. The rest of the lunch went on the usual way with Jenny teasing Gowtham and arguing with me. The last thought in my mind when we left ‘Just right’ was ‘when I woke up this morning I never thought my day would get this much interesting and eventful and certainly one to be noted’.