The Opposite Of Negation | Editing Slowly

18 | ≠ patient

"You don't have it yet?" I question Madhura

Just as Madhura is about to reply, Apoorva butts in and replies on her behalf, "She does! How did you know?"

Madhura lets her head fall, sighing. Maverick's face looks like he's suffocating, keeping his laughter in. He's wearing a purple kurta piece, and I can't help but appreciate the Wright brothers, their charm and confidence making them gel in with the crazy Indians with ease.

"Aliana! Madhura!" we hear someone scream. In a rare show of our sisterly bond, Madhura and I share a mutual look of cringe before plastering fake smiles on our face, leaning on our dates for the support we need to survive the approaching hurricane.

"Seema aunty!" we both say simultaneously making the boys flinch, noticing our tone immediately.

As Seema aunty approaches us, her overload of perfume gets stronger. Once she's right in front of us, we take a second to calm our dizzy heads, with the scent overpowering all our senses. Snatching us both away from our dates, she pulls us into one collective hug. Madhura and I share a look behind her back as she squeezes us to death. Even though most of Madhura's time is spent competing with me for no reason whatsoever, we're still sisters. And we know our family.

Ma, help us.

Pulling back, we smile at her. She smiles back with ten times more enthusiasm and starts her destruction.

"Kitni badi ho gayi ho tum!" she gushes in Hindi.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes and reply, "I mean, it has been a considerable amount of time since you saw me."

She laughs loudly and slaps my arm with such a force that I wince, "Kaisi jubaan chal rahi hai dekho!"

I pretend to laugh, turning to Madhura to signal her to help me. She looks as sorry as she probably feels, which is a lot. Seema aunty immediately turns to her, and now it's my turn to be sorry.

"Madhura! Where have you been?"

Madhura looks nervous, something I haven't seen her be in a long time. She smiles politely and answers, "Law school, aunty."

Seema aunty laughs again and replies, "You ladies are getting too smart for your own good. I meant, why haven't you come to any family functions?" Her eyes turn to Maverick in the back, and I turn my own to him out of pure instinct. Nathan follows, and judging by the confused expression on his face, I deduce that the look on Mav's face is not a common one.

He looks equally nervous.

"Wait, aren't you-" she's cut off by Maverick, stepping ahead and extending his hand to her.

"I'm Maverick Wright. Nice to meet you," he introduces quickly. Seema aunty's face is the epitome of confusion and Nathan takes this as his clue to introduce himself.

"And I'm Nathan Wright."

"Ek second. You two are brothers?" she says, her confusion now being directed towards the fact that our dates are brothers, forgetting whatever she had remembered. Nathan nods, and she doesn't wait any more time to hug our dates in the same way she did to us. The boys look like giants in front of her small chubby frame, an amusing smile making it's way to our faces. But our amusement is short-lived, with her turning back to us.

"So tell me, are any of you two gonna have the next wedding we're gonna have to attend?"

We laugh politely and shake our heads no. She frowns and replies, "Umar ho rahi hai tum dono ki. How will you have kids then?"