"Is it necessary?" Subham asked while pulling a chair for Mrinal to sit down.
"Necessary? It's mandatory. Otherwise, he would have to bear much more pain on the wedding day." Miss Sudha replied while giving him a look of accusation as if saying, would you be responsible for his pain?
"What do you think Mrinal? Isn't it better to do it as soon as possible?"
"I'll listen to Aunty, It's better to do it earlier," Mrinal replied to Sudha and turned his eyes sideways to look at Subham, with a probing gaze hoping Subham would not mind his opinion.
Sensing his gaze Subham turned sideways and looked at the cautious eyes of Mrinal, and without even his awareness said in a gentle voice, "As long as you like it."
Subham simply thought that as a boy Mrinal may not like getting his ear pierced just to get married. He wasn't sure about what a Twin would like, or any matter related to them so, it's better to take Mrinal's opinion into account.
"Then it's settled. Sheth ji let's get it done quickly." Miss Sudha urged the store owner.
"I'm here don't worry it won't hurt. I'll Make it quick." the store owner's beer belly jiggled a little as he sat down and picked up a pen to make a mark and asked, "How many piercings do you want?"
Mrinal and Subham both were surprised "What do you mean how many?"
Before the man could explain Miss Sudha chipped in "Just his lobe, he's a student after all it doesn't look good for a student to have so many piercings and that's too at once."
"Right! That's not suitable for a student."
Then Seth Ji proceeded to pierce his lobe with a gold thread after marking his lobe with a pen, to distract Mrinal Seth Ji started saying "In many cases people get their children's ear pierced at the age of six or seven, it's surprising that you didn't have it until now. Thankfully your lobes aren't that thick otherwise it would take a little more time to adjust. It's done!"
Mrinal was pulled out from his thoughts; he was immersed in the memories of his childhood for a while and didn't notice the slight sting until Sheth Ji shouted.
"What's wrong? Does it hurt?" Subham, seemingly aware of his zoning out asked Mrinal.
"It's fine, it does not hurt," Mrinal replied unhurriedly as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, on each of his lobes there was a gold ring. His stubborn request as a child now seems like a joke to him. He had to beg his parents repeatedly for every little thing he wanted before being numb to their refusal and now he is not even married yet and the things he could not even think of are being brought for him without any hesitation.
He feels better about being asked, how he feels and what he wants to do, the kind of care he has never felt from anyone. Mrinal thought about it carefully and felt Now I'm sure I won't regret this marriage.
"Subham why don't you accompany Mrinal to his house, with the packages I have all of us can't go together."
How could Subham not understand his mother? He was aware that his mother wanted him to get familiar with Mrinal sooner however, he didn't deny that it's good to know each other even if it is a little bit before their marriage.
"Okay, you go ahead. I'll be back later."
Looking at Miss Sudha and the driver carrying package after package into the car Mrinal didn't doubt the authenticity of her statement regarding the space inside the car and got in a taxi with Subham.
Subham sat in the taxi quietly while observing Mrinal's fidgeting appearance. After waiting for a while Subham saw that Mrinal was still uneasy so he tried to initiate a conversation to minimize the awkwardness "Which grade are you in?"
"Huh? Me? I skipped a grade before so, now I'm in 11th grade."
"Do you have anything you want to say to me?"
"Um... I have a few things to tell you."
All determined Mrinal clenched both of his fists on his thighs, his body visibly tense "I don't want to stop studying after marriage."
"That's good."
Noticing that there wasn't an expression of displeasure on Subham's face Mrinal continued, "I might not be that good you want."
"Did you commit a crime?"
"Of course not!" Mrinal defended himself. "It's just what... some people say about me."
"You hesitate to state that you are a bad kid, bad people know they are bad. On top of that nobody's opinion will affect my judgments about you. you are a good person. Don't let anyone's mere opinion define who you are, not even me. As you grow older you would learn to whom you need to listen and who you don't need to."
Mrinal heart was racing at this moment, the rush of emotions running through every part of his body allowed him to understand what it feels like to be accepted for who you are even before people know what kind of person you are. He changed his mind about what he wanted to say before and directly asked Subham, "It's my first time so I don't know anything about married life, So don't be disappointed in me in the future."
Subham listened to Mrinal, feeling a little funny, and chuckled "That's a surprise it's my first time too, I hope you can forgive me and tell me if I have made a mistake. Is that fine?"
Mrinal also blushed a little at this time realizing he had messed up while speaking, however, he didn't want to bring the topic of his ex-fiancé into this conversation. He just lowered his and said nothing.
"Do you know you blush pretty easily?" Subham asked curiously about Mrinal.
"Wh-What blush?" Mrinal asked a little uncertain about why he was being questioned like this.
"Your face is red like ripe pomegranate seed juice smeared on your face. Umm...It's pretty." Subham explained as simply as he could.
"Who's pre-pretty? I thought you meant I was blushing out of anger. Don't think too much about it Okay?" Mrinal stuttered as he thought about being called pretty.
"Fine, I won't. Do you want to meet again before our wedding?" Subham thought about getting to know more about Mrinal but it depends on Mrinal's wish.
Mrinal's blush hasn't gone down yet when it spread across his cheeks again, "I don't think that would be possible, most of our relatives are coming tomorrow to our house and my grandparents too, It's been a while since I last saw them."
"I understand." Subham didn't continue and asked about his grandparents.
As soon as Mrinal talked about his grandmother his previous mood changed and now, he was cheerfully talking about how awesome his grandmother is.
"We are here." The taxi driver interrupted their conversation as they reached their destination.
Subham told the taxi driver to wait as he accompanied Mrinal to his house. He did not leave until he saw Mrinal climbing upstairs.
____
"you are getting married anyway, what do you want to do by staying outside this late? Do you have no shame?" As soon as Mrinal enters the house, he hears his sister's sarcastic voice.
"That's none of your business, Di," Mrinal replied coldly.
He was about to go to his room when Bini caught his hand and shouted, "Where did you get this from, and what about this piercing!"
Mrinal smiled as if he was the happiest person alive in this world and replied cheerfully, "Well, my future husband brought it for me and these earrings, my future mother-in-law bought it for me. Isn't it beautiful?"
"So what? These gold earrings don't suit you at all" Bini threw his hand away as she spoke.
Mrinal also noticed his mother at the entrance of the kitchen. He got a little close to Bini and whispered in a low voice that only two of them could hear, "Anyway, they won't be yours, and thank you for picking out the thrash named 'Rahul', you helped me a lot."
Witnessing the distorted face of his elder sister Mrinal felt satisfied and added fuel to the fire, "You can enjoy that garbage slowly in the future but let me remind you, you will never be better than me." with a smirk Mrinal continued "You are not a permanent creature for him anyway."
Before Bini could shout again Mrinal ran back to his room.
AN: Sheth Ji - Boss/owner
Di- elder sister
Miraculously the taxi driver was quiet in this case.