Chapter 5 : Bro Time

Abhi was generally a healthy person. He ate healthy on most days except the Saturdays and Sundays. So when Shelly Bua had put together nachos with  cheese sauce he didn't mind joining the party. 

Currently he was seated at the island in the kitchen, which they seldom used for the main meals, with Ashvi and his aunt Shelly, discussing the hot topic of the house in recent days— Aadarsh's marriage.

"I should have known Rajjo wouldn't do a good job at the screening. If she hadn't put that woman on the list, Aadarsh would have never chosen her. She spoilt the last day of my trip to Andaman with a frantic call. How could she be so silly as to put the girl on the list in the first place!"

"Bua, can we think of a way to fix it?" Abhi said exasperated. Shelly Bua and Badi Bua were typical sisters. On one day they would kill for each other and on the other kill each other. 

"Did he mention her again?" Bua asked curiously, flipping black her light brown hair that had red highlights.

"He's been avoiding talking about it ." Ashvi answered, staring at the nachos wondering if she should give in and help herself to one or two pieces. Surely, one or two wouldn't do any harm to her sleek figure.

Abhi grabbed the nacho she had her eye on, "Yep, he said to not fuss and trouble him about it."

"Hmm, you say he likes her?" Shelly turned to Abhi with a thoughtful look.

"A freaking eight on a scale of ten, that's how much he liked her." Abhi remarked.

"Wow, that's generous coming from him." She muttered.

"Very," Abhi added. "Apparently she ticked all the boxes on his list. But believe me his list is shitty. If this alliance goes forward it will be a disaster." 

"Stop exaggerating!" Ashvi remarked finally picking up a nacho from the plate after much internal debate. "You haven't even met her to judge her."

"Exactly what I have been telling you all!" Dai Jaan spoke up as she finished wiping dry the dishes and carried them to the cabinets built on the wall across the kitchen. She had been listening to their pointless discussion for long enough.

"Sarla please, I know these types well."  Shelly remarked. "Middle class single women are the dangerous of all. All they want is a sugar daddy."

"What's that?" Their beloved Dai Jaan asked oblivious to the scandalous term.

"A man who is rich and ready-made daddy to her kid," Shelly Bua answered as a matter of fact.

Ashvi stared at her brother exchanging a look of surprise as their aunt used a modern day term but mistook it's actual meaning. Her brother grinned and quickly wore a straight face. Their aunt didn't quite use the term correctly but they were used to that. Shelly Bua tried hard to be Gen Z  but failed miserably whether it was in her choice of clothes or words.

"This girl is no different she will make our Aadi boy a puppet in her hands. For her daughter, she will get a father and she will boss over us."

Sarla forced a smile and turned away. She had lost her husband at a very early age too. Her son was barely five. She had raised her son—Mohan— single handedly and who now worked for the same family as an errand boy. He was soon going to a reputed engineering college under Aadarsh's sponsorship. She had been a silent listener to all talk about this mysterious woman who Aadarsh had met. 

She wondered how she was as a person. Aadarsh was a very sound judge of character. She had seen him grow from a reckless young boy to a responsible family man. If he liked that woman then there might be something about her that was worth his time, effort and his family's involvement. She glanced as the trio continued debating on the better options Aadarsh could have at a bride. She sighed and finished stacking the plates and left the kitchen to take care of other work. In the end, it would only be Aadarsh's will that would translate into reality.

"Okay, Abhi boy. You need to get out all the reasons why he liked her out of his system tonight. And then we will put together a better list of women based on those criteria."

"There's no chance. Bhaiya is a very private person. He won't share his feelings and all. He never has." Ashvi expressed her thoughts.

"Well, scotch and bro is all you need!" Abhi wore a sinister smile.

Ashvi rolled her eyes, "Bhaiya holds his liquor well. However, with you and him, I think you will be the one who will be drunk and crying your dramatic little heart out and Bhaiya will be the one listening."

"You underestimate me, dear sister. I shall prove thee wrong and how!

"In your dreams? Yikes. I wouldn't be a mile around them." Ashvi grinned.

Abhi blinked. "Has someone ever told you, that you have really stupid comebacks?" Before Ashvi could retaliate he spoke up, "oh wait, I have! Multiple times!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up. You couldn't get a word out of him this morning."

"That's cause we were playing tennis and were across the court dummy. But a sore loser like you wouldn't know the rules of the game."

Shelly Bua sighed and intervened, "Oh you two! Shut up. Abhi, mission is on. We need to know what's going on in the head of Aadi boy to change his mind."

"Yes boss!" Abhi said taking the last piece of nachos before Ashvi's fingers landed on it. "Better luck next time, chipmunk!" He winked, getting of the high chair, sailing out of the room. Ashvi groaned.

* * *

Aadarsh had just got up from his recliner chair after ten minutes of silent sitting when his brother stormed into his room. His schedule for Saturdays was fixed. Mornings and breakfast with Ashvi, the afternoon and lunch with twins, evening and dinner with Abhimanyu. Basically, a day that was fully for his siblings. 

"Not getting ready yet?" He asked.

"Was just on my way to a shower."

"Guess what the little people of this house told me?"

Aadarsh walked into his wardrobe. "What?" He said like he had no clue where the conversation was headed. He shifted the hangers mindlessly wondering how to tackle the impending interrogation.

"Apparently, you introduced them to your friend, who has a daughter.  The said friend's name is Ruhaani."

Aadarsh turned to his brother folding his arms, "so?"

"So..." Abhi showed his wide eyes to his brother expecting him to tell him more.

"So what?" Aadarsh repeated evenly.

"So, now you won't even tell us?" He asked throwing his hands in the air. "No one knew you went for a follow-up date with her. And this time with the kid! I mean, you are meeting her family and we haven't even seen her."

"It was a casual outing with the kids." Aadarsh said shrugging and turned back to the shirts.

Abhi tapped his shoulder and he turned around again. "What?"

"Not cool bro. Why didn't you tell us? Why not take me and Ashvi along too?"

"You both are not kids." 

"But you treat us like we are!" Abhi argued.

"Abhi, aren't we going out? Why aren't you ready yet? It's the new club in Connaught Place, right?" Aadarsh tried to digress the conversation.

"Don't try to throw me off track. I need an answer, why didn't you tell us?"

"Do you tell me every time you take a girl out?"

Abhi stared at his brother his eyes widening and lips parting in disbelief.

"Do you Abhi?"

"No, I don't. But I don't plan to marry a girl I take out on a casual date."

"There. Big deal I didn't tell you."

"You like her that much?" He asked frowning.

"She's a good match Abhi. Mukti likes her too. And I am sure Nirvaan, you and Ashvi will too."

"But you're supposed to marry someone you like. Someone you can fall in love with, if not have already fallen in love with. Someone who makes you feel something. It's your entire life on stake."

"Let's not debate on this marriage, love and the likes again. Tell me, is it our terrace pool or the club?"

Abhi sighed. "Club any day. And I am going to decide what you wear." Saying that he turned around and picked the black t-shirt that had a huge gray lion printed on it. It was something he had bought for his brother as a present but the latter had never worn it till date except to try it on.

"Nope, not happening!"

"Why not just throw it out?" Abhi sighed dramatically, looking for something else.

"Can't, you gifted that thing."

"Like you care," he muttered and then pulled out a gray t-shirt. Then a black denims.

"You can wear one of my jackets cause all of yours are blah!" Abhi ordered handing him the clothes. "See you in fifteen Big bro!" Taking a bow, he walked out quickly. 

* * *

Aadarsh generally did whatever he wanted to do. He didn't take orders. He hated being told what to do. However, he made his siblings an exception. All they had was him for an elder in the family. Saturdays were generally days when he would let them take the lead. It was something he had come up with a few years back. It worked like a charm on his siblings. 

Aadarsh's time was consumed with keeping up with the business. It took a alot of time to educate himself on various concepts and keep up with how business in the construction sector worked. There was always something important to get done, always a new business trick to hone.

Then one day Dai Jaan came along and told him that he was doing great as an elder brother but somewhere along the line he was becoming a guardian more than an elder brother. He was losing out on being a sibling, on being someone they could talk to. 

Aadarsh had thought a lot on it. He always wanted to be everything for his siblings, provide them with love, care, comforts of life, security and everything a parent was supposed to give. Along the way, he had forgotten he was a brother. That's when he had decided to actively participate in the lives of his siblings. 

However at times, such as this one, he wondered if he was overdoing it. Wearing a lustrous black jacket with a very silver zipper had to definitely be an overdo. 

"You look ultra cool, just don't keep looking down at your jacket like you're wearing something you stole." Abhi remarked as they made their way to the entrance of the posh club.

"The zipper is very flashy."

"It's club clothing bro!" Abhi said as he ran a hand through his hair. Aadarsh looked at  his brother as he was frisked at the entrance by the official. He was dressed in light blue t-shirt with the navy blue jacket with his blue denims. He also sported a chain around his neck. Aadarsh would never.

Abhi and he were very different in their choices. He was loud in both words and fashion while Aadarsh was subtle. 

"How do you get to know about these places?" Aadarsh asked as they made their way to a tastefully decorated lounge.

"The page three group Bhai. There should be some perks of being your brother. All such clubs personally send out invites. I humbly accept. Gosh, look at her..three o'clock."

Aadarsh casually turned to the direction. His eyes took in the figure of a young lady  who was dressed in a black gown which had a slit at her right thigh showing off her toned and tanned leg. His eyes drifted up the slit to her face. She was confident he could tell by the way she stood with a glass in her hand and spoke to the man, smiling freely.

"This place is full of gorgeous ladies, isn't it?" Abhi murmured as his gaze observed the various women around the room. 

"Hmm," Aadarsh hummed in response as he pulled out his phone that had beeped. Abhi looked aside at his brother and huffed. 

"Come on, let's head to the bar. I am the sober one today so you can drink."

"Sober and you on a Saturday night? All good." Aadarsh asked looking up at him.

Abhi chuckled. "You're looking to get hitched that leaves you with very few days of being a bachelor. Make the most out of it "

Aadarsh said nothing in response as they made their way to the doors that led to the disco. He would never admit it before his brother but once in a while he actually liked clubbing. It was a break from his monotonous life. His gaze followed the woman ahead of them she wore a red dress that reached her knees and hugged her so tightly that it highlighted the shape of her backside.

It had been a while since he had fooled around with women. It was mostly such parties or outings where he'd find a woman at the bar who would flirt and show a very unmistakable intent to spend the night with him or a few hours. He'd play along on days he was in the mood, on others he'd politely reject and walk out.

He had never dated not since his college days. He liked his life clean with lack of drama. Women almost always came with drama, especially the ones who were looking for feelingd and boyfriends. 

"A bottle of that!" Abhi spoke to man behind the bar leaning over it.  "And a diet coke."

Adarsh looked at him curiously.

"Like I said, I am sober tonight. And you need a bottle, at the very least, to get you drunk." Abhi smiled blinking.

Aadarsh rolled his eyes. His brother had a habit of exaggerating. 

"So, tonight we are playing a game. Guess what's it called?" Abhi spoke sitting on the bar stool.

Aadarsh got on the other barstool, clearly not excited. "Surprise me." He muttered.

"Dont be boring bro! It's called Truth and Dare."

"How creative!" Aadarsh replied acerbically, glancing at his brother who was making a drink for him.

"Come on, humor me. Let's have some fun. It's been a while we've played this game. It's always fun playing with you." Abhi spoke bringing out a coin from his pocket.

"Why do you always carry a coin?" Aadarsh asked incredulously. Somehow his brother always had a coin handy for a toss.

"Because you should be prepared for a toss. Okay, so same rules. Heads – Dare, Tails is Truth. You're the eldest one so you should be the first to go."

Aadarsh took the coin from his hand. His gaze suddenly dropped to the coin. "It's a cent?"

"Yep,"

"Wow," Aadarsh muttered. His siblings never failed to amaze him. He tossed the coin and then caught it between his hands. 

"Should land on your right hand!" Abhi added, leaning forward.

Aadarsh flipped his joined hands such that his right was below his left. He raised his left hand and both the brothers leaned a bit forward to look at the coin.

"Tails! Beginners luck. Okay, so tell me truthfully, you really don't want to fall in love? Like not even a tiny bit percentage?"

"Nope."

"Truth, Bhai. Unfiltered truth. Not even a little bit. Not even once in a blue moon."

Aadarsh picked up the glass and drank half of its contents. "Not any more, that's the unfiltered truth. Your turn to toss." He slides the coin towards him.

Abhi picked it up and tossed it. "Tails!" He said picking up the can of coke the bar tender had placed for him.

"Are you in love?"

Abhi almost choked and turned to look at his elder brother.

Aadarsh looked on his interest growing by the second. "Are you... in love?"

Abhi had not expected that. There was no way his brother could know. His brother wasn't empath, he was far from one. "Out of curiosity, why do you..."

"Answer the question first, Abhi. Are you in love?"

Abhi picked up the coke and took a sip. "Maybe. I don't know. There's this coworker whose become a good friend and I like spending time with her. It's in the complicated stage, at the boundary of the friend zone,  you know."

"Damn. You're ruined!" Saying that Aadarsh picked up the glass of scotch and downed all its contents in one go. He hated this romantic love. It changed people.

"Like I said, it's complicated. I am not even sure of my own feelings." Abhi sighed.

"Piece of advice, save yourself before it's too late."

"Shut up! I want to fall madly in love. Just that this feeling isn't all that mad. It's easy, it's simple and it's comfortable. Love mustn't be like that, right?"

"Definitely not." Aadarsh answered picking up the coin. He was in no mood to let the topic stretch. He tossed the coin again. "Tails, again!"

"Dammit. A lucky night for you." 

Aadarsh flashed him a grin. It was a known fact that Aadarsh hated dares.

"Do you never think of Siddhi, of what you both could be if you were still together?"

The grin on Aadarsh's face faded and the glint entertainment in his eyes was replaced by looming darkness. 

"Pass."

"You can't. You have to answer." Abhi argued.

"I do think about her. About what a loser I was and what a big mistake she was. Your turn." His hands grabbed the bottle as he made himself a drink.

"You're lying." Abhi declared. 

"Trust me," he said looking up at his brother, "I am not." His eyes bored into his brother's.

"Well, only time will tell." Saying that Abhi tossed the coin.

"Truth, again. Wow this game is becoming boring. Give me a dare I don't mind."

"Oh no, I have a question to ask" Aadarsh placed his glass on the counter and looked at his brother. "What's your plan for tonight, this game, these questions? What are you upto?"

"Nothing much. Just having fun." Abhi shrugged passing his brother an innocent smile.

"Nope. If you were having fun you would be on the dance floor by now with some girl you liked. Unless, that's changed because of this situationship that you have."

"Nothing like that."

"The truth!" Aadarsh demanded.

"I want to know what goes on in that head of yours. Because you don't tell. So I have to resort to things like this game. That's one good thing about you, you play fair." He handed the coin back to his brother.

Aadarsh tossed the coin. "Dare!" He announced.

"Finally!" Abhi said rubbing his palms together. He turned around on the barstool running his gaze around. "Compliment the lady you find the most attractive in this room."

Aadarsh was surprised it wasn't get a number like last time. He downed half the contents of his glass before turning on his chair. He scanned the room noticing every woman. Now that he thought, Abhi was right. The room was filled with gorgeous ladies. Most of them dressed in modern-day dresses with a slit at the thigh or a deep neckline that proudly showed skin.

Two minutes after, he got off the stool and walked across the dance floor to the bar on the other side of the room. Abhi sipped his coke and watched on. His brother could be a dare devil if he wanted. And frankly, it suited him well.

He smiled as he saw his brother take a seat beside a woman dressed in a modest green dress that ended a little above her knees. She was drinking alone. His brother ordered a drink. Abhi got off the stool and moved to the dance floor. He pretended to dance while watching his brother, close enough to be able to listen to their conversation.

Aadarsh turned to the woman, "waiting for a plus one?" 

"Nope. Drinking over a blind date gone tremendously bad."

"Blinds are not a good option, whether in cards or dates." Aadarsh remarked.

She smiled at him, totally smitten by him. "Learnt that lesson now." She was totally checking him out. Abhi mentally patted his back for chosing the attire for his brother.

Aadarsh forced a smile, as he noticed the woman ogling at him. "You're gorgeous, why would you opt for a blind date?" He wasn't lying.

"Because men these days don't do casual dating, they're all looking for brides who'd take care of their responsibilities and kids. Or are real jerks."

Abhi turned around and chuckled listening to that. Women and their judgements about men in general!

Aadarsh nodded. "Tough times!"

"If you're alone tonight, I can buy you a drink?" She asked.

Abhi quickly turned and gave a thumbs up with both his hands just as Aadarsh's gaze landed on him. 'Go for it!' He mouthed.

Aadarsh looked back at the woman. Leaning slightly forward he said, "Well, that depends on whether it will be just this one night or you're going to make me a drinking buddy."

She chuckled. " I am tempted to make you a buddy but it's against my rules." 

Abhi watched with bulging eyes as the woman's right heel was now grazing against his brother's leg. Well at least one of them was getting some action tonight. He walked away as his brother followed the woman to the VIP lounge. That was quick.

Well, he may have not been able to get his brother to talk about the woman he had gone on two dates with—the one he thought was perfect for him—but he had managed to trigger the memories of an old romance and nudge him towards a beautiful woman who was more than willing to have a good time with him. He hoped his brother realized that an arranged marriage was not a good idea, he deserved love.

• — • — •

Looking forward to read you thoughts and comments. What do you think of Abhi?

—Anami!♡