Chinmayi's POV:

It's been a month since the accident and to heal from the wounds, both physically and mentally, it does take in a lot of effort and love. Being a part of such a wonderful family, filled with support and life actually catalyzes the process.  Bhai and Bhabhi are doing fine now. The Sharma Mansion is regaining its colours again. The routine is being re-stabilized and wow, it's all turning out to be great. 

A major support and help was Dr. Eeshwar Joshi. He's the one who rekindled the faith and strength in us. Veera being an introvert, made a new trustworthy friend like Dr. Eeshwar. He is warm hearted, kind and most importantly, humble and duty bound for a doctor who is as successful as him. We cannot even tell by the way he conducts himself that he is in his intern period. 

Veera now, resumed back to office, and the transfer was postponed to 6 months. This incident of hospital phase did bring a change in her, she started mingling more with people, I think it was all in the magical counselling of Dr. Eeshwar. Charan now started working part time in the family business, in order to fill in for Bhai; in spite of all the drama we'd to go through, he topped the exams. That's Charan, a 100% in everything he does. He and Megha still haven't told their "love story" to me. I mean, the right time didn't dawn to us yet.

PS: She's doing great, she just joined her company which she got through campus placements. 

Akhila is ding her final year Engineering, and she's facing the heat of both placements and project. Well, she's been guided by Anirudh and yes, she's surviving! 

Well, as of Anirudh and me, both of us kind of screwed our GATE exams, just like the majority lot of Engineers. The results were out and so, we thought of taking up the job that both of us got through campus placements, like Megha, but in a different company. Yes, since we are virtually twin people, we got into the same job and company as well. L.I.F.E.

Our joining is in another month and so, we were, uhm, kinda chilling you can say! 

This brings us to today, i.e., Sunday. Dhadaji had arranged for a  get together cum pooja. of course, at first the idea was not very striking considering the fact of what happened the last time, but, now, Dhadaji was extremely positive and wanted all of us to move on. The month had brought a lot of changes in all of us, and so, let us all embrace this with the whole family and friends. Dr. Joshi's family and Megha's family were invited as well. I texted Megha to come early, and yes, now she has to face the Cousin Interview, Lol! 

All the 7 of us now know about Charan and Megha now, and we were all eagerly waiting for the main story.

"Hey..." 

I turned to look back to see my best friend dressed in a cream and golden designer suit with matching earrings and bangles. Megha looked stunning, I've never seen her with kajal, but today, she was the damsel. i realized that it's already afternoon and I stood up from the Common Room sofa to run and hug her. 

She looked at her feet and blushed. 

"Hey hey hey... I'm not Charan, I'm her sister and your best friend... Yaad hai na? "

She blushed harder as I mentioned my brother's name. 

I laughed. I laughed so hard that I started getting hiccups. It was all so funny to me. My best friend is blushing for that monkey.

LOL.

"Ushhh... Chinmayi, don't make her uncomfortable" , said Vivek Bhai. 

He would have walked out of his room to check if a baby elephant just walked into the Common Room. That's how badly I laughed. 

"Namaste Vivek Bhai, how's your health now?" , asked Megha. 

"Getting better Megha, thank you so much for joining us in the afternoon." 

"Heyyy.... " 

This definitely must be Akhila. She was the most excited person listening to Charan's story. She loves Charan way too much and yup, she's literally jumping out of excitement, on seeing Megha. 

"Finally we get to hear about Charan's story..." 

"Hey, wait for me... i want to listen too.." 

All of us turned to look at who it was. Charan was beaming and kind of blushing, and yet, modestly held himself integrated. Never seen my brother this way.

* My eyeeeeeeeessss * 

As for Megha, she blushed hardest. Akhila and me 'ohoooooooooooooooo-eeeeeeeeed' while Bhai laughed. 

The noise that we were making brought all the cousins to the Common Room. Diya Bhabhi shuuushed us. 

"Aap log, shor math machao, if somebody comes from first floor, it will be a problem. Also, don't scare the poor girl away, otherwise, for our monkey, it's very difficult to find a girl."

At this, all of us laughed, Megha cracked up a smile and Charan, he frowned. 

"Aao Megha, welcome to the family." , said Bhabhi.  "How's your work dear, Chinnu told it has started..." 

" Y- ye-yes yes Bhabhi..." , stuttered Megha, blushing and looking at her toes. 

"Oi Megha, what happened ya, blushing and all? You have met us know, before also." , I teased my bestie.

"Chinnu, chup ho jaoo... ", giggled Veera.

"Okay, all of us, let's settle down and listen to the most awaited story... " 

"Yaaaaayyyy", clapped Akhila. 

Anirudh ran to his room to get some snacks and savories. Wow, this is getting even better. Sunday with cousins, all of us in the Common Room, and, what more can I say.

"Megha, don't worry, okay, I've been through this... these guys ask you a lot of questions, but, I know you can crack this, because, you've won through Charan himself. Do you know how many questions that monkey asked me? One of his questions were, let me quote him, ' which one should be good, that you will choose to attend, an Antenna's marriage or reception?' " 

At Bhabhi's imitation, all of us again, roared into laughter. Megha blushed to I don't know what shade of red that is. 

All of us sat in a circle. Charan, Megha, me, Anirudh, Bhai Bhabhi, Veera and  Akhila. All eyes on Megha. Charan blushed now... 

"So Megha, Charan sucks at story telling, of course we'll listen to him as well.But you go first.", I said 

She looked at me, and uhmm... cleared her throat... 

"Ahmm.. Well, okay... Well..." , she was stuttering.. and at this, Charan just held her hand and squeezed it. 

We went "ooooooooooooohhhh" at them and, Charan was shushing us... 

"Okay, I'll start, you know, I'll give her some prep time..." , volunteered Charan.

" Oh Oh look at the support and all..." 

"Chinnu, chup kar. Let him talk. ", said Bhabhi.

"Okay." , he looked into Megha's eyes and then and the floor and then at all of us, 

"Well, I really don't know the exact moment when things started with me.I mean, I used to see her everyday with Chinnu and Anirudh and it all felt normal, because, all of us bring our close friends home. But, I think Bhai will agree to me on this because, mostly, I did get inspired by him, the presence of someone if it feels good, that's not the actual feeling, but, the absence of that person, if it's heavy and means a lot, then, definitely that's the instinct.

When Megha went out to do her internship in her 8th semester, while Chinnu and Anirudh stayed back in college, Megha didn't come here much, that's when I kinda started missing her. I started texting her and slowly slowly, it kinda strengthened. In between, of course, before kinda being sure of al this, I was a little afraid, because I didn't know what she was thinking, and she's Chinnu's best friend I didn't want all of that to get screwed because of me, and of course, you guys, whether will you all like her and most importantly, will our family accept Megha as their bahu.

Sooner, I realized that this was the fear of future, and yeah, the fear of loosing her was more than anything else. Bhai, you had told this when we had this meeting for you and bhabhi. Thank you so much for this...  And yes, after this realization, answers started popping up.

Of course,  all of you love her and so does our family and we kinda spoke to each other about all of this. She agreed with the fears and, she said that she loves Chinnu the most, and her friendship is most important.

And well, it took some time for me to convince her. One week before Chinnu got to know, everything kind of sorted between us, and just before we wanted to break it to all of us. Chinnu figured it out, and-" , he looked and Bhai and Bhabhi.

He sighed.

" Ahhh-well-

This month, she was my pillar of strength; she kept me going,  she kept me strong- And-" , he choked. 

Bhabhi, Akhila, Veera and me teared up. We've seen, what Charan has done for the family. To portray such a skill of management of balancing the family, situation and academics, it is overwhelming, and yes, I've seen it with my own eyes of what help Megha was to Charan.

I hate to agree for that monkey, about the fact  that my best friend is his best match. 

Bhai stood up to hug Charan. All of us joined.Veera pulled Megha as well, wow!

This is simply awesome. The warmth, the love  and it's encapsulation.

"Charan, Thumne kab ithna badaa ho gayaa ki apnaa phaislaa kud lene lagaa hai?"

All of us broke from the hug to turn and see who it was.

It was Ma...

💫💫💫