You and I, plus 2 years of marriage!

CHASTE GANGES  

{2}

Nithyayuvani was about to leave her office when she received a call from Ronav.

She: Hi Ronav, I am leaving office now. I will be there in another 40 minutes.

He: Actually Nithyayuvani… I am sorry. I won’t be able to make it today.

She [frowning]: What? But why?

He: I am held up at work and I have to stay back for long.

His voice was full of remorse.

She: Oh… no problem. It’s okay, Ronav. You carry on. We will catch up sometime soon.

He: I am really sorry…

She [smiling]: You really don’t have to apologize. It is alright. See you later. Bye.

He: Bye, Nithyayuvani.

Ronav wanted to stab his manager right then. He was looking forward eagerly to spending the evening with her and his Manager had ruined everything. Although he knew that she would not be mad at him for cancelling her plan. She was mature enough to understand his predicament. Yet he missed the opportunity to be with her. That moment Ronav made up his mind to make it up for the lost evening.

***

Nihal hesitated before knocking the door. It was almost midnight, but he knew that his sister would be awake.

You have to do this today…

He took in a deep breath and knocked on the door. Nithyayuvani was working on an article on her laptop. She was surprised to hear a knock on her room door at that odd time of the night. She had already made peace with her mother in the evening and the whole family had an engaging conversation at the dinner table. She glanced at the bed on her right. Her younger sister Nilanjali was in a deep sleep. Noiselessly she opened the door and raised an eyebrow at her elder brother.

‘Anna, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? What happened? Is everything alright?’ she asked half-amused and half-worried.

‘Is Nila sleeping?’

‘Yes. She slept an hour ago. I was working on my article. What happened?’

Nihal rubbed his forehead and pressed his lips into a hard line.

‘I want to talk to you,’ he said after a prolonged moment. Nithyayuvani stared at her brother in bewilderment. He had never looked so worried and walked up to her at midnight.

‘Tell me, anna.’

‘Not here. Let us go to the terrace.’

She nodded and slowly closed the door behind her. Once they were on the terrace, he closed the door securely. He asked her to sit down on the stone bench and he remained standing. He kept running his hand through his hair and she knew that he was tensed about something. She did not prod him and patiently waited for him to start talking.

‘Morning… amma was really worried about you. She wants you to settle down soon in life.’

Nithyayuvani let out a sigh.

Not again, brother… I am tired of this conversation.

‘Is this what you wanted to talk about? My marriage!?’ she asked him, clearly annoyed. She stood up and was about to walk away when he held her hand.

‘No wait, Nithya. Please sit down. This is important,’ he beseeched her. She really could not refuse him when he used that tone with her. At last she obliged.

‘Alright… tell me all that you have to. But keep it short because I am very sleep-starved,’ she said rolling her eyes.

‘Actually amma and appa want you to marry before me. They want me to start a family soon…’

Nithyayuvani stared at her 28 years-old brother. She was 25. There was nothing wrong in marrying at 25 but she was simply not ready for it. She was very career oriented and had plans to make an impact in journalism. She was very much in love with her profession to share her love with anyone else. In a way she was hurting her family and she knew it. But she simply could not help it. Yet it was very unfair that her brother had to remain a bachelor just because she was still a spinster.

‘I never objected for your marriage. You are free to marry whenever you want to. Please don’t force me,’ she said sharply.

Nihal averted her eyes and looked up at the sky. Slowly he looked down at her and swallowed hard.

‘I am… it is that I don’t want to marry a woman that amma chooses.’

She gave her brother an amused look. Soon everything fell into place.

‘Anna, are you in love?’

He nodded his head in assent. She grinned at him and shook her head.

‘Wow! That’s amazing! Although I am surprised that you made time for love in your busy schedule. I always thought that you were a terrible workaholic. Not bad… not bad at all. Tell me everything about her,’ she asked with curiosity saturating her voice.

Her eagerness only added to his nervousness. Tiny droplets of sweat beaded his forehead.

‘Come on, anna. Tell me! Why are you worried about telling me? You know that I am going to support you. Don’t worry about parents, we can convince them. Initially they make a big drama about it but later they will approve. I believe in your choice.’

Hearing her last sentence gave him some courage. Somewhere deep down he felt that she might really understand.

‘Nithya, please don’t hate me for what I am going to say next. And for God’s sake, please don’t judge me,’ he implored her.

Nithyayuvani was puzzled. She really could not understand the reason behind his hesitation. She mutely nodded her head in assent. He let out a long drawn breath and looked straight into her eyes.

‘I am gay.’

‘What!?’

Her eyes widened in astonishment. For a moment she thought that she had heard him wrong.

‘Did you just say that you are gay?’ she asked softly. He nodded his head.

She was dumbfounded and unable to believe her ears. Her head was reeling and she looked at him incredulously. She stood up and walked to the other end of the terrace. For a few minutes she gazed into the darkness of the night. Until then she had only heard about gay men and lesbians on TV and read about them in magazines and newspapers. This was the first time she had come face-to-face with a gay man. That too in the middle of the night! Her own brother, Nihal! Slowly she turned around and found her brother unmoved from his spot. He was anxiously waiting for her to talk but did not meet her eyes. He was too embarrassed to even look up. She went closer to him.

‘When did you know?’

‘Second year of college. There were a couple of beautiful girls in my class who showed interest in me. One of them even proposed to me but I simply had no feelings towards her. Initially I thought that maybe I was just not interested in them. But soon I discovered that I was not interested in any girl…’

‘Maybe it was just a phase. You simply cannot conclude that you are gay,’ she protested.

‘Do you think I am a fool? I even got into a relationship with a girl because I liked her. But that was it! I only liked her and nothing more than that. I had no feelings or emotions of love towards her. I broke up with her and was very confused with myself. I became a recluse and simply avoided girls in college. One day I saw guy in the mall and was madly attracted to him. I was shocked at how much he made an impact on me. That was when I began to think and read a lot about homosexuals…’

Nithyayuvani was at loss for words. What could she even say in such a situation?

‘Are you sure about this? You could be wrong,’ she said meekly.

‘Nithya I know that it is hard for you to accept. Even I took a long time to accept it, but this is the truth. I don’t want to hide it anymore, at least not from you. I hope you will understand. If there is anyone in our family who can be sensible about this, it is you.’

She looked at her brother affectionately. She could understand how hard it must have been on him. He had been through those difficult days in loneliness. Not once had she ever given a thought that he had gone through so much pain. She was overwhelmed and she gave him a warm hug.

‘Anna, I am sorry if my words have hurt you. I can understand what you are going through. Don’t worry, I am with you.’

The last three words washed out all the apprehensions from his mind. He hugged her back and a tear slid down his cheek. Quickly he wiped it away before releasing her.

‘Thank you so much, Nithya. You didn’t let me down. I always hoped that you would understand.’

‘Why wouldn’t I? Straight or gay, you are still my loving brother. Nothing can change that. Although give me some time to absorb all that you have told me today. It is too much information to digest at one go.’

He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

‘By the way, do you have any plans for tomorrow evening?’

His question took her by surprise.

‘No… nothing as of now. Why?’

‘Good. Then we are going out for dinner tomorrow.’

‘All of us?’ she asked casually.

‘No, just the two of us. One more person will join us.’

‘Who?’

‘My boyfriend.’

Nithyayuvani gazed at her brother with her mouth wide open.

‘Are you serious, anna?’

‘Yes. He is very eager to meet our family. I want you to be the first,’ he said patting her cheek.

She could neither refuse nor oblige.

I am going to meet my brother’s boyfriend… this is crazy!

                                 To be continued...