epilogue pt.1

The air was thick with prickly tension. Nila's parents sat on the sofa and Kayal took the other armchair. Nila sat next to her sister, kneading her fingers on her lap like she was tackling the most stubborn dough for tonight's dinner.

It was the day.

After four years of hiding their relationship, Nila and Vijay had decided to get married and they cracked open the truth of their relationship to Nila's parents after somehow managing to keep it well-hidden.

Over the years, Nila had been promoted to a senior position in her organization, doubling her already coveted salary package. Vijay had participated in multiple National events, gaining recognition from Olympic stars. He'd also earned quite a bit of a female fan following when he appeared on the news a few times, which in turn boosted Nila's Instagram because they'd decided to ditch the faceless era. After participating and winning silver in one international sports summit, Vijay shocked everyone when he made the decision to not pursue further. That period had created a lot of tension between Nila and Vijay because Nila didn't want him to quit so soon. After a lot of arguments, sleepless nights and meddling by their friends, they finally made up. He'd secured a job as a coach through his coach's connections and two months later, Vijay proposed.

Vijay's parents were more than okay with their relationship. They'd given them their blessings long ago.

It was time to confront the final villains of their story.

Nila insisted that she'd talk to their parents alone but Kayal and Vijay wouldn't have it. They made a fuss that they had to be there but as soon as Vijay showed up next to her, hand-in-hand, Nila's parents shared similar expressions of distaste. Vijay had good intentions as always but he didn't deserve to hear any of the insults her parents would be sure to make. She sent him to the backyard with Arjun and four-year old Ajay and thankfully, Kayal agreed with it too.

"So, is he the reason why you've been saying no to all the potential grooms?" Nila's mother began.

"Yes. His name is Vijay. We've been together for almost five years so before you say it's just a phase and all that crap, I'll let you know that we are very serious," Nila said, hoping her voice wasn't shaking.

Nila's father glanced at her mother and then he cleared his throat. "You know we won't approve even if you've dated for ten years. We thought you were the good one but you're just like your sister."

Kayal snorted. "Please, Pa. You really think we still care if you think we are good daughters or not? We have ten thousand other problems in our life that are more important."

"Just because you have a family of your own now, doesn't mean you're any less our daughter. You've changed so much and we don't like it at all," their mother sharply reprimanded. "Let us make this clear. We don't approve. We will never approve. Break up with him. That's it."

Before Nila could muster courage, Kayal leaned forward. "Let me tell you a story. There was once a girl who loved a boy. The girl's parents were cold and heartless and only cared about prestige and honour, never their daughter's happiness. They blackmailed her to break up with the boy. Stupidly, she fell for their trap and chose the family over the boy. A few months later, the boy died in an accident because he drank himself to death because he couldn't get over the girl. Now tell me, who do you think killed the boy?"

Nila's parents had the decency to look shocked. Her mother sputtered. "What-What are you trying to say? That we killed him?"

"Glad you realise that," Kayal said, leaning back and smiling as if she'd gotten a job well done.

"How dare you, Kayal?" Her father roared, standing up. "How dare you accuse us of something like that? We are your parents. We raised you. We provided for you, whatever you wanted and desired."

"Did you really, Pa?" Nila asked, finding her courage. "Do you think we were happy? Yes, we are grateful that you raised us comfortably but isn't it your responsibility to do that when you decided to have us? Why are you making it sound like a favour you did for us? Why do you think we owe you for doing your duty? If you think that you were going out of your way to raise us, you could have simply chosen not to have children."

"Nila! Watch what you're saying," Nila's mother scolded.

"You treat us like properties, Ma. Do you realise that? We are tools that you can control to bring you prestige and pride. You want us to be something you want to brag about. Are we just that? Have you once cared to think if we were really happy?"

Their parents for once had nothing to say other than furious glares. They were furious but they didn't know themselves why they were so --- for being called out on their mistakes or hearing their daughters talk back against them?

"Oh, and fun fact. The boy Nila brought home is the brother of the boy you killed," Kayal said.

"Stop saying we killed him!"

"You ruin lives, Ma."

Their mother slapped Kayal. The slap echoed through the silent room. Kayal smiled as if she was only surprised this hadn't happened sooner.

"Arjun won't be happy," Nila clicked her tongue and tipped her chin at Kayal's reddening cheek. "Nor will your in-laws."

"Why are you both behaving like brats?" Nila's father yelled. "Is this how we raised you? From where is all this childish behaviour coming from?"

"Because it's about damn time, Pa. You can't control us anymore. We are just letting you know that," Nila said.

"If you think you can say whatever you want and marry whoever you want without our permission, go ahead. We don't want to witness that. It's clear you don't care about us anymore now that you earn more money than us. We'll just drink poison and die. You'll be happy, no?" Ma said, standing up, probably to dig out the rat poison.

Kayal sighed. She pulled out her phone. "I really hoped it wouldn't come to this," she said. "I'm dialling the police. This is harassment."

Nila bit back a laugh. Kayal was acting so unserious about the whole situation that it was pushing their parents to their limits. Her father watched Kayal dial with a watchful eye and when she pressed the phone to her ear, he snatched her phone away. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We are not falling for your blackmail anymore, Pa. That's what we are telling you. Look, I'm not going to let the same thing that happened to me happen to my sister. I've known about Vijay and Nila since they got together. I know how much they love each other and how happy Nila is when he is with her. This marriage is going to happen whether both of you agree or not. Honestly, I told them to just get married and show up later so you wouldn't be able to do anything. But unfortunately, my sister is still a goody-two-shoes and believes you can have a change of heart." Kayal laughed.

"I told her so many times she was being foolish. I mean, look at both of you. Change of heart? Bullshit. But it was her wish that we try. And we tried. Now decide. Give them your blessings wholeheartedly or attend their wedding like strangers watching it from far away, that is if you choose to attend it by the way. If you can't be happy for her, at least stop ruining it. That's all I ask of you."

Both her parents were silent. They sat down on the sofa. Her mother began to cry silently. Her father stared at the wall, as if his face was concrete. The silence lingered for almost ten minutes. Even though Nila itched to break it by saying something, she kept silent.

Finally, Nila's father took a deep breath and exhaled. He looked at Nila. "What's his name?"

"Vijay," Nila said slowly.

"What is he doing?"

"He is a coach and a lecturer in TUSP."

"TUSP? Isn't that Tamilnadu University of Sports and Physical Education?"

Nila's eyebrows rose in hope. "You know about it?"

"Of course. It's a very reputed institute from my time. Your uncle studied there," he said. Nila glanced at Kayal, silently asking her what these curious questions meant. Her sister simply shrugged, clueless herself. But Nila couldn't help but consider it as a good sign.

"Is he from a good family?"

"Yes."

"Prakash? Are you serious? Why are you asking all this? Anyway they are not-- " Nila's mother asked.

"We have no choice. We are getting old, Sarala. I don't want to spend the rest of our years estranged from our daughters. If Nila has not been happy so far, maybe we can watch her being happy here on and at least be satisfied that we've been a part of it."

"Prakash? You can't seriously take to heart the rubbish these girls have been spouting. They're just trying to scare us. We need to be firm—"

"Yeah, look where that led us. This humiliating conversation where our daughters tell us how terrible we've been. As a parent, this shames me." Their father pressed two fingers to his eyes and subtly wiped away the tears.

"Prakash," their mother's voice softened. Her shoulders loosened as if she'd lost her resolve after seeing her husband cry. "Fine," she told Nila. "But if one day you come running back to us that you've made the wrong decision, it's not our problem."

"Understood," Nila said, grinning.

"And don't expect us to fraternize with his parents. We can't face them."

"They will understand. You don't need to worry about that."

Nila's mother glanced at her for another moment before she said, "Get married to him. Be happy."

Something cracked in Nila's chest. Her body loosened like a million little needles were all removed from her skin at once. Even if she'd been prepared for the worst, she had some little hope that her parents would approve of them. She desperately wanted them to. Relief coursed through her, waves of tears rolling through her. She broke down and threw her arms around her father and cried.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Pa," she sobbed. Her father held her with teary eyes.

Kayal stood up from her chair, her eyes glazed. She smiled at them.

"I'm sorry we couldn't do this for you," her father told Kayal.

Kayal waved him off. "It's fine. You got lucky because it was Arjun you married me off to. Otherwise, I would've raised hell by now."

"Who knows? Even Nila could've found someone like Arjun---"

"Sarala. Stop."

"Fine, fine. I'm not going to say anything about this again. Anyway, I have no say in this house. Everyone just does things on their own." With that, their mother walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"If you get to know him, you'll like him, Pa. Give him a chance, okay?" Nila said.

"Okay. It's the least I could do," he smiled at his daughter. It was forced but it was better than nothing.

When Kayal and Nila walked to the backyard, Nila began. "I thought it would take days or even weeks to convince them. It wasn't this easy for you, right?"

"Yes. I mean, you can't blame them. It's been a lot of years. People are constantly changing and so does their mindsets. Three out of our five cousins had a love marriage. One was even inter-religion. People gossip about it for a few weeks but after that no one cares. No one is going to shun you from the society or treat you with any less respect. Our parents must have realised that. They are a little conventional but not entirely dumb. Plus, you had me. I didn't have that advantage."

"Hey, that time I tried to speak for you but you told me to not involve myself."

"Yeah, I know. I was just kidding. You're a good little sister. Don't worry," Kayal laughed, throwing her arm around her sister's shoulder. "Are you happy?"

"I will be once I see Vijay's face. He's not showing it but he's more anxious than me. He didn't sleep for the past two nights."

"He wouldn't have wanted to worry you."

"Yeah, he doesn't realise I can see right through him."

"Men are sometimes dumb."

Arjun was carrying a sleeping Ajay on his shoulders, patting his back and swaying with his back turned towards them. Vijay was pacing back and forth in the little stone pathway. When the sisters stepped in, both of them turned to them.

"Are you okay?" Vijay rushed to Nila. When he looked at Kayal's cheek, he cursed, "Shit. That looks bad."

Arjun marched over to his wife and tilted her face to examine it. "It's fine. It's nothing. Don't get worried," Kayal said, reaching for her son and carrying him.

Arjun traced her cheek. "It's red, Kayal."

"It's fine. This doesn't matter. What matters is..." Kayal glanced at Nila.

Nila looked at them with a big smile. "They said okay."

"W-What?" Vijay said. "They said—"

"Yes. They came around and gave us their blessings. They approved, Vijay!" Nila said, the shock and joy on Vijay's face making her tear up. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "We can get married now."

Vijay crushed her to him and Nila sobbed against his shoulders. It was happy tears, a flood of pure happiness. "Thank you, silver. You were so brave today," he said, caressing her hair and holding her to him by her head.

Vijay looked at Kayal. "Thank you, Kayal. I'll forever be grateful to you."

"I hope Nishanth is happy seeing his little brother get the happy ending he didn't get," she sighed, leaning on to Arjun.

"I'm sure he is."

"He better be. I even took a beating for the team," Kayal said.

"Don't joke about it," Arjun said, voice low. He was mad.

Kayal wrapped an arm around her husband's. "I'll take him inside and give you some privacy. Vijay, you're staying for dinner?"

"I can?"

"Of course you can. You're part of this dysfunctional family. It's too late to back out now," Kayal said and walked out of the garden.

It was just Nila and Vijay.

"How did you do it?"

"It was mostly Kayal. She was ruthless. But I wouldn't blame her. She would've gotten it from our parents," Nila explained, dragging him to the swing. She sat next to him. "I don't know what to say. It feels a little surreal. Something I've been worrying about for five years has suddenly vanished. I feel weird."

"It was like that when I drove my bike without fear after three years. Something that you've held onto for so long eventually becomes a part of you. Letting go of it, even if it's something negative, feels uneasy. You need to get used to the weightlessness."

"Yeah, I guess. When did it finally feel okay?"

"When I had you wrapped around me on the bike and thought I'd have been a fool if I'd never tried overcoming my fear. I was so happy I decided to be brave that one moment."

"It wasn't one moment for you. You went to therapy for a year, Vijay. I was so proud of you for working on yourself even though you didn't have to."

He shrugged. "It just happened. I'm glad it did. Same way, there will be one moment when you'll intensely feel proud and grateful for taking this step forward. In that moment, you'll accept this new normal completely."

Nila wrapped an arm around his and placed her chin on his shoulder. "I love you."

He enclosed her palm with his. "I love you more, wife."

"Oh, shut up!"

"What? This is another thing you'll have to get used to, okay?"

"Stop it, idiot. You just like making me blush." She hid her face in his shoulders.

"Not a lie," he said. "Wait, did you tell them that we've been living together since this January?"

"No. And they don't need to know that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. They'll freak out if they know. Even tonight, they'll not let us share my room. You probably would have to share with Arjun. That's fine, right?"

"Wait, I'm staying the night?"

Nila laughed. "Of course, idiot. Why? Will you be uncomfortable?"

"Silver, this is your house. This is where you grew up. I think I'll be happy to stay a night."

She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "Well don't get too comfortable. We're leaving tomorrow?"

"So soon?"

"Kayal has some work and Arjun too. They're returning to Bangalore. I took off till Friday and you have too so I was thinking... maybe we could go somewhere?"

"Like a trip?"

"Yes."

"It is your birthday week. It's perfect. I'll think of a place tonight," Vijay said, kissing her forehead. "I'm guessing this is a secret from your parents too?"

"You're a quick learner." Nila chuckled and stood up, stretching a hand to him. "Oh, and good luck. My parents might grill you over dinner. They'll like you for sure. But it also doesn't matter if they don't. Ma might be blunt and rude but don't mind her. It's how she is. If you need saving, give me a sign and I'll intervene."

Vijay took her hand. "Yes, wife."

"Oh, you shut up!"

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