In A Matchmaking

1 Ketki

1 Ketki

"Maa, I do not have a girlfriend," Vansh bhaiya said getting annoyed. Maa and Papa were trying to convince bhaiya to get married for a long time. Papa gave up but maa was adamant. She thought that bhaiya was denying it because he had a girlfriend.

Even though bhaiya denied having a girlfriend, Maa was pretty convinced and believed her theory.

"Vansh, call her home once. We would also talk to her family. Right?" she asked looking at Papa who nodded in agreement. Vansh bhaiya got so angry that he got up from the dining table and went without completing his dinner.

"Look at this boy. He is twenty-seven, when will he get married if not now? When he's sixty? What am I going to do with him" Maa dramatically propped her elbows on the dining table and took her head in her hands.

"I'll give him his dinner" I got up and took his plate before anyone could say anything. Bhaiya has been having a hard time lately. Maa was forcing him for marriage and Papa was being hard on him for work as usual.

"Bhaiya, it's me" I knocked at his door. He opened the door and I entered his semi messed room. I kept his plate down and jumped on his bed.

"Here have your food"

"Thank you, moti. I was hungry" he smiled at me sheepishly while I hit him for calling me moti. He ate his food and made me eat from his plate, like an excellent big brother he was. He kept the empty plate on the nightstand, burping.

"Bhaiya, tell me the truth, do you want to get married?" I asked, sitting on his bed and crossing my legs. He laid down his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, sighing.

"I don't know. Maybe I do"

"Do you like anyone?"

"No, how would I, I mean-"

"What's her name?" I rested my chin on my hand and raised my eyebrows. He glared at me but sat up, straight.

"Ahaana"

"Does she work with you?"

"Yeah"

"SHOW ME HER PICTURE," I squealed and gave him his phone. He quickly opened his Instagram and fished out her Instagram profile. I snatched away the phone from him and analysed the profile.

She seemed to be nice.

"Did you ask her out?"

"What do you think? I'm not trying?" he groaned making me laugh. Vansh bhaiya had girls going crazy for him but he did not pay any attention to them and now when he actually wants a girl, she's being hard on him too.

"Does she have a sibling?" I asked, looking at her profile. She had very few pictures posted. She rarely posted any pictures of herself.

"She has a younger brother named Ahaan," he said, snatching the phone away from me and looking at her pictures like a lovesick puppy.

"You are smitten" I mumbled under my breath, but he heard it somehow. He narrowed his eyes at me and slipped the phone back in his pocket.

"If you tell this to Maa, I swear I will not buy you anymore canvases" he got me there. Bhaiya knows that I love paintings and for which I need canvases. I don't sell my paintings, so I need to ask for money from Maa or Papa.

But they didn't really like me using the money to buy canvases. Bhaiya, being the savior, always buys me canvases and new paints.

"You know I won't tell her" I feigned annoyance and crossed my arms at my chest. He looked at me skeptically.

"You cannot keep a secret"

"Maa and Papa did not know that I painted for three years and I cannot keep a secret? Yeah sure," I scoffed and left his room to let him sulk. I walked back to the dining hall to see Maa and Papa talking. I hid behind the wall to listen to them.

"I will start looking for girls from tomorrow"

"But what about Vansh, will he listen?"

"You talk to him, when will he marry then if not now? Huh? My health is also deteriorating, tell him this, he will follow what you say"

I decided to enter the room and put a stop to their useless talk. Maa always over-exaggerates everything. She just has diabetes which is very controlled. None of us allows her to eat more sweets than she should.

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," they both said in unison, making me scoff.

"What was about that?" maa narrowed her eyes at me, looking at me suspiciously. I just shrugged and decided to flee to my room to save myself.

"Anyways, I have to study, my exams are coming soon"

***

I stared at my brush and furrow my eyebrows. This was the fifth brush I forgot to wash after completing my painting. This forgetfulness of mine was costing me a lot. I hated ruining my stationery.

I sighed and washed the brush anyway. I kept my brush back safely and plopped on the single bed, taking my phone in my hands. I checked my Instagram and replied to all the messages.

My finger hovered over the search button. I was tempted to search about Ahaana he showed and was crazy about. Giving in to it, I searched for Ahaana, typing her username. Unfortunately, her account was private.

Bhaiya said something about her brother. I tried to find her brother's account. I stumbled across a profile followed by Vansh bhaiya and Niharika, my best friend. Ahaan Sharma. Even his profile was private. Why do boys want to keep their profile private?

I was debating whether to message him or not about everything or not. The other part of my brain was thinking about why Niharika follows him. But she knows so many people, she literally has like one thousand followers.

I was about to message him but I got a call from Niharika. I accepted the call, wanting to ask her about Ahaan but instead, she squealed and told me about how she got to pet three dogs and two puppies today.

"Niharika, I am sleepy now. I will talk to you tomorrow" I faked a yawn to make her believe that I was sleepy. Niharika, no matter what, was my best friend but she gushed about puppies a lot. I loved dogs but since our family dog, Piku died, talking about dogs was always a sensitive topic.

As the call ended, my screen again showed the Instagram profile of Ahaan Sharma. I decided to go with my gut feeling and message him without following him. I closed my eyes and pressed the send button.

hi

I decided to send a couple of more texts to tell him that I was not some random girl who was going to share those pictures if he replied. It seemed like a good choice because I did get the reply as I was about to sleep.

I took my phone at its first ding and quickly opened the message to see what he replied.