Do We Change?

● Doctor's Appointment

The white coloured envelope ,  elaborated with golden embroidery at edges and in the center , in neat handwriting it was written ' The Birlas' , below which it was written their address. Since its arrival , earlier that morning , it had passsed on from one hand to the other inside the family. No one dared to comment on it. Even the most vocal Mahima Birla had preferred to stay silent , completely ignoring the invitation. Thus after passing through everyone's hand , the envelope had finally landed in the hands of the esteemed cardio surgeon , Dr. Abhimanyu Birla , who know stood with in front of his brother's room. 

Once opening the envelope , out came a card , on which in fine golden calligraphy was written ,    

                         

"Mrs Suhasini Goenka requests,
Your honorable presence,
On the Auspicious event
Of engagement
Of her great grand daughter,
Dr.Aarohi Goenka
With ,
Mr.Vikram Sharma. "
                                                     

 A short and formal invitation, something that it truly was. An invitation clearly sent out of formality to their elder daughter's in-laws.  As Abhimanyu held the card, he could almost sense the coldness that has been sent with the envelope. The Goenkas have just played their part , to keep away the society's questions. A society that will not spare to judge them , judge their daughter. And now it was their turn, to play the role of the perfect extended family and accept the invitation. 

The invitation had arrived since morning and Abhimanyu couldn't bear the turmoil his brother had to go through. He so wanted to see him, to check that he was okay and thus he stood in front of the door , hesitating. Hesitation was never their game . The two boys have been the closest , almost like the idealistc brother that the films potray. They were always there for each other, saving each other's back , guiding , supporting and sometimes just being with each other. But these all changed since the day Neil had walked hand in hand with Aarohi and claimed their love for each other. He remembered the emotions that ran within him. Disgust towards Neil for claiming to love his most hated person, anger towards Aarohi for trying to manipulate his brother.  And in the fit of rage that filled within him for the days that followed , he failed to notice the glint in their eyes whenever they came across each other, the way they supported each other , the way they claimed their love in every spoken , unspoken way . In fact he failed to notice it all , until the day when Aarohi had jumped off the roof. Abhimanyu shuddered as he remembered the condition in which his brother was . He didn't eat or sleep or did anything at all , always blaming himself to be Aarohi's culprit. That's when Abhimanyu realized that the love they claimed was indeed a highly intense one. But it was too late . Too late to remedy things , too late for Neil to forgive him. 

Abhimanyu pushed open  Neil's door. Neil's room had been quite different from the rest of the Birla's. While rest of Birla's had decorated their rooms with the precision of their doctor taste , Neil's was a rather artistic one , clearly reflecting his carefree soul. Their were painted canvases laying almost in very corners , drawn exquisitely by the owner of the room himself . 

As Abhimanyu stepped in, he found Neil seated in front of a vacant canvas , brush in hand , staring no where.

" You could consider putting these in the exhibitions" Abhimanyu tried to begin a conversation.

Neil seemed to be startled by this sudden intrusion, but he soon composed himself. 

" I don't want to" .

Abhimanyu realized that his brother was in no mood for a conversation. But he sweared he wouldn't give up. Neil had ignored him for a long time. He couldn't let that continue for eternity.