Double Devils

Jokes Apart

When I was little, I always waited for my letters of acceptance to Hogwarts school (or maybe an Indian branch, say, Hogwarts Vidyalaya). Over the years, I'd resigned to my fate that nothing was ever going to come, and transferred the fascination towards the guy playing Harry Potter (which I had a better chance of). But now as an adult, I stop my greed and really really wish for the invisibility cloak.

Cos it would be really good to be invisible right now.

"What plans do you both have for your future?" My father asked the both of us, Rudhra and I. The same question had been asked five minutes prior, by Rudhra's mother, who was closely inspecting us with an invisible magnifying glass.

"None. We have no plans at all." Rudhra said. "Although we were talking about going to that new amusement park "

Our new age ideas of not having 'plans' made the staunch adults in the room exasperate and click their tongues in annoyance. They all looked down on us like we were ingrained in the carpet or something.

"Son, not the amusement park, which sounds like a good idea. He was asking about your professional and personal plans for the future." Rudhra's mother said, slowly, stressing out each syllable a second too long, probably out of fear that we wouldn't understand her words. I wanted to die.

"We are still thinking about a lot of things. So please, give your guidance and some time, please." I said, trying out a carefully worded diplomatic statement. However it only brought about an avalanche of more statements like 'tsk,tsk, you've never asked for such things, so why would you say that now?'

Rudhra whispered to me. "Yeah, I too, really don't want their guidance either."

This devil didn't have an ounce of tact. Well, I didn't have it either. But, at least, I was trying.

"Help me, Rudhra. Show your gallantry in real life, and not just video games." I said, provoking him by saying two things that riled him up the most. If those couldn't make him do something, nothing would.

In response, his eyes sparkled and he had that familiar grin on his face that signalled he was going to say something stupid to the point of no return and cause brain damage to everyone who heard it. I mentally punched myself for doing it. If I could have the superpower of closing my ears on will, I'd do that right now.

"Please have pity on us." He said, in his most innocent voice.

 Huh?

"Please, give permission for our love. We'd be really happy if you do so." He continued. This was his strategy? If nothing else remains, use desperation.

Apparently, his horrible acting touched everyone, the sight of a six foot guy with burly muscles made everyone vulnerable. Everyone broke into a hearty laugh and congratulated us, which I wouldn't even have dreamt of, five minutes prior. I didn't know if his acting was that great, or our relatives were this sensitive and sympathising.

Anyway, all's well that ends well, and somehow we were given permission to court(even though we would have done it if hadn't been given otherwise) and Rudhra was now welcomed into my family. And I was welcomed to his family. His mother didn't share his horribleness to his extent, which was a very welcome fact.

"Once again, I've proved my manliness." Rudhra said, as we strolled along the road.

"Huh? You say 'once'. When did you do it before?" I asked, confused.

"Every single time." He winked, and I made a retching sound.

"Well, you looked very handsome." I said. His grin inflated along with his ego.