Episode 3 That Eye Contact

Till late last night, Christian continued struggling to pronounce Mishka’s name properly, but he still couldn’t pronounce it fluently. “Why are these Indian names so difficult? I will definitely name her Mia after the marriage. Fuck, I still can’t believe that I am being forced to marry an Indian girl whom I have not seen yet.” Christian thought.

He strode to the dresser and stared at himself in the mirror. “You can do this, Chris. You can do this.” He kept chanting this in his mind again and again to calm himself, but he was still losing his patience.

“How can I marry a girl whose name I am not even able to pronounce perfectly? God, please get me out of this trouble.” Christian was thinking of another way to get rid of this girl when his phone started ringing.

“LOVE” CALLING

“Good morning, babe. Did you have a good night sleep?” Lia asked, behaving as if this was some other normal day.

“What is so good about this morning, Lia? Till late last night, I was practising to take that bitch’s name properly. I don’t know when I slept. I am still drowsy.” Christian yawned.

Lia giggled, listening to him, “Oh, by the way. What’s her name?” She asked.

“Mika, nooo..... Maika, no... no.. oh god I forgot again. Wait, I wrote her name on a paper somewhere, let me see.....” Christian said and started looking for the paper in his room and he found it on the side table. “Hmm it’s MEESHIKA,” Christian sighed.

Lia chuckled, and it annoyed Christian. “Well, if you are done with your giggling and chuckling, I need to take a shower. Mishiika can appear anytime and Grandpa wishes to see me for breakfast. He said he wants to talk to me about something important.” Christian said.

“Okay, okay ... you go. I just called you to say I love you and have a great day ahead. I know that once she comes, we will not be able to speak properly.” Lia said, sounding unhappy.

“Hey! baby girl, don’t be sad. No one can stop me from talking to you, not even that Indian bitch. Nobody can come between us.” Christian comforted her.

“I love you, Chris. I hope we will be together soon. Bye.” Lia said.

“I love you too, Lia. We will be together. Bye, see you.” Christian ended the call. He then quickly took a shower and changed into a grey t-shirt with black jeans. He looked at himself in the mirror and left his room to join Leo in the dining area.

***

Leo was sitting on the head’s chair, waiting for everyone’s arrival, when a message popped up on his mobile screen, which brought a gigantic smile to his face. He was writing a reply when Christian showed up and sat next to him.

“Whose message brought this beautiful smile to your face, grandpa?” He asked while taking a sip from his orange juice.

“It’s Pasha. He said your soon-to-be wife’s plane has landed, and he is bringing her here now.” Leo answered, and Christian choked on his juice, coughing badly.

Leo quickly rubbed Christian’s back. “What happened to you suddenly? Are you alright now?” He asked and Christian nodded his head, and a few moments later, he relaxed.

“Aren’t you excited about meeting her?” Leo asked again, watching at his red face because of coughing.

“I am thrilled to see her. I didn’t even sleep all night,” Christian responded, mentally rolling his eyes, and took a bite of his toast.

Soon, all the family members arrived in the dining area. Luke, Christian’s father with his girlfriend Jennifer, Leo’s daughter Berry with his husband Dan Mathews and her son Jake, Leo’s youngest son Rony with his wife Rose, and their adopted ten-year-old son Daniel.

Leo’s son Rony did not leave Rose, despite knowing that she could not conceive and Leo was proud of him. This is the kind of love Leo appreciates. “Is this family breakfast or something? Why is everyone here so early?” Christian asked, widening his eyes, looking at everyone’s presence in the room.

“Yes, I have an announcement to make before the arrival of my granddaughter-in-law,” Leo said, taking a sip of his black tea.

“That is soon to be a granddaughter in law, grandpa. I have not married her yet.” Christian corrected him.

“Well, that’s going to change soon, Chris.” Leo looked at him and then his eyes shifted to his other family members, “I want everyone to talk to her respectfully. No one will use abusive words in her presence. I want her to be comfortable here.” Leo directed everyone.

“She is very special to me, I will not accept it at all if she is insulted in this house, and one more important thing for you, Luke and Rony, you two will not engage in a fight with each other in her presence,” Leo warned.

“Woah! Is she the new headmaster of this house?” Luke asked, rolling his eyes. Like father, like son.

“No good girl would like to live in an abusive environment, where people quarrel with each other day and night,” Rony said while feeding porridge to his son.

“Nobody is asking for your opinion here, so I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut,” Luke replied crossly while Jennifer enjoyed their brawl.

“You guys started again? Can’t you both sit quietly during breakfast?” Leo said in a high pitch. “I remember there was a time when both of you used to fight for each other, and now, you both fight with each other!!” Leo yelled and relaxed in his chair.

There was a moment of complete silence in the dining area and everybody was looking down at their plates.

“Hey, Daniel! If you are done with your breakfast, let’s go out? We will play basketball.” Christian asked, breaking the silence, and Danial started jumping in happiness. Soon, both the boys disappeared from the dining area and went out to play basketball.

“Now, everyone, please behave properly in front of her. I do not want her to think wrong about our family. I hope you will understand your old father and respect what he is saying.” Leo pleaded at last.

***

Christian always moves away when he witnesses his father and Uncle Rony fighting. He doesn’t know what went wrong between them in the past, but he still has a vague recollection of childhood, where both of them were inseparable, but then he doesn’t know what transpired between them.

But it didn’t change Rony’s love for Christian. He treats him like his own son, and for Christian, Rony is a father figure, and his son Daniel is an apple of everyone’s eyes.

“Brother, let’s play!!” Daniel exclaimed, and threw the ball in Christian’s direction. Christian was unprepared, and he dodged aside. The ball went straight flying beside him.

It was about to hit a face hard, but the girl caught the ball right before it could smash her face and stilled in her place, as she didn’t understand what just happened to her.

Christian could not look at the girl’s face as she was holding a ball right in front of her face. He was about to run toward her, but swiftly Jake overtook him and went to the girl.

“Hey, are you alright?” Jake asked anxiously, and that girl took the ball off from her face and Christian just continued gawking at her gorgeous appearance.

“I am alright, Jake. Don’t worry!” That girl responded with a smile. Christian was lost staring at her and he came back to his senses when Daniel started pulling the hem of his grey t-shirt.

Christian looked down at him, “WHAT?”

“Let’s run from here. If grandpa finds out what we have done, he will scold us badly,” Daniel whispered.

“He will not do any such thing. Chill!” Christian said and glanced back at Jake and that girl. “Who is she?” He thought.

“Let’s get inside, Mishka, grandpa is waiting for you,” Jake said, and it shocked Christian to the core.

“How can she be Mishka?” Christian thought that someone from India would come draped in a saree with a red dot on the middle of the forehead, bangles in hand, and lots of gold jewellery around the neck. But Mishka was the exact contrary of what he expected.

She was wearing a white crop top with black high waist pencil-fit jeans which were showing all her curves in the right places, her long brown hair cascaded down up to her waist, and her nude five-inch heels were complimenting her looks perfectly.

“Yes, sure, but my luggage?” Mishka asked.

“Don’t worry, the driver will bring your luggage inside,” Jake answered and they started walking in Christian and Daniel’s direction to move inside the Mansion, and when Mishka crossed Christian, their eyes locked with each other for the first time.