Just as we broke apart from our impromptu display of affection, my phone began its familiar jingle.

"Hi Evan!" I half screamed into the phone, as Vidyut cast me a side long glance. I took the opportunity to lightly punch him for taking his eyes off the road.

"What's up, bro?"

My voice sounded hot and bothered to me, as I tried calming my thudding heart to regain some semblance of composure.

I heard his deep , rumbling voice from the other end of the line, taking in the slight lilt of the faint New Zealand accent that he had picked up, a joyous smile breaking on my face.

When I took in what he was telling me, I started squealing like I was being mauled by a large bear. Vidyut was now looking at me like I was possessed.

"Fuck, yeah! I can't wait for you to get here, bro! Oh shut up! I'm old enough to swear, thank you very much! You're the one who called Aunt Mattie a stuffy old bitch with a rod up her ass when you were 14!"

I ignored Vidyut's quiet chuckle. I was too excited by the prospect of my brother moving to London!

I hung up after swearing at him with varying combinations of my favorite cuss words, barely containing in the animalistic sounds of joy that I wanted to let out.

My brother had always been by best friend, saviour and confidante. he was incredibly talented in picking out my emotions, even as a kid.

I thought back to When I was in grade five and he, in grade seven. I used to get bullied by these two dumb boys, who used to pull my hair and engage in similarly unimaginative pranks.

I never told him about them because I knew that he would punch the shit out of them. But he figured out that I was bothered by something despite my silence.

And one day, as I returned to my classroom after lunch break, dreading getting tripped or booed at, I took note of the lovely black eye that one of them sported, along with the absence of the other to the nurse's room and knew that my brother had my back yet again.

That was Evan for you.

My best friend and brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was counting down the days to when my brother would finally arrive when yet another character entered into my dramatic life in the form of a shy, beautiful mute girl.

I had just come back one day from work, plotting on what was the best way to murder Harry in cold blood and somehow escape the arms of the law. (He had been trying hard to get me to guess whether his or Varun's package was longer/bigger , even taking off his pants to give me a better idea.)

I was planning to head over to Chantelle's afterwards, as it had been 2 days since I last saw Clara.

As I opened the door, Padfoot came jumping onto me, a normal greeting of his whenever Vidyut or I came home. From his over excitement, I realised that we had a visitor.

Frowning at the complete silence in the living room, I walked in, only to see a beautiful woman silently perusing the newspaper, an air of shyness and quiet evident about her even so.

"Hello!" I exclaimed. She completely ignored me, continuing her reading.

Huh. That was rude. And here I thought I could take a liking to her.

Just then, Vidyut walked out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs of coffee in his hand.

She was still way too intent on ignoring the both of us. He smiled a silent greeting at me, before placing a mug down in front of her and laying a hand on her shoulder.

I had no idea who this woman was, so of course I was irritated! But there was something about the way she smiled at him that screamed of platonic love alone.

He gestured to her, telling her in sign language that I was indeed his loud, foul mouthed, violent wife.

I frowned a little, resisting the urge to burst out giggling. I took that as a compliment.

She turned to me, a beautiful smile lighting her shy features. She turned to him and gestured to him to tell me who she was and to say that it was her pleasure to meet me.

I dropped my bag onto the couch and plopped down on it, before enthusiastically gesturing to her that I had no idea who she was, but that she was truly beautiful.

A wondrous expression lit up her face, as she blushed faintly. She let me know that she was surprised that I knew sign language.

I glanced briefly at Vidyut to see him wear a half smile as he looked at me, a look of pride in his eyes.

And so the three of us conversed for the rest of the evening, with Padfoot inserting his opinions in the form of a bark or two.

I got to know that she was Ella, and that she was Vidyut's best friend. She was deaf and mute, as I guessed.

She told me about how in their school years, he was the popular boy, and her , the shy girl who was always bullied. One day, he had saved her from a few vicious bullies, and had been her guardian angel ever since.

I felt a fierce respect for him at this, which only increased when she explained that he had learned sign language to ensure that she would never be friendless and forever trapped in her lonely world of silence.

In the dying evening light, I thought I saw a twinkle of wetness in her large eyes.

I decided then and there that Ella was genuinely a beautiful woman, who I would love to spend time with in the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Evan finally arrived from New Zealand a few days later, I drove to the airport looking like an overeager beaver which had somehow gotten possession of a car. He was to crash with Vidyut and I till he found an apartment of his own.

"EVANNNNNN!" I screamed as I bear hugged him upon seeing his tall figure exit the airport.

He looked buffer than ever, drawing multiple eyeballs of women and even some men , as he carefully messed his hair to perfection, which I obviously immediately destroyed.

"Brat!" He muttered, grinning down at me .

"So you didn't tell me how and why you decided to move to London! "

We were in my car, on the way to my place.

"Dearest sister. I believe it is referred to as a punishment transfer?"

He grinned at me.

"Why?"

"Because I punched a colleague in the face?"

I blanched at him.

"Allow me to explain. Well, he thought that it was funny that I'm half Indian. He wanted to know if I ever drove a taxi. Since I thought that a simple 'no' would be too mainstream, I decided to see how he would look plastered onto a wall. For some unimaginable reason, my boss seemed to think that that was a bad idea. They therefore gave me the choice of Italy or England. As much as I wanted to go hook up with a few Italian chicks, I decided that I missed my dearest sister. So here I am!"

I knew that it was only because Evan was Evan that he had gotten away with a mere transfer. His truest passion in life was always surfing. But as a profession, he works as a doctor, with a speciality so rare, no employer in their right minds would ever fire him. Did I mention my brother is a sporting and academic genius?

"Enough about me. Tell me about my brand new brother-in-law! I barely got to tell anything to him for your wedding. I can't even believe you allowed mom and dad to steer you into such a random arranged marriage! It was just a stupid deal after all. Yoy could have said no." He shrugged.

That's my brother. Never hesitant to speak his mind.

He had almost slapped me when I said yes to the marriage. He was about to laugh about the whole proposal when I muttered my yes.

No one, not even my parents had thought I would agree. But there was something missing in me- my sense of self worth. The quest for passion , for romance, for love, had died a long time ago. And so I accepted my role in the drunken pact that our fathers had once made in the name of friendship.

I shook myself out of my stupor to see that we had reached home.

We made our way to the apartment, with Evan taking the luggage carrying as a good time to show off his muscles to me. I rolled my eyes.

Throwing open the front door, I was surprised to see that Vidyut was already home. Evan made his way in, already acting like he owned the place, only to suddenly stop short in the living room.

Muttering expletives at him for making me hit my head against him, I peered around him.

He stood, transfixed, as he took in the form of Ella as she stared out the window, onto the busy street , while absent mindedly petting Padfoot. There was something definitely attractive about the shy, unassuming expression on her face.

My eyes twinkled in absolute joy at the barely veiled adoration in my brother's eyes.

Okay. Evan is not my brother so I can say it, right? Damn he is so cute! 😍😍😍

Where Vidyut is smoking hot and serious and stuff, I imagine Evan to be goofy, cute and funny. So I'm casting Ranveer Singh, if that's okay?

I hope you guys like these new editions!

Love always,
LV.