| VIOLET |

I was standing on the terrace, admiring the beauty of that city at the mouth of the Hudson River. The lukewarm breeze kept hitting my face as I saw the sun setting down to give space to the moon. Just then, I felt a soft hand on my shoulder.

I turned back and saw Charlotte looking at me with a tiny smile.

"Hi, Violet," she greeted, thus trying to be casual with her ex's friend.

"Hi, Charlotte," I greeted back with her tone.

"Care to have some coffee?" She raised her eyebrows while my gaze fell on the two white porcelain cups she had.

With a smile, I said, "Sure," and brought the cup from her. She stood next to me, leaning on the parapet to face me.

"So... How are you?" Suddenly, the vibe between us became awkward as fuck as she shot the question.

"I'm good. You?" I tried smiling to lighten the vibe.

"Broke." Then she shot her usual snigger.

Looking at the other side, I said, "Yeah. I heard it. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm alright now." Our eyes met each other as she was done. I saw the sun setting entirely in her eyes and the sky nude in pastel blue. Then, she broke the gaze and asked, "How's Viv?"

I sneered a little and said, "Happily married." Then, I saw her pouting a little. She should. It was, after all, she who left her for Olivia. Yet, to cheer her up, I said, "And by the way, she would be glad to hear you calling her by her nickname."

"Tell her that I apologized." She tried to smile.

"Only if I could reach her." I showed no expression on my face and sipped some coffee.

She furrowed her eyebrows while asking, "What happened to Viv?"

"Who knows? I saw her for the last time at her wedding. Then, I heard that she left The States." I shrugged my shoulder and sipped some more to lessen the rising bitter memories. To divert her and myself, I said, "By the way, the coffee tastes heavenly."

She smiled wide and said, "Mrs Mathur made it."

I scrunched my nose and said, "Liar. I know that if one finds the sugar sedimented, then there's no doubt that Charls made it."

Then I handed over the cup to her with a wink and walked out of the terrace with a smile. As I was about to get downstairs, I heard a familiar voice from downstairs saying, "I heard it all."

I faced the girl sipping the coffee while facing the sky and hissed like a viper to gain her attention. Though it took some delay, she looked at me after I hissed more than six times.

She raised her eyebrows while I gestured at her to come to me. Her furrowed eyebrows changed to their original shape as I asked her to look at the unfolding drama.

We saw Naina coming to her mother and saying, "Mumma, it's not like you think. Angad is a--"

"Shhh!" Mrs Mathur exclaimed while Naina went mum. "Come to the terrace with him. Now."

Then we saw her coming upstairs while we went downstairs, trying to be casual in front of her. Though she stared at us like how paedophiles glare at kindergarteners, she gradually ignored us and stormed forward.

As we reached downstairs, we saw Naina standing still as if rooted to the ground. Charlotte went forward and asked, "What happened, Nee?"

Naina faced her friend with teary eyes, saying, "I guess Mumma heard our conversation."

I went forward and asked, "Whom did you talk to?"

"Angad." She looked down and fidgeted her fingers.

"About what?" Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.

"I asked him to either break up with Meeta or with me. We had a small fight before that," she said between sobs.

Charlotte and I looked at each other as if to say, "No wonder they were busted."

"It's okay, Nee. It's okay. Talk to your mom and convince her. Did she call only you or Angad as well?"

"Angad and I." She continued sobbing while I saw Angad stepping out of his room.

After staring at those three beautiful ladies to his front, he asked me, "Vee, is everything alright?"

"Oh, this place needs your heavenly presence, His Highness. Thank you so much for making it come true," I said with ample sarcasm dripping in my tone.

"Assessing the mood, I don't think I have time for admiring your iconic sarcasm, Her Highness. Care to tell me what happened?" He tilted his head to his left, trying to be equally sarcastic as I do.

I sighed out of exasperation and said, "I'm afraid that your mom-in-law can't wait to greet her son-in-law with cuss words and torn slippers." I made expressions that showed mock concern.

"Where did Meeta's mom come from?" He scrunched his nose while Naina looked up with anger loaded in her eyes.

She marched towards him and gave a light slap on his cheek, saying, "Is my mom not a mother-in-law for you?"

"Naina!" We heard the queen of the moment's voice booming from upstairs and looked up. "If you both badly wanted to fight, then please, do it in front of me. I would love to watch it."

"Me too, ma'am," I whispered in Charlotte's ear while admiring Mrs Mathur being equally sarcastic as me.

Though initially sneering at my humour, she punched at my stomach with her elbow while I accepted it with a muffled howl.

As Mrs Mathur went to the terrace, Charlotte said, "Go on, guys. We can wait here."

After looking at each other, the power couple went upstairs while I asked, "Are you sure that we have to wait here?"

Charlotte sighed and said, "When they come downstairs, let's pretend we haven't heard it."

My eyes twinkled at the plan while she pursed her lips and suppressed her laughter.

***

We sat on the staircases and eavesdropped the conversation on the terrace.

"Could you hear it?" I asked with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah. You?" She pointed her chin at me.

"Angad always says that I have the ears of a snake," I sneered and blew my fringes with my mouth.

Then, we went to our job by leaning towards the direction of the terrace.

We heard Mrs Mathur speak first. "For how long is this shit going on?" Her voice sounded demanding and bossy indeed for a South-Asian mother.

"Two weeks," Naina said simultaneously as Angad said, "Two years."

A loud laugh escaped from Charlotte while I looked up at her and glared as if to say, "Do you still wish to die?"

After a few seconds of silence, Mrs. Mathur said, "Two weeks or two years? I want a clear and factual answer."

"I met her two years ago, ma'am. But she has known me since the last two weeks." We heard Angad saying so.

"Okay. When did you get engaged to Meeta?" Mrs Mathur asked.

"Six months ago, ma'am," Angad said, not before sighing loud enough for us to hear.

"I don't think Meeta knows about you two. Does she?" It was Mrs Mathur this time.

"There would be more drama if Meeta knew this." I heard Charlotte saying this from behind while I glared at her again.

"No, Mumma," Naina said.

"Great! Very great, my kids. Naina, I feel so proud of you for accepting the proposal of a man engaged to your friend." Deadly silence followed not before Mrs Mathur was done. "Don't you remember that you are her fucking bridesmaid?" The whole floor shook due to her thundering voice from the terrace; it had almost made us skip a beat.

"Naina must have died out of fear, right?" Charlotte whispered in my ears.

"Can't you fucking keep quiet?" I whisper-yelled at the girl beside me.

"Sorry," she whispered while we focused on the conversation at the terrace.

"Now, do you think I should agree to this wholesome love story of you fools?" Though Mrs Mathur's voice was lower than before, it was still louder to be acknowledged. "Naina, do you still want him in your life?"

"Mumma, I trust Angad. He may be my friend's fiance, but at the end of the day, he loves me. He loved me before Meeta came into his life. So, why not give him a chance?" Naina's voice sounded quite shaky, thus suggesting that she was crying while saying these.

"Do you have plans to get my consent?" Mrs Mathur asked.

"Of course, Mumma! There's no questioning in it," Naina said while I saw Charlotte biting her nails.

"Then, don't expect me to wave the green flag this time. I'm sorry, Miss Naina Mathur, but I can't play your game this time. Sorry."

With that, we saw Mrs Mathur's shadow falling on the terrace's entrance; we ran downstairs as soon as possible and sat on the couch close to the staircases.

I looked up to see whether they were coming, and yes, it was Naina and Angad.

"What happened, guys?" I got off the couch and asked them.

Naina shook her head and left the place. So did Angad.

"Do you think this would work?" I looked back at Charlotte as she asked this.

"Angad won't leave this issue just like that." I showed nil expression in my tone as my instinct said it.

***

As I promised before, I came back with a wholesome drama. Did you like it, peeps? With that, I'm signing off here.

Stay tuned for more!

Song Courtesy: Galliyan from Ek Villain