40. The Krishnan Clan
40
The Krishnan Clan
Rian
T he inside of Aditi’s house was laid out in a style reminiscent of older Indian homes. Tall ceilings, white paint on the walls accented with warm wood and red oxide flooring. The large, central living space was comfortably furnished. On one side was a shallow pond that caught the moonlight from the skylight above it, sounds of the ongoing party outside trickling through.
Rian glanced upwards, catching sight of red roof shingles under the waterfall of lush creepers that had been strategically grown to act like a privacy screen for the dining space on the other side.
The dining room was blessedly empty compared to where he was.
Seated on a couch, with nothing but the wall behind him and a room full of people he’d never met in front, their expressions ranging from curiosity to displeasure, he felt uncharacteristically nervous.
The only consolation he had was that Aditi was beside him, her shoulder touching his arm. He tilted his head to the side, eyes sweeping the crowd that had gathered within the living room .
“All of these people are related to you?”
“Yep.”
“How big is your family?”
“Big enough to populate an island,” she whispered back.
“Will you be okay living with just me and Nanamma, full-time?”
She glanced up to find his eyes on her.
“Perfectly. Will you be okay with having my family members visiting us often?”
“We’ll move to a bigger place to accommodate more visitors,” he immediately offered.
“You’d do that for me?” Aditi asked, seconds away from leaping into his arms.
His dimple deepened. “I’d do anything for you.”
“Okay, you two,” someone clapped, drawing their attention. “Stop whispering to each other.”
Aditi and Rian straightened, looking quite like a pair of detainees who were waiting for judgement. Mr. and Mrs. Krishnan sat directly across from them on the opposite side of the room, the entire force of their family backing them as they raked a critical gaze over their daughter and her lover.
“Before we begin,” an old lady in a yellow saree spoke up, “I would like to say I approve of this boy and I wanted this to happen.”
Aditi beamed at her, and Rian surmised that this was her paati.
“Amma, you knew about them?” Mr. Krishnan asked.
“He’s Chitra’s grandson. Chitra, you were right. They make a very good-looking couple.”
“Nanamma?” Rian threw a surprised glance at his smug grandmother. “Did you plan this?”
Chitra laughed, shaking her head.
“God, no. I merely took notice of what was obvious every time you two were in the same room and pushed things along at the right time.” She turned to her friend, pointing towards Rian. “His face was worth seeing every time I asked him to book a table for Aditi to meet other men.”
Aditi smirked.
“Aditi, kanna,” Nanamma teased, her tone causing her Cheshire grin to falter. “Don’t think I didn’t see you getting jealous when I pretended to set your colleague up with Rian also.”
It was his turn to raise a brow while Aditi avoided all eye contact.
“I simply gave you the opportunity to get to know each other without my presence whenever possible,” Nanamma continued, making them feel rather foolish for not having questioned why she’d always been too busy to spend time with them or why she constantly retired to bed early. “The fact that the two of you were living in the same house just made it easy for me.”
“They’re living together?” Mr. Krishnan held his heart as though it would give out.
“You go, girl,” another cousin yelled out, someone else adding, “are we allowed to do this now? I want to move out, too!”
“Oh, grow up, kanna. Even I know the way of the world right now.” Paati rolled her eyes, and Rian immediately knew whom Aditi had inherited her sass from.
“So, I guess you two are in. . . a relationship?” Mrs. Krishnan inquired carefully, eyes big behind her glasses.
Aditi nodded.
“This is why you refused to marry Pratik?”
Rian couldn’t control himself, turning to look at Aditi in surprise. She smiled at him. “I learnt to say no, after all. I was never going to marry the perfect NRI.”
“That’s my girl,” he whispered, his eyes hot on her, enough to make colour rush up her neck. Multiple people cleared their throats and he looked away, determinedly focusing on her parents now.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Krishnan. I am Rian Shetty,” he introduced himself politely. “Please ask me whatever you need to know.”
“What do you do? ”
“I’m a chef.”
“Huh,” Mr. Krishnan huffed. “Is it a steady income?”
“Why does it matter?” Aditi interrupted, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. “I make my own money.”
As surreptitiously as possible, Rian linked his pinky finger with hers, the volume of her skirt hiding their hands. With his touch, he felt her relax, the tightness in her expression fading.
“It is somewhat variable depending on the market,” he answered honestly, meeting Mr. Krishnan’s gaze without flinching. “But I make a comfortable living. Aditi will not go without anything she wants.”
She turned to look at him, wondering why he was downplaying his assets. It didn’t matter because an uncle stepped in.
“Don’t you own a restaurant?” he asked. “I’ve seen you in a magazine somewhere.”
Before Rian could stop her, Aditi proudly added, “He owns several. He is a very hard worker and he did it all by himself. And he’s going to get his second Michelin star this year.”
Warmth suffused him. Undoubtedly, she would be his fiercest cheerleader.
“It's still under review,” he mumbled, trying to control this surge of adoration he felt for her every time he so much as looked her way. “It isn’t guaranteed.”
“You’ll get it. I’m certain.”
Mr. and Mrs. Krishnan didn’t seem to care about the material wealth he owned. “I guess Aditi wouldn’t have to cook. She’d be tired after her shifts at the hospital,” her mother explained to her father, who was nodding along.
“Okay. Chef is fine,” he announced. “What about your family?”
“My grandmother is the only close family I have. And my friends who are standing with her.” Kaya, Arjun and Vihaan politely nodded to everyone, smiling as some of the cousins waved their hellos .
“Your mother and father?”
Aditi’s hand squeezed his, her look telling him that he need not reveal everything.
“My father is deceased,” he answered, taking a moment before he continued, “and my mother is not in the picture.”
He saw Aditi’s parents exchange an indecipherable look.
“The family I will make with your daughter is my only priority. With your permission, I would like to marry her and gain a family.”
Her mother melted instantly.
“And if we don’t give permission?” Mr. Krishnan asked before being swatted on the arm by his wife. “What?” he grunted, his moustache twitching in annoyance. “He kissed my daughter in front of my eyes. I’m going to need to soak my balls in bleach.”
Aditi groaned, and Rian was too shocked to laugh. Some of the family members sniggered, their whispers increasing in volume.
“What?” Mr. Krishnan looked around, frowning. “Did I say something wrong?” He turned to a young boy standing near him, presumably his nephew, and tipped his chin up. “Did I not say it right?”
The boy, barely a teen, pushed his spectacles up with a single finger. “It’s ‘ wash your eyeballs in bleach’ , uncle, not your actual balls.”
Rian saw Arjun turn away, an odd choking noise erupting from him. Kaya had hidden her face against her husband’s bicep, her body shuddering silently.
“I would have thought that was obvious,” Mr. Krishnan blustered. “Why would I soak my balls in bleach? But I guess I have had all the children I need so it doesn’t matter which set of balls I soak.”
Vihaan lost the battle to be polite and went into a violent coughing fit, half his face covered by his arm and his eyes glimmering with an unholy mirth.
His friends had deserted him, Rian realised. Completely useless, the whole lot of them. He didn't know why he bothered to bring them along. He was going to dump them all the minute he figured a way to escape this conversation.
“Please stop talking,” Aditi begged.
“About balls or about you?”
The earnestness with which Mr. Krishnan asked this question only made Rian pinch himself on his thigh, curbing the urge to chortle. He was not going to have his future father-in-law dismiss him as a disrespectful brat. His eyes teared up when he pinched himself hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Appa, porum!” Aditi cried, having turned a brilliant shade of red. Fascinated, Rian noted this down for the future, curious to see if he could generate this colour on her in passion.
“Oh, you’re embarrassed about your Appa talking about his balls but not about kissing your boyfriend in front of us all?” her mother calmly asked in defence of her husband.
“Amma!”
“Aunty,” he interrupted, ready to shield Aditi if needed. “I’m her fiancé, not boyfriend. And the kissing was entirely my fault. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass anyone.”
“You’re sorry for kissing my daughter? Why? Do you not love her?” Mr. Krishnan snarked immediately, skewering him with a look that made Rian realise that there was no correct answer. He simply had to subject himself to this torment and let their annoyance run its course.
“Kanna, are you sure about this guy? He seems flaky,” one of her aunts commented.
“We won’t give our daughter away if you don’t treat her right,” an uncle grumbled.
“He could sing another song to convince you,” Arjun piped up. The glare Rian threw his way had Kaya stepping in front to protect her husband .
“That’s a great idea,” someone else said and suddenly, everyone was throwing out suggestions for songs. Rian couldn’t keep track of who was speaking anymore. This was not a family, it was an army.
Finally, Aditi jumped up, stomping her foot like a little girl with a major grievance.
“Stop it!” she yelled, wagging a finger threateningly at them all. “Stop bothering him or I swear I will elope and not a single one of you will be invited to the birth of my child.”
“Are you pregnant?” one cousin screeched. Aditi shook her head, but her denial was drowned out in a chorus of new questions and sassy comments.
Her father seemed torn between rejoicing the possibility of becoming a grandfather and the discomfort of realising that his first born had a sex life. “I’ll have to bleach my ears too, now,” he dejectedly moaned, turning to his wife for support.
“If it helps reduce the hair growth on them, then it's a good idea,” Mrs. Krishnan tartly responded.
“I’m going to be an aunt? So cool!” another cousin wailed in the back.
Aditi kept trying to explain that it was a misunderstanding, but no one was listening.
“How is that possible? She’s not married yet,” an older aunt mumbled. “That’s not a criteria anymore,” someone else said.
“How far along are you?”
“Can I plan the baby shower?”
“Can we draw names for the baby?”
“Enough!” Rian roared, surprising even himself. Thirty-seven sets of eyes turned to look at him. He stood up and tucked Aditi into his side. “She is not pregnant,” he announced, glancing at her for confirmation once before continuing. “But that is a distinct possibility in the future so if you all want to see the baby, you will listen to Aditi when she speaks and not interrupt her until she allows you to do so! ”
Proverbial crickets sounded in the background, the entire room still because of his outburst. He glared unrepentantly at them all, daring even one of them to pipe out of turn. Satisfied that they would behave, he looked at the woman beside him. Almost immediately, his frown softened into a smile.
“Go ahead, Doc.”
“Thank you,” Aditi whispered, looking at him like he’d won a war for her.
“Anytime, Sunshine,” he winked.
She took a deep breath and turned to face her family. “Amma, Appa, Paati, and everyone here. I love you all. You are very important to me and I would very much like you to accept Rian as my future husband because,” she gulped, reaching to the side to hold his hand for strength, “I love him. And I want to marry him.”
There was a severe silence and it stretched and stretched.
“Guys?” she prompted, on the verge of tears.
Her mother was the only one brave enough to venture a question.
“Are we allowed to talk now?” she asked, eyes darting between Rian and Aditi. When her daughter nodded, Mrs. Krishnan stood up and marched over to them, throwing her hands about them in a bear hug.
“Welcome to the family, Rian. Any man who can stand up so my daughter is heard in a crowd is one hundred percent okay by me.”
Aditi almost sagged against him in relief.
Her father came up to them next.
“Appa?”
“No further questions,” he said, patting his daughter lovingly on her cheek. “Your mother is correct. Welcome, son.”
Rian accepted the hand Mr. Krishnan held out, shaking it once.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I saw you brought a bottle of scotch.”
Rian’s lips twitched at the surreptitious glance Mr. Krishnan sent his wife before saying this .
“Yes, sir. Fifteen-year-old, single malt. Aditi mentioned you like it.”
“Good choice. Aditi’s amma will not get angry if I have some with you. To get to know you better.” His palm landed with an approving thump on Rian’s shoulder. “Tomorrow evening then? Come for dinner. Bring your friends.”
“Thank you, I will.”
“We will have to talk about the details of the marriage soon. I assume that will be with you?”
“Aditi and I, together, sir.”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Mr. Krishnan grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Boys these days, totally whipped. In my time, we used to be real men.”
“What did you say?” Mrs. Krishnan asked sharply.
“Nothing, my dear. Come, let me get you some dessert before the guests take it all. I heard the payasam is delicious.”
For the rest of the evening, they were surrounded by family. As much as he wanted to have Aditi all to himself, Rian finally understood the attraction of the love she received from them. And by extension, what he too would get.
For a boy who’d been lonely much of his life, he was overwhelmed with the ease with which the Krishnan clan enveloped him in their fold. As if they’d been waiting all along for him to come to them.
For him to come home.