The day when I had met him for the first time, I was bewilder by his good looks. I was too bewilder to even ask him his name. It was only after he left did I realize that I hadn't even ask him his name. After returning to my dorm room I said to my imaginary Raidan, "Only if the guy from the waiting room was you!!! Cause then I wouldn't have to go around the streets of England to look for you. And to think, he looks just so much like you. The same ocean blue eyes, same light brown hair, same facial complexion. Are you him?" he didn't reply. It's not like he always did. "Never mind!! I'll know once I see him in the club. He has to tell me his name at that time, right?" Again no answer. But I didn't care. I just looked forward to meet him in the club. The next day in the club during the introduction, all the boys introduced himself so did he. And when he introduced himself as Raidan my mouth fell open from the shock and I just wide-eyedly stared at him. Just like I was doing before his voice brought me back to the reality from the flashback.
"Hey, you okay?? Are you scared of fireworks?" he asked with a little bit worry in his voice. I was just brought back to the present so it took me a moment to comprehend what the situation was. Fireworks was lighting up the sky but I was staring at him. I guess that's why he misunderstood. "Umm... No no.... If I was scared of fireworks then I wouldn't be sitting in here, right?" I said loud enough for him to hear in that noise of fireworks. He nodded.
I was staring at the sky, at the fireworks when he shaked my hand. I looked at him with a weird expression which I don't want to elaborate right now. "What's wrong?" I asked cluelessly. "I think you are getting a call", he said pointing towards my phone which was laying on the table infront of me, beside my coffee cup.
As I picked up the phone I saw my mom was calling me. It's strange, she never calls me at this time. Could something be wrong at home? I panicked and picked up her call right away. But I couldn't hear anything due to the noise.
"Mom, I can't hear you. Hold on let me call you back", I hung up saying that. I looked for my airpods inside my backpack. But I couldn't find it. "I'm sure I put it inside", I mumbled. "Are you looking for something? Is something missing?" he asked.
"I'm looking for my airpods but I can't find it. I need it right now. Do you have your airpods with you?" "Yeah I do", he said confusingly, not being able to understand what's going on. "Can you lend it to me?" "Sure. Here you go". He handed me his airpods. I quickly connected it with my phone and called my mom. "Where are you? Why is it so noisy in there?" she asked as soon as she picked up.
"I'm in London at a fireworks show. But mom is everything alright? You never call me at this hour", I said, still panicking.
"Yeah everything's okay. Remember I had told you about the family gathering? Well, everyone's present here but you, so we wanted you to be a part of it too, even if it's through video call", she said with a smile. Behind her my whole family was waving at me. I remember about this family gathering, I was informed about it many times by my mom, dad, brother, cousin sisters. "Oh...." I said with a breath of relief, "god!! You scared me", I said blaming her. My eldest auntie (Father's sister) took the phone from my mom and said, "Disha what is this? You fixed your wedding without even consenting any of us?!? Even though he is your dream boy but don't you think at least you should have informed us?"
I closed my eyes and run a hand over my face and then replied her, "You are right auntie. It's my fault. I should have been more considerate. I'm sorry". "So when are you going to introduce us with him?" my chachima(uncel's wife)said from behind. I looked once between the phone and Raidan. And then I covered the screen with my hand and asked Raidan, "My family wants to meet you. Do you mind if I.. " "No" he said even before I could finish.
"No? What no is this? You don't want to meet them no? Or you don't mind no?" I asked in confusion. "I don't mind, that's no", he said clearly. "OK thank you", after thanking him I turned back to my phone, my family was still waiting on the line. "Right now. If you guys don't mind, I can introduce him with you right now", I said with a smile. "Sure, we don't mind. After all we should also see how charming this guy is to keep you wait for him for so long", my eldest cousin Joe said.
"OK hold on let me call you from my laptop. So that we both can get a better view". I took out my laptop from my backpack and called them from it. I had already asked Raidan to sit beside me so he was sitting beside me when they received the call. When they saw Raidan, the all was like awed. Nobody spoke for a minute or two. Then I finally took the initiative to break the ice and begin the introduction. "Umm.... Family, this is Raidan. The captain of the team I am in. And Raidan this is my family". He greeted them. "Hello everyone. I'm Raidan William. I'm so sorry that I'm introducing myself like this, through video call. I should have met you guys in person. But I hope we'll meet soon", he said politely with a soft smile.
I didn't say anything. I just stared at him. He looks... just.. so.. different. Like admirable. "Lam, you didn't tell me about your relationship with them, like you know who is who to you", he said looking at me. I was embarrassed that I actually hadn't told him about it. "I'm sorry. I forgot. Umm.... Let's start with the eldest.. The one in the purple with silver hair is my grandma. And the one in nevi blue t-shirt is my father. And the one in pink and yellow is my mom. The one beside my mom is my eldest auntie. And the one beside her is my youngest auntie. The one in off-white t-shirt is my youngest uncle and the one beside him is my youngest chachima. Chachima is what we.. "
"Your another auntie you mean.. " he said. "Yeah. OK so the one in the corner is my Ma, my another auntie but I call her MA, another word for mother. The one beside her is my Baba, my uncle. Baba is another word for father. I've one more very close uncle and aunty but they are not present here today", I finished with the introduction of the elders. As I introduced each of them he greeted them one by one. "Okay but I see there are still few people you haven't introduced me with", he said pointing towards my cousins and brothers.
"Yeah, they are my cousins. Umm... My brother is just by the fire, in blue and white striped shirt. His name is Mason.."