Hey guys! Sorry for the long hiatus. Srutha and I are now back in action and plan to continue this story, and hopefully give regular updates. We actually had Chapter 6 ready to go a long time ago, but forgot to post it. This is the last chapter before the final leap of three years, after which the real story will start.
Chapter 6
Freshman Year
Yale had the most beautiful campus in the entire country. Raghu was sure of that as he surveyed the manicured lawns and abundant trees littering the campus grounds. It was early morning and most students were still in bed. No one had classes on Sunday, but Raghu did not like wasting his mornings. He loved to greet the Sun God every morning and bathe in his warm rays.
He looked around and smiled at the sight of his brother, who had his nose buried in a Biology book. Like him, Krishna too was an early riser. He felt nature was at its best before dawn, when the Earth glittered with early morning dew and smelled of sweet grass and fresh flowers.
Krishna felt the presence of his brother and put his book down with a smile. He glanced at the two foam cups Raghu was holding.
"Oh good, coffee just as I like it," he breathed in the delicious aroma with a dreamy expression on his face.
Raghu chuckled. "I don't know how you can drink that stuff."
He himself preferred tea, with a hint of ginger and mint leaves.
"Do not insult my caffeine," Krishna pretended to be offended, "I bet if God himself tasted coffee, he wouldn't be able to put it down."
"Nah, God would prefer tea," Raghu argued, a mischievous glint in his eye.
The two brothers continued to bicker fondly, but then fell into a companionable silence while they had their drinks and read their textbooks. Both had exams coming up and they weren't easy, but somehow they knew they would do alright.
"I feel like I know all this," Krishna remarked with bemusement, "And yet, I never studied it before."
"I feel the same way," Raghu agreed, "Maybe it is dj vu?"
"Maybe," Krishna shrugged.
2 weeks later
Krishna felt someone crash into him from behind. His books fell to the floor and papers scattered everywhere.
"Sorry!" came the voice of a young woman.
Krishna turned around and came face to face with a striking Indian woman. She was beautiful, but her eyes appeared like ice and her gaze was chilling. She appeared to look apologetic, but her lips were curved almost mockingly.
Krishna did not like her, and he immediately took a step back.
"No problem," he said, bending to gather his stuff. The young woman also bent down, supposedly to help him, but Krishna averted his eyes when he saw her cleavage exposed.
Stuffing his things into his backpack, he turned around to leave, but recoiled when the young woman touched his arm.
"See you around," she said, a spark in her eyes. Krishna held back a frown, but nodded politely before leaving her in the middle of the hallway.
The Next Day
Krishna should have known that woman was bad news.
After the run in with her in the hallway, he had gone to his Anatomy class where they had to turn in their semester project. It was a 10-page paper on one of the topics they'd learned in their class.
He had worked day and night on his for the past month, but it was nowhere to be found. He knew he had it with him in his backpack.
Of course.
It must have scattered to the floor when he'd run into that strange woman in the hallway, and she must have taken it.
Perhaps it was an accident, and it got mixed up with her papers. Perhaps she hadn't done it on purpose.
Whatever it was, he didn't have it with him, and it could make or break his grade.
He was lucky his professor liked him, for he was always a diligent student. Krishna promised her that he'd done it, that he'd printed and even brought it with him, but it got lost somewhere. He told her he had it saved in his laptop, and he could have it printed within the hour. The professor agreed and let him use a computer lab to re-print his project.
Sophomore Year
Her name was Shoka Gayam. Krishna saw her a few times around campus after the first meeting, but he didn't come face to face with her until the second year of college.
She was immensely popular with the student body of Yale, and belonged to one of the most coveted sororities despite her minority status. She was the only child of an extremely wealthy family, but Krishna heard rumors that her father was a known swindler who had committed many insurance frauds but never left any evidence to be caught by authorities.
She had a different boyfriend every other week, but rumor had it that she was engaged to Sharaab Patel, the son of the college's Dean. He was no less than her, and had a different girl hanging off his arm every day.
They were a strange couple. Their adultery didn't seem to faze each other. If anything, it seemed to increase their appeal in each other's eyes.
She now had her eye on Krishna Ramaraju. He was one of the few who had managed to evade Shoka's claws till then.
She looked at him with piercing eyes. The more he refused her, the more she seemed to desire him.
Krishna and Raghu had been raised to respect women, and thus they never even raised their voice to another woman, let alone become physical with her.
The constraint and politeness Krishna displayed seemed to tempt Shoka more. She did not know that beneath the undertone of respect, Krishna felt nothing but contempt for her, and that nothing she could do or say would ever attract him.
Her lust and indecency, while offensive to him, were nothing to the utter lack of respect she had for Mother Earth. She threw her garbage on the ground, ignoring the trash bins placed throughout the campus grounds. She unearthed plants and flowers whenever they were in her way. She wasted food and water, taking them for granted. Once, he had even seen her kick someone's dog because it had growled at her.
Seeing such cruelty, Krishna had felt pain pierce his soul like nothing else did.
He hated her, and now she was right in front of him.
"Excuse me," he muttered. She was blocking the entrance to his advanced Chemistry class.
"Oh Krishna," she purred, in that sickly sweet tone of hers. "How lucky that I found you."
Krishna sighed. "Why?" he asked in a bored tone.
"There's a party at Jason's apartment tonight. You should come." She gave him a meaningful look.
A party. At Jason Ryans house? Yeah right.
"No thanks," he said stiffly, "I have to study for the Chemistry exam tomorrow."
"Study?" Shoka raised her brows mockingly, "Oh well, if that suits your boat, but you don't know what you're missing."
"Oh, I think I do," Krishna responded coldly, staring her in the eye.
Shoka narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything. She pushed past him with her nose in the air. She wasn't done with him yet, not by a long shot.
Krishna sighed with exasperation and went inside the lecture hall.
A few months later
Raghu raked a hand through his hair in frustration.
Bills were scattered across the table. His eyes blurred with fatigue.
He was behind the last two months' rent, and his landlord was breathing down his shoulder, pestering him to pay the bills.
His cell phone rang, interrupting his reverie. It was Krishna.
"Hello?" he said in a raspy voice.
"What happened to you?" his brother asked. "You sound awful."
"Thanks a lot."
Even his sarcasm came off in a dull tone.
"I'm fine. Just tired studying from exams is all."
He had never lied to his brother before, but he didn't want to worry Krishna, who had a lot on his plate with all the extra credits he was taking.
"You sure?" Krishna didn't seem to believe him. Even from miles away, he knew his brother better than anyone else. It was like they were one entity, existing in two bodies.
"Yeah," Raghu tried to sound more cheerful. "What's up?"
"It's Vimala," Krishna said, deciding not to press his brother just then.
Now Raghu felt more awake. "Is she okay?" he asked quickly.
"Oh yeah, she's fine," Krishna reassured him. "It's Amma and Nanna. They want to get her married off next year."
"What?" Raghu exclaimed, "You have got to be kidding me. She's still in high school."
"She'll be graduating soon," Krishna said, sounding exasperated himself. "They want her to get married before starting college."
"That's crazy. She needs to study first," Raghu sighed.
"I know. I tried to talk to Amma and Nanna, but they're adamant. Nanna less so, but Amma thinks she'll never find someone appropriate in the US. Maybe you can talk to them too?"
"Yeah, I will," Raghu said staunchly, "Vimala should apply to Yale. She's smart, she'd get in easily. We can look out for her here."
"I told her to apply already," Krishna said, "Once she gets in, we'll convince Amma and Nanna to let her go."
Before he hung up, Krishna asked his brother one last time, "You sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
After he ended the call. Raghu closed his eyes and sighed. He needed to get some kind of job. There was no other way. He would have to work night shifts and make some money, or he'd be kicked out of the apartment. He didn't know how he'd manage all his classes and work too, but he had no choice. Being low on money meant making sacrifices.
One Week Later
Raghu ran into his Accounting class, breathless and 10 minutes late. The professor, a stern looking older man with a permanent glower on his face, frowned at him.
"You know the rules, Mr. Ramaraju," the professor said stubbornly, "No latecomers will be tolerated."
"I am sorry, professor!" Raghu pleaded, "This is the only time it has ever happened, and it won't happen again. I was working a night shift, and it ended late. I tried my best to get here on time -"
But the professor was shaking his head, and a moment later, Raghu found himself outside the lecture hall, kicked out of class, on the day of an important quiz."
Taking a seat on a nearby chair, Raghu placed his head in his hands and rubbed his tired eyes. He was existing on 2-3 hours of sleep per night for the past week. He had gotten a job as an overnight pizza delivery man at a local Italian place.
The job wasn't bad. The people he worked with were surprisingly cheerful for night staff, and to his surprise, there were a lot of people who ordered pizza at night, most of them college students who pulled all-nighters.
But it was starting to affect his academic life. He was behind in his papers, hadn't studied for upcoming exams, and now he was late to classes also. Running on low sleep for the past week gave him a tired and haggard appearance.
What would Krishna say if he saw him like this?
Raghu hadn't seen his brother all week. Krishna appeared to be immersed in his own problems with some girl who was persistently making advances at him despite his disinterest.
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Krishna," Raghu glanced at his brother with surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you had Chemistry now."
"I skipped it," Krishna shrugged, "It was a lecture, and I knew the material already. You need me more, and don't even try to deny it."
Raghu hugged his brother tightly. He had never been happier to see him.
"Why didn't you tell me you needed money?" Krishna glanced at his brother with worry. "Look at you, bhai. Continue like this and you'll have a serious meltdown."
"How did you know?" Raghu asked him with surprise.
"I just knew," Krishna didn't need to explain. Raghu understood. It was their connection. They have been born with it. People often said it was because they were twins, but the brothers knew it was more than that. It was like they were the same person, existing in two bodies.
Junior/Senior Year
After the day Krishna found Raghu outside the Accounting classroom, both brothers helped each other out of their respective predicaments.
Krishna moved into Raghu's apartment, so that they both could share the burden of rent. They had gotten different apartments in the first place, because Krishna had wanted to be closer to his classes which were all the way across campus, but the walk wasn't too long and he was willing to make the sacrifice for his brother. Raghu quit his night job and worked as a paid tutor for some of the younger students during the evenings. This way he was able to make some money and also get some sleep at night.
This last year of their Bachelors was tougher than ever. Both brothers took extra credits to complete the last two years in one. This would be their last year, and their classes were both tough and long.
Vimala was now at Yale with them. The brothers had convinced their parents that she should get her Bachelors before marriage, and the grateful sister had happily flown across country to join her brothers. She shared their apartment, and together the three siblings were quite happy together.
Shoka Gayam was relentless as ever. She seemed more determined to seduce Krishna than she had been before. Krishna's patience was wearing thin, but nothing could break his constraint.
Vimala, who had noticed her unwanted attentions, made a plan with Raghu to help their brother.
One day, Shoka came across Krishna as he was leaving Advanced Physics.
"That exam was quite difficult," she said, her voice seductive. "You look like you need some relaxation."
"I'm fine," Krishna said curtly, walking fast to get away from her.
"Come with me, I know just the thing you need," she insisted, grazing his arm with her fingernail.
Krishna pulled his arm away, fixing her with a glare.
"Get away from me."
"Really, you need to loosen up, Krish," Shoka droned in a lazy voice. She stepped closer.
"I know how to make you lose yourself."
"I'd rather not." Krishna gave her a disgusted look.
Shoka began to look frustrated, and in a desperate move she leaned forward to kiss him. Prepared for such an attack, Krishna leapt out of her way and losing her balance, she fell face first onto the gravel.
"...and cut!"
Shoka looked up furiously and saw Raghu, followed by Vimala, making their way towards them. They had a video camera in their hands.
"I think we got the whole thing, Anna," Vimala said with a smirk.
"I think the Dean would be quite interested to see this, eh Krishna?" Raghu asked his brother innocently, who stared at his siblings with surprise and gratitude.
"You wouldn't dare!" Shoka snapped.
"Oh, we would," Raghu said calmly. "Unless you leave our brother alone, this tape will make its way straight to the Dean's office, along with a report of sexual harassment."
Shoka glared hatefully at the siblings but said nothing. The sexual harassment report was the least of her worries. If the Dean got hold of the tape, he would cancel the engagement between her and his son, and she couldn't afford for that to happen.
Standing up, she attempted to regain as much dignity as she could and turned on her heel, stomping away.
"Thanks guys," Krishna smiled brightly at his siblings.
"We did what you'd have done for us," was all Raghu said.
"She is such a cockroach!" Vimala turned up her nose in disgust. "Reminds me of Shurpanakha from the Ramayana."
Somehow, both brothers felt that implication hit home more than anything else.
The rest of the year flew by like a breeze. The brothers had no other major issues to deal with and only concentrated on passing all their classes, which they did.
Finally, the day of the graduation arrived and they received their degrees amidst many cheers and catcalls from their family and friends.
They had completed one major phase of their life, and now it was time for the next.
Raghu would be continuing his education by getting an MBA at Harvard, while Krishna had been accepted into Harvard's Medical School and would be accompanying his brother there.
This next phase of life they anticipated with great pleasure.
The best thing was that they would still be together, just as they'd been their whole life. Most brothers yearned to break free from each other and be independent, but not the Ramaraju brothers. They were happiest in each other's presence.
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Edited by ..RamKiJanaki.. - 8 years ago
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