Cecilia always looked thin and puny for a 19 year old girl. Living with Sara, her widowed mother hovering in the early 40s her life wasn't full of any teenage adventures. Cecilia's 22 year old brother, Melvin, kept himself preoccupied with some courses in the city and remained a bookworm to the hilt whenever he came home. He naturally enjoyed more benefits at home and amongst their relatives as he was 'brilliant', a remark which irked Cecilia more often than not. Whenever he came home for vacation, the house buzzed with activity as friends and relatives started pouring in to see the 'genius'. Naturally, Cecilia envied her brother for all the undue attention he kept stealing during each one of his visit.
He was planning to visit for Christmas and obviously it wasn't very pleasant news to Cecilia. She was amused and annoyed to watch her mother running from pillar to post preparing for Melvin's visit. The groceries were flooding the kitchen while the refrigerator began overflowing with milk and soft drinks. Cecilia was fuming in jealousy seeing the elaborate arrangements her mother was making for just yet another visit by her pampered brother. She had a special reason for envying her brother; he was perhaps the most sought after guy amongst her own friends. While Melvin was blessed with the good looks of their mother, Cecilia was cursed to resemble more of her deceased ugly father. Not many guys evinced any interest on her while a whole lot of girls kept chasing Melvin whenever he was in town. Melvin's other side of being a secret freak neither seemed to bother his mom nor his relatives.
On the other hand, Cecelia's stint with flirting wasn't worth mentioning. She did receive a proposal for dating from one of her classmates a year ago. However, it turned out to be a nightmare as the bastard cunningly took her to a motel where he and his friends screwed her from afternoon till late evening before having the mercy to let her go home. Since then she had been vary of guys and never tried to scale the wall again.
Anyway, Melvin reached just a couple of days before Christmas and Cecilia could only watch helplessly as he bathed in the hospitality of all the relatives. The siblings seldom spoke to each other for quite some time. It was Melvin who broke the ice by inviting Cecilia for a movie. Although Cecilia wasn't interested, she finally obliged as there was plenty of persuasion from her mother. Honestly, she wasn't requiring too much of it as she always loved to watch movies. Melvin took her to the best theatre in town to watch a Hindi movie with Cecilia's favorite star in the lead.
They were just the two in the whole box as the movie began. Melvin was watching even the commercials with rapt attention .Cecilia was getting bored as she might have watched those advertisements a few hundred times and couldn't let out a gentle yawn. However, she wasn't aware of the future shock which slowly unfolded once the main movie began.
Melvin was sitting to the left of Cecilia. As the movie began, his right arm went around her back and rested on her right shoulder. As Cecilia looked up at her brother, he flashed his magic smile while the sister was wondering what he meant by that smile. But the worst shock was waiting in the wings.
"What went wrong in the motel?" Melvin literally pressed his lips against Cecilia's ears sending a terrible shock wave into her.
"What do you mean?" she fumbled initially to brush off the topic before her brother could probe any further.
"You certainly know what I mean," Melvin spoke with a smile which flashed in the semi darkness of the theatre. "I heard about it almost immediately through one of my friends."
"Then you shouldn't be asking me," Cecilia turned her face away as though she wasn't interested to discuss about the nightmare anymore. She tried hard to concentrate on the screen with her heart beating faster and faster.
"I was told they were four," Melvin spoke as he tightened his grip on her right shoulder with sarcasm overriding in his tone.
Cecilia began cursing herself for being so naïve to have come with her teasing brother. She had always a few reservations about her brother and it was another occasion to prove yet again that her brother was a sadist in the making.
"No," Cecilia pushed off his hands from her shoulders and snarled at Melvin. "In fact they were six. Now will you let me watch the movie or should I go home?"
"Six?" Melvin exclaimed pretending as though he didn't believe what he had heard.
"Yes," Cecilia quipped in a firm tone. "But I must tell you that they were far better than you."
"I hope you didn't disclose this to mom," Melvin said with a mischievous smile.
"No," Cecilia felt nervous with overwhelming fear. "You know she won't cope up with that."
"You are right," Melvin smiled again. "I know for sure."
"I don't want you to talk about this again," Cecilia got closer to Melvin and whispered. "At least you will never tell mom about this."
Melvin nodded his head in agreement with closed eyes. "I think I shouldn't be telling this to anyone for that reason."
"Promise me," Cecilia extended her right hand letting her palm stay inches away from Melvin's face.
"Not so easily," Melvin giggled. "Nothing comes free of cost."
