Rajveer
I woke up early the next day with the aim to let mum know that I had finally agreed to the decision she made for me. She would be happy and that was all I wanted.
I knocked twice on the door to the guest room where she slept yesterday.
"The door is not locked." came her reply.
I stepped into the room and went closer to her bed and sat on the edge of it.
"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" she asked me looking everywhere but my direction.
Here it comes.
"Good morning mom. I came to talk to you about the marriage—" I wasn't able to finish my sentence because i was interrupted by mum.
"I'm not in the mood to talk about that right now." she said dismissively.
"Just listen to what I have to say, please." I almost begged.
"I don't want to hear any of it," she said adamantly.
"Just listen, okay?" I tried to persuade her to listen to what I had to say.
"Don't get me angry now Raj," she warned.
"I promise I won't," I promised.
"What do you have to say about the marriage?" She asked, nonchalantly.
"I will get married to her," I said and she looked at me immediately in disbelief and a smile immediately marred her face.
"You aren't joking now, are you?" She asked.
"I'm serious." I simply answered.
"What made you change your mind? Just yesterday you were against getting married to her," She asked. I could tell she was still finding it hard to believe I changed my mind so easily. I couldn't believe myself as well.
"I just don't want to see you sad and having arguments with dad just because of me." I confessed.
She smiled. "You've made the right decision Raj, she will definitely be the perfect companion for you."
"I believe so," I gave a small smile. "you chose her."
"Thank you Raj, you've made me so happy today." she admitted and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"You don't have to thank me mum." I wiped the tear with my palm, shaking my head.
"I hope you understand why I made this decision, son. I want you to be happy. I love you and that is the main aim for requesting this of you." she cried.
"I know. You are my mum and you only want the best for me." I said and hugged her. Whatever she was doing was for my sake and I shouldn't be angry with her. There was no more escape route for me. Mum said they would be coming next week for the engagement ceremony.
I hope nest week never comes.
Third person
Durga was overjoyed that her son accepted to get married to her friend's daughter. She decided to call Pavitra and talk to her soon to be daughter in law. They talked for hours, discussing about the wedding before she hung up.
Pratik on the other hand didn't like the idea of Raj getting married anymore because he knew his son was just pretending to be excited about the wedding to make his mom happy. He tried talking to him to not accept to get married out of pressure from people but to follow what he wished and whatever decision he made, would be respected but he disagreed, claiming he was happy. with that been said, he gave up trying to convince him otherwise and prayed for his happiness instead.
And Samaira, she was furious. She didn't want Rajveer to get into an Arranged marriage. She also tried to convince him to change his mind but he was hellbent on getting married. He wouldn't change his mind. His mom's happiness was all he wanted even if it was at the expense of his. Samaira got so determined to make Roshni's life miserable if she eventually became part of their family, because she believed she was ruining her only sibling's life.
Raj was not at all happy about the decision he took, but he masked his feelings and replaced them with fake smiles and happiness.
____________________________________
The day for the engagement finally arrived.
The day Raj dreaded.
Roshni
My engagement day, I'm finally going to meet my future husband.
I hope he treats women with respect.I was busy checking out my dress when I heard mum calling for me from downstairs. "Roshni."
I quickly hurried downstairs to her. She was busy checking out some garments as well when I arrived downstairs.
"The groom's family will be here soon, go and get ready quickly, we wouldn't want to keep them waiting for too long." mom advised.
"Alright, mum." I answered before walking back to my room.
My friends were still sleeping. I went into the bathroom and did all I had to do before emerging.
Emerging from the bathroom, I met my friends already awake. They did not waste any time in picking my dress. The makeup artist was ready around as well. She applied my makeup, did my hair and left afterwards.
"Try these jewelries on, Rosh, they are perfect." my best friend Vidhi said handling me some jewelries.
"Nope Vid, I won't wear that, it's very heavy and I won't be comfortable in them." I objected.
"I won't take no for an answer, today you are going to wear whatever I choose for you. That's my right as your best friend." She remarked.
"Alright, mum." I replied, sarcastically. I could never win an argument against Vid. She was just so persistent.
"How do find these shoes?" Isha asked showing me a pair of gold coloured shoes.
Isha was one of my friend from high school and vid, she has been my best friend since childhood and she still was. We went to the same school and applied for admission in the same university. That was how close we were. We were simply inseparable.
"It's perfect." Vid answered before I could answer for myself. That was just how she was. She even chose my outfit for me on special occasions, claiming I was old fashioned.
"I don't want to wear that." I protested.
"You have no choice here, I am the boss remember?" Vid said
"Yeah right." I rolled my eyes.
"Allow her choose what she wants for once." Isha said, irritatedly, but Vid chose to ignore her "do whatever you like," she huffed.
Vid's gaze averted to Payal who had been busy with her phone ever since she woke up.
"Payal! Why are you acting as if you are not present here. We need to get Roshni prepared for her engagement ceremony. This is not the right time for you to be so absent minded." Vid scolded.
"I am sorry guys, my boyfriend just won't allow me go." she grinned sheepishly.
"Forget about him for now and let's help Roshni here." Isha chipped in.
"Just give me two minutes guys." she said with her attention still focused on her phone.
"You shouldn't have come here at all, because it's of no use." Isha pointed out.
Payal was about to answer back at her, but I intervened. I did not want argument to start.
"Stop it you two, today is my engagement and instead of you two getting along, you are both here arguing about insignificant things." I yelled.
"I'm sorry for lashing out at you," Isha apologized to Payal who just rolled her eyes in response.
"She's looking beautiful isn't she." Vid asked smiling.
"Of course she is, but not as beautiful as I am." Payal joked.
Isha burst into laughter."I wouldn't concur to that," Isha said and we all laughed at the silly expression Payal had on.
"That hurts." Payal said, feigning hurt.
"You guys are wrong, Payal is much more beautiful than I am." I countered them.
"That's my friend, always being honest." Payal squeaked and hugged me very tightly.
"We are going to miss you after you get married." Isha suddenly stated out of the blues.
"I am already missing you so much already." Vid said as her eyes began to glisten with tears.
"I will miss you guys too, but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing one and other anymore after I am married." I reasoned.
"I just hope your in-laws are kind people." Vid said.
I smiled. "My mother in law seems nice, though I haven't met any one else from their family, I believe they are all nice people."
"You mean you haven't seen your husband to be yet?" Isha asked with her eyes wide opened.
"Yes." I nodded, shyly.
"What! If I were you, I wouldn't allow my parent force me into an arranged marriage, unless he is handsome of course." she laughed. "what if he is ugly? What if he is a dwarf? What i--"
"What if he is not among the categories you mentioned?" Isha asked with her brow raised.
"We all know you Payal, you would never want to get into an arranged marriage. Everyone knows the type of a person you are." Vid said.
"Of course. Why would I agree to get married to a complete stranger?" She asked no one in particular.
"I don't care about his looks that much, I just want him to be matured, responsible and most of all treats women with absolute respect." I voiced out.
"Enough guys! I think the groom's family is here!" Vid said peeping through the window. "Four cars are outside."
"They are definitely here!" Isha squealed.
Roshni"They're definitely here!" Isha squealed and I suddenly became very nervous. It would be the first time seeing him.Will I be able to do this? What if I'm not his type or worst his family comes to dislike me when they see me?. – these questions invaded my mind.Vid must have sense my nervousness, she came closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't be nervous, Rosh, everything will be fine" she assured."Thanks Vid." I appreciated, placing my hand on hers which was still my shoulder.Minutes later, the house help came to my room and inform me that the guests have arrived and mom wanted me to come down quickly.I can do this. I can do this.I can do this.I chanted repeatedly in an attempt to calm my nervousness and muster some confidence.Are you really sure you can do this or you're just convincing yourself you can when you obviously can't? My subconscious questioned."Come on, Rosh, let's get moving." Vid said pulling me out from my trance.I took a deep breath.
Rajveer After the engagement, we went back home and I went straight to my bedroom and lay down on my bed thinking about everything that happened earlier.I shouldn't have told Roshni all those, but she deserves to know. I shouldn't be feeling guilty, it's for her own good. I hope she cancels this marriage, I really hope she does. I haven't even got the chance to get into a serious relationship and here I am now, engaged to a girl who I don't even know a thing about. This is so perfect!I really hoped she'd decide not to get married anymore, the wedding was in three weeks. She was the only one who could save two lives from being ruined now."Raj," I heard Sam calling as she barged into my room without knocking on the door. I remained silent. I was sure she only came to provoke me more by talking about the engagement and how much she hated my so-called fiancée."I don't like that girl at all, she's so ugly." As I expected, Sam started complaining about how plain she was."Girl? Whic
RajveerI woke up with a sinking feeling in my stomach, dreading what lay ahead. The day I had been dreading for weeks had finally arrived, and I couldn't escape it any longer. It was my worst nightmare come true. As I got out of bed, I tried to shake off the overwhelming sense of anxiety that had settled over me. I knew I had to face the day Headon, no matter how much I wanted to run away and hide. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that I was stronger than the anxiety that had taken over my body. A knock on the door broke me out of my trance. "Raj." mum sauntered into my room "I'm so proud of you son."she said."Thanks." I replied tersely. For getting me married to Roshni. "When Roshni comes into this house as your wife, I want you to treat her well and love her, she's a kind person at heart." she remarked."Alright mum, I will try my best in treating her well." I paused "but I can't promise you, I would be able to love her." I finished, truthfully. I didn't want her to hav
RajveerWe finally arrived home to celebration still going on at our own home. I was very exhausted and decided to just go up to my room and sleep. I didn't have the energy to participate in any more wedding rituals."You two must be tired, go to your room and rest. Show Roshni to your room." mum appeared from nowhere and said."Goodnight Mum" I said and started walking towards my room."Goodnight." I heard Roshni said as she trailed behind me.I opened the door to my room and was surprised to see the decorations that were made in my room. The bed was also decorated with flowers. "Come in" I beckoned to Roshni, who was still standing outside the room like a lost puppy. "You can sleep on the bed, I will take the cushion." I took a pillow from the bed.As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but think about the events of the day. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions for me, from nonchalance to nervousness to exhaustion."I'm sorry." she suddenly apologized, making me open my eyes. I won
RajveerYou were too harsh on her, did she really deserve the way you treated her? My conscience asked. yes, she deserves all that she got for agreeing to married me another part of me answered. I decided to go to Yash's house to get away from seeing Roshni for a while."Hey! Raj, what are you doing here so early in the morning? Yash asked immediately he opened the door and I came in view. He was acting like he didn't want me in his house "did your wife throw you out of your house?" He asked, stupidly.I narrowed my eyes at him. "No.""There must be a problem, you've never visited me this early before. Now, tell me, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly."Won't you even allow me in, before you start interrogating me on what's wrong?" I asked, irritatedly"Oh! I'm sorry about that, I just got carried away seeing you here so early. Come in." he smiled sheepishly, I went in, followed by him. "now tell me, what's wrong?" He asked again"Nothing. I just came over here to relax, I can't do that
RoshniI took a look at the time – it was 2:37pm. I was still bored and decided to call my friend, Vid. I missed her so much as well and all I wanted was to just call her and tell her everything that was troubling me, but I knew better than to do that, I didn't want her to worry about me. I dialed her number two times but she didn't pick up. I guessed she was not close to her phone. I was very bored and there was nothing fun I could do. Nobody to talk to at all, but I was wrong when someone knocked at my door twice before coming in. Raj's mom"Mom." I called and beckoned her in smiling. She came in and sat on the couch. I was nervous to speak to her because I wasn't used to her and I know for a fact that she's stern. I had not done anything wrong to her, so she had no reason to be strict with me, but come to think of it, I didn't do anything to Sam as well and she hated me already. I wouldn't be surprise if Raj's mum would also follow her children's lead. "How are you doing dear?" Sh
Rajveer "Hello, mum." I said immediately received her call. What was wrong now?"Where are you son?" She asked, angrily. By her tone alone, I could tell there was a problem."I...am at—" I didn't get to finish my statement because I was interrupted by her. She had a habit of doing that whenever she was mad."Come back home, I have something to discuss with you." she stated. I hoped Roshni had not complained about me, because if she did, I knew mum would be very disappointed at me and it might affect her health."But mum..." I trailed off "I am busy right now. Is there a problem?" I asked. I hoped not because I couldn't deal with an angry mum."Just come home and see me first." she said and hung up before I could comprehend.When I got home, I went straight to mum's room. I met her seated on her bed patiently waiting for me."Where were you?" She asked without looking up at me. She was mad, I could tell."I was at work." I lied. I knew better than to tell her the truth."But that was
RajveerAs they drew nearer, I could feel a mix of curiosity and apprehension building within me. Their footsteps were deliberate, each one echoing in the silence that surrounded us. The air seemed to grow heavier, as if the weight of their presence was pressing down on me.As they closed the distance between us, I could sense a palpable tension in the air. It was as if the world had momentarily frozen, and all that remained was the anticipation of their arrival. My heart raced, and my mind raced with questions. What was he doing with my wife? Who was he? "Hey!" the strange man extended his hand for a handshake and I reluctantly shook hands with him."See you in school tomorrow." he said to Roshni. Didn't mum warn her about this? I didn't care about what she did, all I cared about was her disrespecting my mother. She got into the car and I drove off before Roshni could give the man a reply."That was Nick. We have been friends ever since we were kids." she introduced. Did I ask her