Manik's pov
Chaos, the only word that could describe this situation I am in right now. I came here for fun and to you know dance around, hog food, mingle with family members but here I am getting caught into something so stupid and messed up. This is exactly why I don't ever come to weddings, especially if they are family related, there is always drama
I was sleeping very very peacefully and now I am running around trying to find my cousin aka the groom, yes my older cousin is gone, no one can find him so my mother comes up to me and smacks me awake asking me to find him. Like dude, if you couldn't find him, how will I?
There was no need to disturb my precious sleep but she didn't think my sleep was precious because this woman came and smacked my back so hard, I didn't know where I was for a minute.
"Manik have you found aman?" Cabir, my younger brother asks
"No I haven't, this idiot is gone like where could he go?" I ask
"No idea, mhm go check Nandini's room meanwhile I will go see if masi knows" I nod running to nandini's room
nandini is actually the bride who Aman was getting married to, I have met her once but there were no conversations or anything but I know of her I suppose so yes it will be awkward going in her room to see if aman is there but here goes nothing
I knocked on her door and there was no answer so I knocked again but it was as if she wasn't in there or Aman was there for sure so I twisted the doorknob stepping in
i heard someone sobbing and some other noises so I follow it and there I saw my mom and nandini's mom standing there with nandini. Her mom is my mom's best friend ever since they were kids, I recently got to know about this
"Ma" I whisper
she turns around and I saw nandini sobbing, she was sitting by the toilet.
"Is everything okay?" I ask
"Manu will you do something if I ask?" Mom says walking to me
"Anything ma, you know I would never say no to you" I say peaking a little to see why nandini was crying
"Nyonika don't, it's not his fault" aunty says
"Sudha darling, don't be so stressed" I chuckle with a smile
Sudha aunty and I are best friends haha ,whenever ma used to yell at me I would run to sudha aunty. Then I left India for studies in the US before nandini was born, so when I was 5 aunty was pregnant with nandini.
Even though I was in the US with my father, I would call sudha aunty when ma would make me angry or yell at me.
"Manik beta" she mumbles almost chocking on her own words for some reason
"Shh don't cry aunty, whats wrong?" I ask as she starts crying
now there were two people crying and I hated that.
"Sudha don't cry, manik will marry her, don't worry" my mom says and instantly all my attention shifted from the crying ladies to my mom's and her words
What the hell is going on? Marry? Who s marrying who?
"What?' I ask
"Aman he"
"I can't find him ma, I tried looking, I thought he might be here with nandini" I whisper in her ear
"He left, he ran away" she says
"What? Ran away? What are you talking about ma? They are getting married in less than an hour" I mumble
"He left, and I need you to marry nandini" she says
"What the hell are you talking about ma?" I couldn't help but scream a little
She grabbed my arm pulling me out of the room with her
"Manik listen don't blurt stuff out until I finish my sentence" she says and I nod
"Okay" I say
"I am sorry but right now priority is nandini and sudha, especially nandini. She is like a daughter to me and I need you to get ready and walk in on that manadop"
"To do what?' I interrupt
"Chup, not a word until I finish my sentence" I groan a bit but nod
"You will marry her and I know you don't want this, trust me she doesn't either but Aman left, he literally left her a note saying he isn't ready for this and left. Everything is ready to go manik and sudha is freaking out, not to mention Nandini who is sobbing uncontrollably. She will faint if she keeps that sobbing up, the poor girl has already dealt with so much in her life and now this is upsetting" she rambles on
"Ma, I get it, I understand but I can't marry her just like that. I don't even know her, I don't know anything about her. Plus she loves Aman, I am not going to hop in and try to fix something like that"
"Do you have a girlfriend?" She ask
"What? No I don't, you know the only person I dated was alia and that was 3 years ago"
"Do you love anyone? Is there anyone in your life that's important right now?"
"No, but why"
"Then please, please marry her manik. I beg you please Manu, nandini is a good girl I promise she won't ruin your life, instead she the type of girl to help you excel in things. Please manik" she started tearing up as well
"Shh shh ma, okay okay I will. Please don't cry, shh I will marry her" I mumble
"Thank you" she mumbles hugging me
"Ma you know I would do anything for you so this is nothing" I say even though my heart had dropped to my stomach
"I promise you won't regret this decision, she isn't bad" she reassures me
"It's fine, mhm let me talk to aunty okay" I say wiping her tears
She nods walking in the room with me, sudha aunty sitting on the floor holding looking lost.
YOU ARE READING
His Burden
RomanceA little short story on arrange marriage of two individuals, one who was about to get married to someone else and the other was a guest at the wedding, but both of them end up getting married.
