Poles Apart

Chapter Forty-Five

I pull my lips in to stop the giggles from making out of my throat, as I shake my head at her. "No, baby, you don't."

"He couldn't even call me hot in front of Rohan and Aryan," Avni grumbles. "You're looking ho—" she opens her mouth and wavers a little before closing it, imitating Nandith as she had been doing since last night— "warm. You look very kind and warm."

She huffs. "To think I thought he looked cute."

"He does look fine," I say in an attempt to comfort her. "You can't really see how brave people are, at first glance. It's not your fault."

"He acts like he's afraid of nothing, but can't say a single word in front of my little brothers! Imagine trying to talk to him when Karthik Anna or Kaushik Bava are around! He'll fucking freeze."

My lips turn up at the girl's frustration. "Avni, how would you know?" I ask softly. "Maybe he switched out because Rohan and Aryan were around. They are kids, you know? Maybe he simply censored it for their sake. And you haven't seen how he behaves in their presence—"

"But I have!" she insists. "He freezes like someone turned him to stone! Like someone's said 'Petrificus Totalus'!" Avni acts out the gesture of the wand, the Harry Potter fan in her making a brief appearance.

"Avni," I say softly. "You know you've got time to find the one, and get married and all of that jazz, right?" I ask her. I had been thinking of it for a while now. She needs to know, right? She needs to know that our lives aren't necessarily the same, and she doesn't need to rush herself to find the perfect man. "I promise, I'll always support you. I got lucky with Arjun," I admit. "But I can't let you go through something like this.

"I promise, you won't get married unless and until you want it, and you are ready for it. Alright?"

Avni's eyes tear up as her chin wobbles, and she throws her arms around me, suffocatingly. "I'll miss you so much!" she sobs into my neck, tightening her hold around me, as I struggle to keep my emotions in my throat myself.

~.~.~.~.~

"Arvi, itu choodu," Pranav teases, as I try to sit with a straight face for the Gauri Pooja, praying to the goddess Parvati for a happy married life. [(Telugu) Look here]

I raise my eyes to glare at him. Idiot's been annoying me for an hour now, as the pooja progresses, and my mother has been the strictest, denying me even coffee before I sat down for this. I have zero patience right now, and Pranav's having a field day, playing with it.

"It will be over soon, dear," the poojaari tells me, giving me a secretive smile that causes me to smile back at him. [Poojaari: priest]

My back aches from sitting straight for so long, but what choice do I have?

"Fold your hands together, and repeat after me," the poojaari says.

And I follow his instructions for the next few minutes, trying not to be distracted by my grumbling stomach, or aching back and arms as I fold my arms and close my eyes, praying to goddess Parvati, for a truly happy married life.

Give me only what I deserve, I ask for nothing more.

I bend with my legs tucked under me to seek blessings from the poojaari and touch his feet.

He blesses me, "May you receive all that you deserve and all that your heart desires."

"Go eat now, dear," he says softly, perhaps because he noticed the exchange between my mother and me. "You will need more energy for the wedding tonight."

I only manage a weak smile as anxiety rushes through me at the thought of the wedding tonight.

~.~.~.~.~