Talk of the Town

22 //

The air is thick with tension. There's no room to breathe.

"Ma..." Miraya's broken voice comes, slicing through the tension in an attempt to receive understanding.

"Don't talk to me. Whatever your Appa said is the right thing to do. I have to call Shray's mother at once —"

Amma's phone rings. She sees the caller ID and her eyes widen. "It's Mala."

Shray's mother.

Miraya's heart feels like it's standing on the edge of a cliff, an inch away from plummeting to its death.

This is really happening. Miraya's mother and Shray's mother are going to have a talk about marrying off their children. Her and Shray.

This can't happen. This can't happen.

Amma puts the phone on speaker.

"Revathi, how are you? How is your husband?" Shray's mother asks. Her voice is chirpy and bright. It makes Miraya's stomach coil.

"I am fine, Mala. Jeevan is fine too. We are just dealing with a lot right now."

"Oh, I understand. Miraya and Shray didn't tell us about their relationship at all. I mean, how unfair is this? We got to know about them through the media as if we are some third person to them. I am so bummed they didn't feel like they could tell us about their relationship. Shray tells me everything, you know. He says I'm his best friend. And yet, he hid this from me. I didn't expect this at all."

Amma replies with a nervous chuckle. "Yes, yes."

Miraya has always felt a little jealous of Shray because of his parents. He had the best relationship with them. They were so understanding, being married by love themselves. Independence and freedom were perfectly balanced in Shray's life.

She knows it's wrong to compare her parents and his. But every time something like this happens, Miraya can't help but do it and feel so bad for herself.

"I wanted to talk to Miraya. I rang her but she didn't pick up the call. So, I naturally had to call you."

"Actually, Mala, we were just discussing that."

Miraya falls to her knees next to her mother and shakes her head. Please, no, she begs silently. I can't get married to him.

All she receives in return is a helpless nod. Amma switches off the speaker option and walks off to her room so that Miraya can't intervene.

She clenches her jaw to keep the sobs away but the action only brings more tears to her eyes. Miraya plops on the sofa and hides her face in her palms. How is any of this possible? She had gone to meet Shray to put an end to whatever feelings and confusion remained between them, not to grow them into something more. She was the unluckiest human being on the planet. It was as if the universe was plotting against her to make her life miserable than it already is. Whatever she didn't want, she was granted generously. Whatever she wanted, she was given but with a horrifying catch that again became a worry. How excruciatingly unfair is this? What did she do to deserve this treatment?

Nothing in her life is going according to her plan. Nothing. The one thing she had wanted out of her life was Shray and now he is everywhere. Work, family, relationships, friends, love. Every part of her life had Shray involved in it.

How come there was no trace of him in her life for all these years and suddenly, as if planned, he appears everywhere all at once?

Amma steps into the living room again. "Shray's family is more than glad to have you married to their son. They say he doesn't have a better match."