Vows of Misfortune

45.

Anjali reluctantly came over to me and hooked her arm through mine. "This is okay, right?" she whispered. A tightness clung to my throat; I'd made it so clear that I hated her so much that she was asking for permission to do anything with me.

"It's fine, Anjali," I said softer.

"So, um, what have you been up to, lil sis?"

"Nothing, really. Just..." being a mess.

"We should get some lunch together so that we can catch up properly." She then turned us around, heading back to the two men who were standing beside each other, exchanging small chit chat. "You don't think they'd mind, do you?"

"Why would they mind?" I said. "We were talking about how bad the wedding food was here anyway."

"What, you two planning to go out to get something to eat?" asked Greg when we got to them.

"Yeah, what do you say?"

"I'm fine with it. What about you?" he asked Romir who nodded, though the tight, solid grip on his glass told me otherwise.

I tried to catch his eye as we left after bidding the wedding couple a goodbye but Romir refused to look at me the entire way there.

***

I thought this was going to be an occasion where things would finally go right again, but instead it was super awkward. We were at a restaurant that was bustling with people, everyone turning to us because we were the only ones extravagantly dressed to eat at a casual restaurant.

The white tables were mostly occupied, except for the one in the middle. So we sat there; Romir and I together, and Anjali and her husband Greg together.

No one spoke. We all looked at our menus. Greg spoke about something or the other but Romir only responded with brief responses here and there mostly with hums.

I noted the way Greg whispered something to Anjali and her eyes crinkling. But the dimples that always used to be apparent years ago were now gone.

Was she truly happy with this man? He seemed like an extremely nice man but did he deserve this? I wondered if their marriage was like ours.

A convenience of some sort. Especially since me and my parents knew that she didn't marry Greg because she liked him or think she could ever like him, but because of his money.

"Why is everyone so silent?" I quipped. "Aren't you the one that wanted to catch up?"

Anjali rolled in her lips. "I'm just so shocked that all of this is happening. I mean, with you and Varun. I-I can't believe you're married...and so quickly!"

"Stuff happened. I did what I had to do."

"I don't blame you."

As everyone else ordered drinks and food, the words in the menu in front of me blurred. I didn't want to eat an extravagant meal today. I was in the mood for something sickly sweet to bury my feelings under.

"A chocolate lava cake, please."

"That's—that's all you're having?" asked Anjali. "You should eating something else as well."

"I'm really not that hungry."

"But we came to a restaurant to ea—"

My jaw clenched. "I'm going to the restroom."

I hated how all of a sudden she wanted to be the caring older sister. I didn't wait for anyone else to say anything and got up. So many questions raced through my head, yet to be unpacked but it was all too much to handle in one day.