The Fate Joined Us Together

PART 6 :: THE DAY

Sowriya's pov

Yes the day finally came. The day I have to be very careful.. The day I should show my true self.. The day I should try and control myself from looking at the groom. OH GOD! What if I was asked to go talk alone with him? What if he wants to know about me? How will I manage to not look at him? Is my idea of not looking at the groom till marriage, stupid? NO!!!. I composed myself to not show my anxiety or fear or anything on my face. It was the day before the visit and we got a call from the Groom's father. He informed us that they have started the journey and will reach Chennai early in the morning and visit us around 9 AM tomorrow as it the good time. He also informed us that the groom is not visiting as they faced some issues with the newly opened restaurant, and as the day was auspicious and they have already booked tickets, only the family is visiting us. OK.. I don't know how, but I feel like God was on my side this time and I was very happy. Though my parents were sad at first, they understood the situation as it was a newly opened restaurant, there would be issues in the beginning.

I don't know if other girls will be like this, but I am very happy. All my previous questions were answered with one phone call. All my relatives were at home and everyone felt sorry for me. But they don't know what's happening inside my mind. This is the problem with relatives, they have so many assumptions and the reality is not even close to it. Thinking that I don't have to hide or control myself from looking at anyone made me content and I slowly drifted off to sleep.

A loud noise. The fire was all around me. Without even opening my eyes, I could feel the intensity of the light coming from the fire. I was very afraid. I just wanted to hide in the place where I am currently in and don't ever want to go out. I covered myself more with whatever I was holding. Suddenly it was grabed from me and I can feel the fire nearing me. I was covering myself with both my hands as much as possible. Some of the things I was afraid of in my life was fire, lightening and electricity. So, when I sensed the fire nearing me, I was at the verge of crying. Two arms shook me vigorously grabing my shoulders.

"Hey Shorty!! Wake up!! It's the most important day in you life and I reckon if it would ever happen again and you are still sleeping here!!" shouting, he pulled me up.

I finally opened my eyes to see my cousin, Ravi. OK, the fire was the light in our room and the thing that was covering me was my blanket. Nice dreams. I slowly came to reality. My brother is here. My brother is here!!!. He was the only creature in my family who is like me. But with guts to fall in love with a girl. I thought he will not come today but he made it. I was very happy seeing him. He is just a year older than me and we were the mischieves in the family.

"Wake up girl!!" he said laughing at my confused, amazed and sleepy face. I laughed with him saying "Yeah, yeah I woke up." I searched for my phone to look at the time. It was 4:30 AM!!. Why did he wake me up in the middle of the night?? I was about to shout at him, but he ran to the bathroom to take a shower as he has to leave to pick the groom's family with my appa as they don't know the way here.I simply locked the bathroom from outside and went to bed again. My mother caught me and started her speech before I even hit the bed. I had no other go but to wake up and make my way to brush my teeth. The worst thing in the world is when you are awake and others are sleeping. I envied my other cousin and her family as they were peacefully sleeping. I heard the banging noise from the bathroom and I smiled ignoring it. Finally my mother came and opened the door, shouting at me and let him out. With my brush still in my mouth, I said, "Don't mess with me!".

He gave me a weird look and grumbled 'Mental!'. I smirked and continued my work. He came back and said, "I am sorry for your husband though", and ran away. That was it. He's dead. He escaped me as I stopped, when I saw my uncle coming in or else he sure will be buried 6ft under the ground. As the day started slowly everyone got up and got ready for the day and my appa and Ravi left. I took a shower and wore a usual top and a pair of pajama pants as I would soon be changed into a saree. I as usual rejected wearing make up. The ladies in my family, who wear makeup as their second skin, made jokes and gave me looks that I really did not understand. Who cares? Soon my mother came in to help me wear a saree, then made me wear few gold jewelry and braided my hair to a beautiful hairstyle with jasmine flowers decorating my hair. I looked beautiful.Truly!.

As my appa and Ravi has reached the groom's brother's place, who lives in a rented house for work, they called us and informed that they will be here in an hour. That's when, my house became a market. As the house was small, all the men sat outside in the empty place we have in front our house and the women were preparing the beverages and snacks and the return gifts they give to the ladies if they visit us for the first time or after a long time, a tradition. I have applied leave at work for the day and had nothing to do and I never came out of the bedroom as to avoid smirks or embarrassing questions. I had Ajay and another nephew, Santhosh from my cousin to pass the time by answering their silly questions and playing with them and occasionally greeting my relatives who came in the room to see me. I felt like it was my marriage today. I snapped from my thoughts when I heard my father's bike's horn sound. I know it was Ravi letting me know that they are here. Because my father never horned when he is inside the compound. I prepared myself. An unknown fear came to me as I heard a huge crowd enter our house greeting everyone. What should I do now? Should I wear a plastic smile or just be myself? Will the elders stop the marriage because of my true self or my looks? Fear engulfed me. Suddenly my aunt peeked into the room, opening the door wide enough for me to see some people sitting down on the mattress. She said "They're here!!" like I didn't know the information. I just smiled and held my face down before seeing a guy who is peeking hard to get a glance of me.

"You got this Sowriya!!" I mumbled to myself.