The Accidental Wedding

1. The Meet

"This is Naina, our lovely daughter. She completed her master's degree in English a few years ago and is working at British Vogue in London as an editor. We are very proud of her." My father says with a wide smile on his face. Moments like this make me happy, like seeing my parents proud of me which is one of the reasons I agreed to get married.

Then our parents got further into conversation and I suddenly got more interested in the  patterns on the carpet, trying to avoid eye contact with him. I don't want to rush in a staring contest with him right away. Who am I kidding, I just didn't want to because my mom was watching my every move like a predator does to its prey.

"We should let the kids get to know each other." Ashwin's father said and my father nodded in agreement.

"Naina, show Ashwin the backyard. Will you?" My father said. I nodded and he kissed my forehead before I got up and Ashwin followed.

Sanjana smiled at me widely when I passed her and I rolled my eyes at her. I walked through the hallways of my childhood home and Ashwin gave me a small smile which I returned.

I've been home rarely after high school graduation, I went to college in London for English literature and then got a job there two years ago. I've had a taste of freedom and I didn't want to come back to this huge palace like house where only four of us lived, my brother left too but he planned on coming back home, I didn't. I never really liked it here, it was a huge place still I felt suffocated, but back in London it felt good in my small apartment with Sanjana.

We reached the backyard and sat on the metal benches.

"So..." I say, not knowing what to talk about after a few awkward glances.

"Hey, I heard your voice for the first time!" He exclaims, gaining a small laugh from me.

"I was told to act all shy." I say with a smile. "So, tell me about you, what are your passions?"

"I'm usually in my office most of the time and when I'm free,I prefer to rest. So I don't really have time to 'follow my passions'" he said in a flat tone.

We didn't talk much but I got to know one thing about him, he is fucking boring.

His phone rang and he went off away from me towards the edge of our large backyard. I sat there waiting for him to come back so we could resume our conversation.

"I hope you aren't bored." I heard a voice and turned around to see Shiv.

"No, it's fine. There isn't much to talk about anyways." I said and motioned my hand to tell him to sit down.

"Ashwin is always working so much, he never even has time for me nowadays. He comes home late from work and goes to work early." He said and then continued after a pause. "Please tell me that I didn't sound gay." That made me laugh.

"A little. But it's fine actually. It would give me a reason to not get married." I said, my voice saddened and he caught up on it.

"You don't really want to get married? I mean, I kind of get it. It's an arranged marriage."

"Yeah, It was my dad's decision. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it." I tried to turn the topic away. I knew I can't get out of this. Thinking about it made it scarier that it already was.

"So what do you want to talk about?" He said while stealing a glance at Ashwin who was still talking on the phone. Shiv knew that Ashwin wasn't leaving the phone anytime soon so he tried to maintain a conversation.

"So, you live with him?" I ask him.

"Yeah, we share an apartment. We've been friends since we were 4. He is such a disciplined man, I don't get it sometimes. I'm a slob and I wonder how we manage to live in the same house." He says.

"Don't worry, I'm a slob too." I smile. "You manage to live in the same house mostly because he is always working. Right?" He laughed. I've never been more turned on by a laugh before.

I should not be because he was my future husband's best friend. But I couldn't help it, he was just too hot.

"I came out here because I got tired of listening to them go on about you two and your lives. Both pairs boasting about their kids and money and what not." He said when I asked him how he got here.

"I'm glad you did. I would've had to sit here alone for God knows how long." I said.

Ashwin finally came back from his eternally long phone call.

"I need to go. There's some problem in the office." He said sternly. "Take mom and dad home." And he marched away without even looking at me. Kind of rude if you ask me. Right?

My life was going to get boring, that's for sure.