Arranged Marriage ✓

Chapter - Ten.

[Nishita]

I wiped the tears that trickled down my cheeks and searched for my phone. When found, without thinking twice, I dialed Anita’s number. It didn’t took her much time to answer the call.

“Hey”, she said, her voice very soft and delicate. “Ani”, I barely whispered and thought she couldn’t hear me. “Hello?”, she asked, “Babe, you there? Hello?”. “Yeah, I—”, my voice trailed off, as I sobbed silently. “What happened? What’s wrong? Tell me. Talk to me,” her voice now sounded concerned.

“Maa—marriage—Darshan—”, I coughed while I was crying. “I didn’t got you. Listen, there’s probably some network issue. Mind if I do face–time?”, She asked. “No”, I said, “But, first you listen to me. Don’t react at what I say.” “Okay,” was her reply.

I began to tell her everything from the starting. “Remember, I told you how my parents have turned desperate to get me married to someone?”, I asked. “Yeah”, she said, “Let me guess, they have found someone?”. “Yes”, I bit my lower lip, crying.

“Who’s the guy?”, she shot another question. “Darshan”, I said, “Darshan Raval”. “Huh, wh— who?”, she asked, disbelief spotted clearly in her voice. “Darshan, your ‘lucky guy’.”, I shut my eyes and cried. Both remained silent for a whole minute or two. “How?”, she asked, “How did they fix your marriage with him?”. There was the same shock and softness in her voice, like the same I had in mine.

“I told you a few days ago that, both mine and his families are very close. They know each other since at least ten years. In between that, our family shifted and the connection between them broke. Though, the touch they had kept in was only for any of them needed a favour from one and nothing else. But, suddenly it hit Papa that the Ravals stay in Mumbai, too and invited them to Mishti’s naming ceremony and you know what happened that day. You know, what those glares at me and Darshan meant”, I explained.

“I think, you should talk to Darshan. Make him say no to me, please”, I begged while sobbing. “Yeah, I’ll then just, talk to him and let you know things”, She softly uttered. “Hm”, I said, as we hung up.

I prayed for Anita to be able to make Darshan understand about all these things and denies to marry me in front of both his and mine parents to save our lives.