Arranged Marriage ✓

Chapter - Twelve.

[Nishita]

Nearly forty to forty-five minutes later, Anita called me. I received the call, very quickly.

“Hello?”, I asked, “Did you talk to Darshan?”. “Yeah,” she said. “What did he say? He’ll say no to marry me, right?”, I asked. “Babe”, Ani’s voice rose, “I think you should agree to marry him”. Her voice made me froze.

“Do you even know what you are saying? I can’t— you—”, I fumbled. “Relax, chill and listen to me”, she said and I listened to what she said. “Have you gone mad?”, I asked, “I understand that you love him, a lot. But that does not mean that you have the right to destroy neither mine, nor Darshan’s life but probably you have the right to destroy your own goddamned life”.

“Will you listen to me?”, She asked, still calm. “No. I will not. Neither will I let Darshan listen to you”, I said, “You are not understanding. It’s not about you. It’s about the life of the three of us. Have you ever thought what would people call Darshan and me after getting divorced? Divorcees. And if you get married to him, then people call you the wife of a divorcee. Understanding now? No, right?”.

“I’ll let you make me understand your bullshit first, and then say something”, she said, plainly. “Fine with me”, I said, “Okay, where do you we start from?”. “I dunno”, She said. “Can I say first?”, she asked, like a five-year-old kid begging to get a candy. “Hm”, I permitted.

“I love Darshan, you know that. I love you too, you know that as well. I would have died by now, if it weren’t the two of you, I can’t deny this. I know, maybe somehow it will ruin you guys’ life. But, what about mine? I have given you both everything that I could. You might say, none of us told you to. But, still. You two are my best friends. I can’t afford to loose any of you. I’ll die instantly if any of you walk out of my life. This is the reason, why I never let Darshan go. It’s just—”, she lost her cool and broke down.

Hearing her cry, I too ended up crying. “Life didn’t have to be so unfair with us. Why the three of us? Why?”, she cried over phone.

“As far is it concerned about this damned society, neither of us gives a damn, do we? But still, when we know that Darshan being a celebrity bitches won’t stop bitching, but we don’t have to listen to them”, she elaborated.

“Can you meet at our usual spot for coffee? I’ve called Darshan over there so that you two can talk and get to know each other better, you know. It’s about a long time”, She said. “I’ll come”, was all that I could mutter. “So, I say ‘yes’ to my parents for marrying Him. Should I?”, I asked. “For me? Of course, you should, babe”, She sweetly replied, “I’ll see you in a jiffy, then”. “Yeah, bye”, I said, as we hung up.

I wiped off my tears and prepared myself to face the upcoming storms and consequences because of the risk that I’m taking for my best friend.

I got decked up and gave one last look at myself in the mirror and barely muttered, “You can do this, for her”, and left my room with my phone and purse.

As I stormed out of my room, my parents looked at me. “Where are you going?”, Maa asked. “Out. With Anita and my soon-to-be husband and you people’s soon-to-be son-in-law, since you guys seem to accept him”, I said, with a flat smile. “What do you mean?”, Papa questioned. I breathed in, heavily, “I’m ready to get married to Darshan. And I’m going out with him, to get to know him a little more”.

My parents looked at me, with their eyes widened. “Are you— serious?”, came Nitya bhabhi’s voice. “One hundred and one percent sure. Give the news to the Ravals, please”, I replied. My parents’s happiness knew no bounds. They were extremely happy. They had tears in their eyes. Little did they knew about my planning.