The Arrangement

Chapter Seventeen: A Crushed Hope

"This is some Bollywood romance crap," Farhan murmured as I unraveled the string lights while he wrapped them around the post of the gazebo. 

"It's beautiful," I said, staring in awe at the setting. We had spent our afternoon decorating the gazebo with Vivaan. A small table sat in the middle with candles and a bouquet of roses on it. The dinner Vivaan and Preeti would share together was going to be delivered at seven. A portable music player was going to play some piano upon Preeti's arrival. More flowers had been tied to the posts around the gazebo. It was almost five-thirty and Farhan and I had offered to finish wrapping the string lights. Vivaan currently paced back and forth near the table, dressed in a light blue shirt and pants. We watched him murmur to himself, rehearsing the words, clearly unhappy with what he was coming up with. 

"It's so sweet." I smirked. "If I had known Vivaan was this romantic, I would've tried harder with him."

Farhan shot me a glare. "That's not funny."

I chuckled, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. 

"I didn't think you were into that stuff. You didn't seem like it," he said. 

"Are you kidding? You can't grow up watching Sharukh Khan movies and not be into romantic stuff."

Farhan shook his head. "He should be playing DDLJ songs instead of piano."

"We could sing it for him." I nudged Farhan then started, "Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam..."

Farhan continued at the top of his voice in a shrilly tone, "Pyaar hota hain deewana sanam!"

Vivaan jumped in alarm and waved at us. "Okay, stop, stop! You're not helping." He wrung his hands together. "I'm so nervous."

"You'll be fine, buddy," Farhan said. 

"Yeah, if she didn't love you then she'll fall in love with you after this," I added.

Vivaan rolled his eyes. "Funny. I know it's extreme."

"You should probably take that off though." I pointed to his hand.

He looked down and saw the wedding ring  on his finger. "Oh. Right." He chuckled nervously and slipped it off, putting it away in his pocket. "Thank you both for helping. I just can't get the words right and I need to practice."

"Relax," I told him. "There's still time before she comes. I don't think you should practice anyway. Just say what you feel when you see her."

"What I feel is anxiety- and then I can't speak. That's why I need to rehearse... so I don't freeze up."

At that moment, a car rolled up in front of the gazebo, small and tattered. Preeti stepped out of it. She wasn't dressed in anything nice like we would've expected, and instead wore a pair of ripped jeans and a T-shirt. Our eyes widened when we saw her. She was early. Vivaan, who had his back to her, was still talking. 

"Well, you better hope you remember your lines," Farhan interrupted. He nodded to her.

Vivaan turned around and jumped. "P-Preeti! You're early."

She didn't reply to that. Her eyes darted over the elegant setting. "What is all this? What did you call me here for?"

"We should go," I whispered to Farhan.

"Yeah. You're right," he replied, but I could see his interest was peeked. He couldn't take his eyes off of them. 

Vivaan took a deep breath and dove right into it. "Preeti, we've known each other for years now. We know everything about each other. And-and somewhere along the way... I started to see you as more then a friend."