"Manik you should get married" My mother states calmly.
Which is the opposite of calm.
"Death is knocking on our doors I agree with your mother" My over dramatic father says sipping his fifth cup of tea.
Why do people drink so much tea?
And you may think cocaine addiction is bad.
"I am not ready" I simply say with a straight face but couldn't miss my mom's glare in my peripheral vision.
"You're thirty two no one will marry an oldie" My mom frowns and crosses her arms to look intimidating and I chock on my black coffee.
After a coughing fest I glare at my parents.
I'm sorry if I spent my twenties working on my career totally my fault.
"We are having a family meeting and I'm not even invited damn don't remove me from the family just yet." Adya my sister jumps on the couch besides dad.
She's a five five pale brunette which is pretty tall because our genes because I'm six one.
Like every daughter she's the apple of my parent's eye. Pampered. And Brand obsessed.
"Just because you're getting married in a few days doesn't mean we are kicking you out of the family. You'll always be my princess." Dad drops a kiss on her forehead affectionately.
Parents totally discriminate between their children. No one can change my mind.
"And you think kabhi khushi kabhi gham is extra." I roll my eyes and get up to leave because God forbid I get their disease.
"Sit down Manik" Mom's stern voice stop me on my tracks.
They have been pestering me to get married since last year and now my sister getting married in a few days makes it ten times worse.
"If I don't get married then there will be no one who will want to seperate me from you as my love will not get divided. You should be happy right" I mentally high five myself for coming up with such a good excuse.
My mom's face fell and she took a seat besides me.
Please god no.
"You know everyone in my kitty bitch about their daughter- in-laws and I feel so out of place. Do you not care about my feelings?"
I knew it.
I look at my dad and sister who are trying their best to control their laughter.
"Can you not quote kuch kuch hota hai?" I hid my face with my palm and everyone laugh.
Shore laugh at my misery.
Sadists.
I grew up with two women in my life and I've watched every srk movie more like karan johar movies. Just the same.
"We even found a match for you" Dad suggests and I stop breathing for a second.
"She's Vihaan's distant cousin she's pretty and she's in human resource same field as you." My dad says and I want to die. I absolutely don't want to get married.
Vihaan is Adya's boyfriend met in college fell in love blah blah just clichè story. Boring.
And not to generalise or anything but women in my field are pretty pretentious.
Not real at all.
"Financial analyst is not as same as human resource but okay" I mumble under my breath. My brain running five thoughts a mile.
Before I can think it slips from my mouth.
"I already have a girlfriend" I blurt out and hear a collective gasp.
I glance at my family and they have their mouth hung low.
Did I mention extra?
I did.
"He's lying" My mom says with a final tone. Dammit.
I glance at my sister sending her signals through my eyes. If sibling telepathy is real this is the time to prove it.
"He has a girlfriend he told me about her" Adya mentions and thank fuck.
"He did?" Dad's eyes widen and he looks at me.
Yes sucker.
"Never met her just saw her pictures" Yep she's getting that Louis Vuitton bag as her wedding gift.
She can be nice sometimes.
"When are we meeting her?" Her eyes glints with mischief.
Or not.
"Your wedding function" The lie rolls from my tongue easily.
If God is real this is the time to show me.
"We are so excited to meet her" Mom claps her hands together and I sigh.
I hate everyone.
------------------
"I'm still shook that your parents believed your lie." Cabir laughs and I want to throw a brick at him.
After ending that horrific conversation I get called from my office. Yep God is real.
And I told everything to Cabir because apparently he has solution to my every problem.
"I'm very much attractive so I can have a girlfriend" I say to my idiot best friend. Nah just friends it will just boost his ego.
I don't have a girlfriend by choice.
Since high school I always had a drive to succeed and earn as much as I can. I busted my ass and scored a scholarship, went to Europe got a master's degree.
Because let's be honest America is overrated.
Anyway never thought of a girlfriend or a girl in general because this is a straight up recipe of a heartbreak.
Why think of something when you know it's never going to end well?
"Sure you are! so when are we making this girlfriend in your basement?" He says sarcastically when the door burst open.
A professional work environment is all I ask for. But my dumbass friends do not get it.
"What are we taking about?" My friend mukti asks who works in sales department.
'She's cooler than you let's hang with her' Cabir said when we first met her and since then they talk shit about me.
"Manik needs someone to play his girlfriend at Adya's wedding or his parents will fix his marriage with a successful pretty girl." Cabir sums up and I have the urge to punch him. Again.
"What a horror Manik you get to marry a pretty girl damn" Mukti says faking her shocked expressions and I roll my eyes.
I hate everyone.
"Can you both give me a solution instead of increasing my problems god I need new friends" I rub my palm on my face.
If I don't get a girl then my life will probably be ruined. Dramatic I know but oh well I live in a hum saath saath hai set up.
"Why don't you check this site?" Mukti suggests searching something on my laptop. Thanks for asking before violating my privacy.
"Tinder? Hell no people there give me creeps I'd probably be an eye candy or worse a random hookeup for girls there." I shudder in horror thinking about my experience years ago. A girl sent me her foot picture.
I deleted my account so fast.
"Girls trying to feel your meat? Damn what a horror Manik" Cabir mocks me. Fucker.
Only my foot but he doesn't need to know that.
"Not Tinder this site is called Date on Rent.com" My head snaps at her direction so fast I almost break it.
She's onto something. I knew it i made her my friend for a reason.
"What is this exactly?" Intrigued I walk to my desk to see the site.
I scroll and see a lot of pictures of girls. It's like a matrimony site but just better.
Thank the fuck.
Say good bye to HR Aisha.
"You're a life savior. I knew it we were friends for a reason." I smirk and she furrows her brows.
"I feel used" She simply says but smile nevertheless.
They both left me to choose from so many options.
I scroll through the sea of girls. There are closeup pictures and full pictures too their ages and height for obvios reasons.
I stumble on this girl's photo. Pale, high cheek bones, perfect nose, 5'8. Damn.
Again how tall is Deepika Padukone?
She's pretty close to the girl my parents chose so she will do. I quickly book her before she goes out of stock. Is that a thing?
Anyway I contact the agency and they book me for tomorrow.
I texts her the place and time for the meeting.
I hope it goes well because one mistake and I'd be on a horse on my way to get married. Shudders.
_____________________
Hey you guys I'm so excited for yall to read this book. The plot hit me and I decided to work on it immediately. And it took me months to publish it.
I almost gave up on publishing one more book but meh!
I'd probably stick up to a schedule and update weekly and not disappear every month.
Anyway gimme your views and comments. I'd update early if the response is good.