After that particular party, I put in more effort to understand Rohan. We met almost everyday after work or something and we had a good time every day. Today was the day before our end of two months dating time, so he is taking me out somewhere special.
"Hey, you ready?" He asked me on the phone.
"Yes, babba. I've only been waiting for you for a half hour!" I was irritated now.
"Then what are you still doing inside? Come on out then!" Wow, seriously? He is the one that comes late and has the nerve to joke around. I was wearing a simple shirt and jeans, but I still looked good.
"Hey babes" He greeted me with a low voice so my parents wouldn't hear him. He casually waved to them as he told me to jump into the car.
The most we got to physical contact was hugging and kissing on the forehead or cheek, but I didn't feel more than comfort and warmth in that. Rohan took me to the town we had our first date in and took me the same restaurant.
"Is his supposed to be cheesy or something Rohan?"
"Hey I'm a guy who likes my cheese"
I smiled at him. There has been a lot of changes in Rohan since the day we first came here. He shows more enthusiasm towards me and isn't holed up in his head anymore. If I didn't know him before I would probably have labeled him the most carefree idiot in the world because he really was.
"Do you remember when we first came here and a lot of sh*t happened those couple days?" He asked me taking a seat on the same black bench we sat on. I tried to forget that ever happened and I thought he was doing the same.
"Yeah how could I forget?"
"I want to say thank you Trisha for giving me the best two months of my life so far. Every day with you was something new and something fun. It's like you have me life you know?" When I didn't reply he continued. "Ever since then, I've fallen in love with you as I told you many times. It's just crazy what two months can do to you"
"True I'm glad I met you too. I never failed to have a good time." I said smiling. I've told him I loved him too because I did love him but it will take me more than two of years to fall in love with him.
"So I thought maybe you deserve a little something from me" I was confused what he meant. Suddenly there was and Indian song playing right in the middle of the street and people with shiny purple shirts and white pants came out of the crowd and formed a group around us and started dancing. I had to pinch myself to see if this was real. No way! They were my closest friends! Next thing I knew, Rohan was on his knees proposing to me.
"Will you marry me?" He asked. I knew I had to say yes but I knew the answer deep down was no. He might be able to provide me love but he can never replace my first and only love. Yet I nodded and pretended to smile. Is this how normal girls act? Do they cry? I don't know! He kissed my hand and opened a beautiful velvet box I knew held some kind of jewelry. When he opened it, I saw the most beautiful diamond necklace I've ever seen. He must've spent a fortune on it. I lifted my hair as he slid it on to my neck. It felt like he was putting a metal brace on my life. But I smiled and hugged him. No tears. No feels. I always knew my marriage was going to come down to this, may be my dream has been crashed in one way but at least I was marrying someone I love.
"Jaan [love], lets get the hell outta here" Rohan said grinning like a boy snatching candy. I nodded enthusiastically as I was getting tired of all the congratulations and the mayhem. I don't really like crowds much, they annoy me.
He took me to the lake where me and Cal had our first kiss. It was a painful reminder. Rohan and I sat there peacefully. He stroked my hair as I lay on his chest.
"You know I will always love you right?" He asked me. I nodded.
"I may take you a little more time to admit it Trish, but I know you love me too"
I opened my mouth and suddenly blurted, "But I love you too"
He didn't think twice before crashing his lips against mine, I was horror stuck. I kissed him back to see how it feels, but I didn't feel the kind of passion I was hoping for. You can't blame me, I sounded confused not as if I was proclaiming my love for him. I broke the kiss and looked away wiping my mouth. He wasn't a great kisser either. Great.
"I love you so much babes, I hope one day you'll see just how much"
I gave him a smile in reassurance that I already know how much he loved me.
The next day, we flew to India for our engagement.
(A/N: The video above is a must watch for multiple reasons. It shows you how engagements are done in Andhra (South India). The song it self is called Distance and talks about how two people are just separating. The guy and girl who seem to be getting engaged at first were actually in love with each other but let their anger and ego get in their way and got engaged to people they thought were better So the emotions and all kinda work well into my plot. Plus, the song is just too melodious. I love it!)
They didn't even care that I had a jetlag, my whole family dolled me up in a blur and cream colored saree that actually looked good on me. I never work that kind of stiff material, but I surprisingly pulled it out. I couldn't keep a smile on my face as people blessed me, and made completely useless jokes about how I'll be after I get married. People I never really wanted to see showed up and that blew big time for me. My best friend, Nisha actually ended up coming and that was probably the best part of the engagement. She knew me inside out. Even though she never approved of a interracial relationship, she came to support and revere in the love I used to have for Cal. But even she gave me a sad look and hugged me tighter than she ever held me--as if she's loosing me. I even saw her hold tears in her eyes, I knew it could be dangerous so I gave her a slight nod and whispered that I will be fine. She shook her head a left as if I disappointed. I was even more surprised when Felicia, my other best friend came. Rohan nodded to me and smiled. How do you like your present? He seemed to say. I smiled at him in gratitude.
"You look so pretty, kutti [bi*tch]. Rob couldn't make it, but he asked me to give this for him. He says he misses you baby gal. Ok what am I supposed to do here?" She did the whole hand me a gift and take a picture part, but was left awkwardly standing there.
"You look pretty too, Fel. Ah, I will text him later but tell him I miss him too. You should join Nisha. I'll catch you both in a bit." I gave her a tight smile and saw her smile die on her lips. She knew something wasn't right.
"Yeah, I'll catch you in a bit." I nodded as she got off the stage me and Rohan were currently on. There were two huge, red thrones for chairs we had to sit on as people blessed us and congratulated us.
"Thank you, Rohan" I said smiling at him. He beamed back at me.
"I thought that would be a nice surprise."
"I love it." I replied back. Great, he brings back two more people I need to answer. I'm sure he would've grabbed me and kissed me right there by the looks of it, but I all wanted to was hug him and tell him he is being a good friend not a lover.
After the ceremony, I socialized with quite a few people and at last retired to the room me, Nisha and Felecia were going to share.
"So, how long are you people here?" I asked finally sliding into the bed and resting my feet.
"About a week." Felecia said.
"Stop dragging Trish, what is going on? What happened to Caleb? And why did you stop texting us? You didn't even tell us you guys broke up? And who is this Rohan kid? Did you parents pick him?" Nisha set off on a question marathon and soon Fel joined her.
"Yeah, what happened to the white boy? And seriously bi*tch how come you didn't even tell us anything about Rohan? Our bosses came in yesterday morning and let us off work as a favor for a frat brother or something and next thing I know I got an email from some Rohan guy about your engagement and he sent us plane tickets too! So you better open up girlie!"
I waited in defeat till they were done with their questions.
"Are you guys done yet?" When they stayed silent I continued. "Me and Cal broke up a few months ago. I love Rohan, but it'll take me while to completely forget Cal..."
I went on to explain them by inner conflicts and told them not to raise the matter of Cal again as I am tying to knot to Rohan in six months.
Me, Rohan and the girls ended up taking road trips and having a lot of fun. Since it was Felicia's first time in India and Nisha's first time in South India, they had new experiences and they love it.
Once that week was over, we were all back in the flow of things. I went back to work in the morning and spend the evenings with Rohan. Sometimes, he would come over to my house but I never went to his apartment. I just felt uncomfortable going there alone without people I know and he would always push me to come but I refuse. On the occasions he did come to my house, he blended with my family perfectly and he didn't do the whole Alpha male act which gave him bonus points from me. And so our six months passed without much happening.