As they got closer, I could hear Rohan’s father admonishing her, ‘I gave you one job, Suchita! You can’t do anything right! You’re completely useless!’
Her face became even smaller. ‘I’m sorry, Sanjay, I gave the decorator detailed instructions.’
‘Obviously not detailed enough! I can’t trust you with anything!’
Rohan’s mother looked like she was going to cry.
They quickly composed themselves when they reached us and announced, ‘Kids, it’s time for the ring ceremony!’
‘Where’s the ring?’ Rohan’s father glared at his wife.
His tone was even harder than earlier.
She’s such a tiny creature! How could anyone be so mean to her!
‘I have it, darling,’ future mother-in-law sounded dejected.
She looked at me with sad eyes and smiled. There was more to this lady than meets the eye. I realized I felt protective towards her.
Concentrate, Naina. You’re getting engaged!
Everyone had gathered around us in the centre of the stage, with my parents and Rohan’s parents next to us.
‘Panditji, you may begin.’
Please, don’t begin. Please.
After the pandit finished all the ceremonial rites and passages, he announced, ‘They may exchange rings.’
…
I looked down at the eight-carat diamond on my ring finger. Once upon a time, seeing this beautiful ring might have excited me.
Now, I just felt disdain.
I was, officially, engaged.
However, I didn’t feel engaged. My fiancé and I seemed to be least interested in each other.
A week ago, everything had felt so normal. Now, I was engaged to someone whom I didn’t even like!
The funny thing is that, a week ago, I had a hundred things to crib about. Now, those hundred things seemed mundane in comparison to my current predicament. I would do anything to go back in time.
‘Naina! Smile,’ Sunaina whispered.
The ceremony was over, and most of the guests had departed. My parents, siblings, and grandparents had left as well. Sunaina and I stayed back at the Agarwal residence for the after-party.
‘Guys, Rohan is calling everyone to the lounge area,’ Vidur said as he came running towards us.
Great. My fiancé couldn’t even be bothered to come get me himself.
‘Come on, Naina. The night will look up now. Cheer up,’ Sunaina ordered.
The music was turned up high when we entered the lounge. I couldn’t see Rohan anywhere, but the rest of his boycrew, along with Shreya, was present.
‘Bhabhi ji has arrived!’ One of them announced.
All of them clapped and hollered.
Shreya came up to me and said, ‘Welcome to the family, bhabhi! We have to do shots to celebrate this occasion!’
I shrugged. This was the part that I actually enjoyed.
‘Sure, bring them on.’
By the time Rohan entered the room, I had gulped down five shots of vodka. I was finally feeling relaxed and somewhat happy. I tried to let go of my bad mood, and have a good time.
I looked around for Sunaina. She was texting someone rapidly on her phone. Whom was she texting?
‘Hey, don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink?’ Rohan said quietly to me.
‘Me?’ I repeated.
My fuzzy brain noticed that he hadn’t told his sister to stop drinking.
‘Yes, you. I think you should sip on water now.’
‘Oh, come on, Ro. It’s fine,’ I said. I don’t know what overcame me, but I tried to give him a hug. It was definitely the alcohol.
I mean, he was going to be my husband. I was entitled to hug him. As much as I disliked him.
Sort of like that song, Naina…‘I hate you, like I love you’.
That’s quite an apt observation, inner voice. Barring the love part.
‘No, not now. Not in front of people. And please don’t call me Ro.’ Rohan moved aside.
What the fuck!
He had openly rejected me in front of people. My fiancé.
I ran to the bathroom upstairs.
‘Naina, open up! It’s me!’ it was Sunaina.
I hugged her and let the tears fall.
‘I don’t like him at all, Sunaina. I’m not sure if I would even want to be friends with him in a completely different setting. I dislike him that much. How did I manage to get engaged to him? He won’t even let me hug him! Did you see that? How can I marry him? Also, his dad is so mean to his mom! She’s such a sweet lady – she doesn’t deserve that sort of treatment! I don’t want to end up like them! I’m sure Rohan will be the same as his father! Authoritative and rude! I don’t want to be in a loveless marriage!’
I wondered if this was the lowest point of my life.
I was completely and truly, miserable.
Chapter 19
‘Move your upper body, Naina! Jab it!’ My kickboxing instructor shouted from across the room.
I straight-punched the punching bag. I was heaving with exhaustion. I checked my watch, and wiped the sweat off my brow.
There were still ten minutes left.
I was back in Indore. Finally.
After the week in Delhi, I needed to come back home to lick my wounds. The situation wasn’t getting any better, anyway.
It had been Radhika’s bright idea of joining this new kickboxing class that had started recently. And, boy, was I regretting it big time?! From zero exercise, to an hour of intense punching and kicking was definitely having an adverse affect on my arms and legs.
‘I want a hundred hook punches! Take out your frustration!’
I could see Radhika about to collapse on the floor in exhaustion. It made me feel slightly better.
‘Naina, I definitely need a juicy burger after this,’ she said to me.
‘Ya, along with a decadent dessert. I’m really hating you right now, Radhika,’ I said.
‘Hellooo! No more deserts for you, madam! You’re getting married soon!’
I could have punched Radhika for reminding me of that fact.
She’s one of your closest friends, Naina! She’s not saying anything wrong!
I know that, inner voice! I don’t want anyone reminding me of my impending journey to hell!
‘Ladies, enough of your chitchat. A hundred hook punches now. Imagine you’re punching someone you really dislike!’ our instructor screamed at us.
Okay, Rohan. You’re about to get hurt now.
Kickboxing was the perfect outlet for me to punch Rohan all over his smug face.
I began punching the bag in a circular motion over and over.
Screw you for getting me into this mess, you freak! Screw you for being such an asshole!
I felt infinitely better after punching his face a hundred times.
I fell to the ground in fatigue. ‘Get me that burger, Radhika.’
The burger with a glass of Coke was highly satisfying While I couldn’t move my arms and legs, my stomach was in a happy place.
Radhika and I were on the car ride back home. She’d decided to sack out at my place for the night.
‘Have you and Rohan been talking?’ Radhika asked me.
‘You mean in the one week that I’ve been back home?Hardly. I don’t think it even counts as a conversation. Since he’s wasn’t making any effort to keep in touch, I thought that, maybe, I should put my ego aside and call,’ I began.
Radhika nodded approvingly.
‘But, whenever I call, he’s either busy at work, or working out, or chilling with his “boys”. I swear to God, Radhika, I don’t know what this is! We’re not even friends, let alone an engaged couple!’ I exclaimed.
I was truly baffled at my predicament.
‘Since calling or texting didn’t work, I tried other forms of social media. You know, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, that kind of stuff.’
‘I love Snapchat! Actually, even Instagram is great. Have you uploaded any posts yet?’
Radhika asked.
‘No, I haven’t. But, you’re right. I think Snapchat and Instagram are big. Facebook is quite boring now,’ I said. ‘Hello… Can we not go off topic and re-focus on my problems?’
Radhika was checking something on her phone continuously. ‘Sorry, do continue.’
‘So, he sees all my Snaps, but never responds! What’s the point? His mother, on the other hand, is a sweetheart. She calls me every single day, just to talk about things in general. In one phone call, she told me how Rohan is used to getting his way. I wanted to say that I figured that out a while back.’
‘Well, at least that’s a positive, Naina. A nice mom-in-law. That matters a lot, you know. If the mother’s a nasty piece of work, then you’re done for. I’ve heard a lot of mother-in-law horror stories,’ Radhika said seriously.
‘Yes, she does seem sweet.’ We were stuck at a signal that didn’t seem to be moving at all. ‘Move, you assholes!’ I screamed loudly.
‘Relax, Naina. God, so much anger.’
Radhika seemed shocked at my outburst. She stopped texting for a second.
‘Sorry. I’ve just been feeling really angry these days, and I vent it in weird ways sometimes,’ I explained. ‘I accidentally punched myself the other night while trying to pull the blanket up in my sleep. If that doesn’t explain the sorry state of my life, I don’t know what does.’
I’d woken up with an aching face and a confused state of mind.
Kickboxing may not have been the best of ideas.
‘How are things at home? With your parents, I mean,’Radhika asked. Thankfully, the car was moving now.
‘Not that good. I’m still very upset with them for obvious reasons. My anger comes out in odd ways with them as well. The other day, we were all sitting at the dining table when an ad-message started on TV about how students in India commit suicide due to exam pressure. I just glared at my parents for a few minutes, as though willing them to realize that it’s not just exam pressure, but marriage pressure, too, that makes people suicidal.
Then, I just got up and left the table.’
‘Hey, give it some time, Naina. Maybe he’s just shy. I‘m sure things will get better,’ Radhika said gently.
‘I really hope so, too,’ I said.
We’d finally reached home and were walking towards the living room, when suddenly all the lights came on.
‘SURPRISE!’
All my friends were gathered around the room, huge smiles on their faces. That’s why Radhika had been so glued to her phone! I smiled happily for the first time in days.
This was just what I needed.
…
‘Thank you, Rads.’ I hugged Radhika.
We’d changed out of our kickboxing attire into presentable clothes. Radhika had thrown me a surprise party with all my closest friends to celebrate my engagement.
‘You don’t need to thank me, Naina. I just want you to be happy,’ Radhika said.
‘Naina! Show us your ring!’
All the girls had gathered around me.
I put my left hand forward and showed the glittering diamond.
‘Wow. That’s some rock,’ Sanya commented.
I wish I felt the same level of excitement, Sanya.
Sanya and I have been friends since school, so I’ve practically known her forever. She hugged me and said, ‘What am I going to do once you shift to Delhi, Naina? It won’t be the same without you.’
I took a sip of my wine. I had been drinking a lot more wine these days.
Conforming to what the boy wants, are we? I’m proud of you, Naina. You’re finally behaving like I want you to.
Inner voice. I am you. Please stop talking like we’re two different people.
‘You’ll hardly notice me gone, Sanya. Besides, now that you’ve got a boyfriend yourself, you won’t have time to miss me!’ I teased her.
Sanya had just started dating Gaurav. We were all school friends. She looked around to where he was sitting and smiled blushingly, ‘It’s going pretty well. I didn’t know Gaurav was so romantic. I am happy.’
Awww. How sweet. I felt all sappy.
I checked my phone. No calls and one text message.
It was from Neesa:
Hi Naina didi! Call me when u can.
I finished my glass of wine, refilled it, and called her up. ‘
Hi, Neesa! What’s up?’ I asked.
‘Nothing much, didi. I just wanted to let you know that I took care of the Sid problem. I broke up with him!’ Neesa said.
‘That’s great, Neesa! How are you holding up?’ I could hear noises in the background.
‘I’m surprisingly okay. Sid wasn’t going to argue with his mother, so it really wasn’t worth it. I just wanted to tell you that I’m doing okay,’ Neesa said. ‘Talk to you later. I’m at a friend’s party, and I see a cute boy looking at me. Bye.’
I laughed as she hung up. Good for Neesa! She was already moving on.
I was so proud of her!
I went around the room to see that everyone had a glass of their favourite poison in their hands. Satisfied, I sat down between Sanya and Radhika.
‘So, how did Gaurav finally ask you out?’ I asked Sanya.
She gave me an incredulous look and said, ‘What do you mean? Oh, you don’t know? Dude, he didn’t ask me out. I asked him out!’
Sanya said it with such fury that I couldn’t help laughing. ‘
I got tired of waiting for him to make a move on me, man! So I took matters into my own hands. I invited him over,’ she said with a gleam in her eyes, ‘cooked him dinner, baked him his favourite dessert and proposed we get together. There’s no way any boy can resist that. If I’d left it up to Gaurav, we wouldn’t be together right now.’
Radhika gave me a knowing look as if to indicate I take some tips to woo Rohan the same way.
Sanya continued, ‘Even now, I constantly have to force Gaurav to not go back into his little shell. He’s not used to having a girlfriend, or a person around him all the time, so it’s certainly taking him some time getting used to us.’
I nodded. Sanya was making a lot of sense.
Maybe Rohan has the same issues, Naina!
Ssshh, inner voice, let me listen!
Nirali had joined the conversation. She said, ‘You bet, man! Boys can be really annoying. I feel like I’m Mayank’s mother sometimes, rather than his girlfriend. Every now and then, I even have to remind him to eat on time. That boy gets so zoned out that he forgets I’m even around him.’ She looked around to where all the guys were – at the PlayStation, of course. ‘Now that FIFA has started, I won’t see him for the next couple of hours! FIFA is definitely the third person in our relationship!’
Everyone laughed, including me. I was enjoying listening to all the relationship woes my friends were facing.
Sanya commented, ‘FIFA is the worst thing that could have been invented. That Call of Duty game is even worse.’
All the girls had joined in on the boys’ shaming conversation, and a chorus of agreement went around.
‘Well, there’s something worse than FIFA in my relationship,’ Palak spoke up. ‘Parthiv is so scared of his father that if his dad calls him at any unearthly hour, he’ll go running to do his bidding even in his sleep! So, I’m definitely not the priority in this relationship! “Papa’s calling me! I have to go!”’ Palak imitated Parthiv.
She laughed along with everyone else. It was funny imagining Parthiv sleepwalking and doing his father’s work.
‘What’s so funny, ladies?’ Gaurav walked over to where we were sitting.
‘Get lost, you…boy!’ Palak shouted at him.
Gaurav looked taken aback and confused. Everyone laughed as he walked off in a hurry. But not before Sanya gave him a quick kiss.
‘Awwww,’ all the girls cooed simultaneously.
‘Hang on, hang on. I have a weird story to tell also,’ Divya announced. ‘So when Aditya and I were in the initial phase of our relationship – sorry,
it wasn’t even that, we’d only expressed our feelings to one another – Adi’s ex-girlfriend created the biggest ruckus. She emotionally blackmailed Adi, saying that if he started dating me, she would commit suicide.’
Everyone, including me, was shocked. No one knew about this.
Divya continued, ‘He was shit scared to go out with me, in case his ex actually killed herself. He didn’t even tell me about it. Just closed himself up. I was convinced that he didn’t really care for me at all. But, luckily, I didn’t give up on him and got him to tell me what the problem was. After we started dating, the psycho ex-girlfriend tried to scare me as well by sending me emails and texts against Adi. I finally had to stand up to her myself and tell her to back off!’
I felt like clapping. Divya was a real-life Sunny Deol to me right now.
‘Wow. You’re a rockstar, Divs,’ Radhika said.
‘Men really need women to sort them out,’ Sanya said.
‘So, what’s Rohan like, Naina?’ Nirali asked.
Everyone looked towards me.
‘Oh, we can talk about that later. Let’s do a shot, everyone!’ I changed the topic.
It was time to take matters into my own hands. My girlfriends’ stories had made me feel courageous. I felt like Sunny Deol myself.
I was going to solve this conundrum of a situation that was Rohan.
I was going to Delhi tomorrow and get some answers.
Way to go, Naina! Go get your man!
Chapter 20
I’d booked my stay at The Claridges for two nights in Delhi. It was near Aurangzeb Road. For the first time ever, my parents had no issue with me staying alone in a hotel. They were just happy that I was going.
Mom had been ecstatic when she’d heard my plans. She’d said, ‘Naina, I’m so happy, beta! My heart feels at peace now. You’re finally accepting the idea of marriage!’
When I expressed my desire to stay in Delhi for only two nights, she exclaimed, ‘Why just two nights? Stay as long as you want, beta! You should get used to being a Delhi-ite now!’
Dad had gone a bit overboard. ‘I’m so happy you’re going to spend time with Rohan, my darling daughter. How much money do you want for shopping? Go buy yourself a new handbag or whatever you want. Just let me know whatever you require, and I’ll get it shipped to you.’
Wake up, girl! Page 10
