by Shilpa Suraj
Blushing, he rubbed a hand over his hair and stammered, “I think you’re very beautiful and I would like very much for you to be my wife.”
Alisha felt her cheeks warms. Sheesh, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d blushed! But there was something about Rama’s earnestness that warmed a speck of her frozen heart.
“Just because you think I’m beautiful? There’s got to be a lot more to marriage than that and it doesn’t sound like your mother is very happy with the alliance. Like my mother said, family approval is very important. I’m very flattered but I don’t think I’m the right bride for you.”
“Yes!” The loud agreement from his mother had him bobbling his glass of juice and spilling it all over the rug.
“I have been telling him and telling him the same thing from that day, but he just wasn’t willing to listen. Thank you!”
Feeling sorry for the distress written all over Rama’s face, Alisha said gently, “I’m really sorry but as you can see, this won’t work.”
With his mother volubly agreeing and expounding on the theory to the other ladies, she took the opportunity to ask him if he wanted to get some fresh air. He grabbed the lifeline she offered, and they left the room together.
As they waited in silence on the doorstep for their mothers and Aunty Seema to say their goodbyes and exit, she tried to come up with something tactful.
“You’re sure you won’t change your mind?” His wistful question had her sighing.
“Yes. I’m sure. I’m truly sorry because you seem like a nice guy, but marriage is hard enough normally and without your parents being happy about it it’s doubly hard. In India, especially in India, you marry the families not just the person and your mother is definitely not happy about this. Make her happy and find a girl she’ll adore.”
Impulsively reaching across to give him an awkward sideways hug, she said, “I’m very flattered though. Thanks for the offer. We could still be friends. Why don’t you add me on Facebook? I happen to have a lot of single female friends.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Laughing softly, he squeezed her hand before letting go and turned to wait for his mother who was just coming through the doorway.
After seeing their unexpected visitors off, Alisha and her mother walked back into the drawing room. Knowing her mother must be disappointed, Alisha waited in silence for her to speak.
Until finally, her mother sighed and said, “I really liked that rug. Do you think the stain will come out?”
Chapter 4
Nothing beat lounging in bed at the end of a long day. Flicking channels till she found a music channel, Alisha left the TV blaring and went in to shower and change. Sliding under the comforter minutes later in shorts and a tank top with a blissful sigh, she pulled her laptop closer and settled in.
Opening Facebook, she scanned the friend requests and accepted Rama’s while rejecting some from people she didn’t know. Clicking on the messages tab, she read through a group message planning a night out the coming Saturday and accepted before her friends could start hounding her about it. She was about to close the page when she saw another message pop up.
Frowning at the unfamiliar name, she clicked on it and read:
Hi,
I’m not sure if I’ve got the right girl or not but you look like a classmate of mine from college. If you’ve ever studied at the Fine Arts College in Bangalore and remember me, please reply or else you can ignore the message.
She ignored it as she’d never attended the Fine Arts College and didn’t know anyone by the name of Anirban Roy. She logged off from Facebook and quickly scanned her work emails for anything important.
Alisha was halfway through drafting a press release that needed to go out internally for review when her phone started ringing. Her hand stilled when she saw an unknown number flashing. She wanted to leave it unanswered but curiosity got the better of her and she picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi. Is that Alisha?”
The unfamiliar male voice had her tensing. “May I know who’s calling?”
“Take a wild guess.” The warmth and suppressed laughter in his voice had her wariness subsiding a bit.
“I have no idea. Maybe you could give me a clue?”
“We went to school together.”
“That’s not much of a clue,” she scoffed. “I changed close to ten schools before I graduated which narrows the field down to about a million people.”
“I stole your school bag one day and hung it from the drainpipe which you then broke when you tried to retrieve the bag.”
“And we both ended up being punished,” Alisha finished with a smile. “How are you Nishant? I’d heard you’re working in London. Are you in India now?”
“I’m down for two weeks. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up. We could get a meal together sometime.”
“That sounds like fun. Does Sunday lunch suit you?”
“Works for me! You pick the place and message me. This is the number I’m using while in town. I’ve got to run now. I’ll see you Sunday?”
“Sounds like a plan. See you then.”
Clicking off, she set her mind to completing her work. She read through the draft of the press release and found it satisfactory. Far from perfect but she could tweak it some more tomorrow. Saving it, she turned the television off and tried to get some sleep.
---xxx---
“Is he squiggle worthy?” Perched on her desk and swinging her legs, Nisha looked like she had all the time in the world to chat.
Since trying to ignore Nisha wasn’t working, Alisha exhaled loudly before locking her laptop and swirling her chair to face her. “Don’t you have any work to do?”
“I’m taking a break. What are you planning to wear on Saturday? And for that matter, on Sunday for this lunch?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Could you please go away so I can work?” Running a frustrated hand through her hair, she tried to put the printouts on her desk in order.
“Fine! I’m going. You’ve turned into quite a grump. Message me when you’re free and we can discuss school bag man.”
“There isn’t anything to discuss. He’s an old school friend that I’m meeting for a meal. It’s not some second chance romance. It’s just a catch-up meal.”
Nisha made a face at her and pushed herself off the desk.
“Nisha?”
“What? I’m leaving. That’s what you wanted right?”
“Could you give me the printout sticking to your butt?” Grinning, Alisha held her hand out.
Snickers erupted from King Kong’s side of the cubicle. Arching an eyebrow at Nisha, Alisha stood and peered over the partition. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t help it. You guys weren’t exactly keeping your voices down.” Flushing a little, he looked back at his screen. Feeling a little bad for being snarky with him, Alisha leaned back in her chair. Knowing Nisha was hovering curiously, she reluctantly made introductions.
“Fair enough. The lady with the paper covered butt is Nisha from the finance department. Nisha, Ajay is part of the marketing team here.”
Watching them interact was bizarre enough to have her focusing only partly on her work. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nisha tactfully pumping him for more information about himself while he preened at the attention.
Shaking her head, she got back to putting the finishing touches on the press release before sending it to her manager for approval. Tuning in to the tail end of their conversation, she heard Ajay accepting Nisha’s invitation to join the group on Saturday night.
Horrified, she looked at Nisha only to find her studiously avoiding eye contact. She was now nattering on about getting back to work and with a guilty wave in Alisha’s direction disappeared towards the elevators.
---xxx---
She’d barely got through the door that evening when a tiny little whirlwind flew at her with a loud squeal of delight. Laughing, she found herself enveloped in a
hug that threatened to cut off her breathing. Steering her cousin back towards the sofa in the living room, she extended her arms towards her uncle sitting there. Feeling her spirits rise, she hugged him and then went to sit next to her mother’s sister.
“When did you all get here?”
“We just arrived.” Taking a slow sip from his glass of scotch, her uncle beamed at her. “So, has any lucky guy snapped you up as yet?”
Watching her mother come into the room with a laden tray, she moved to take the tray from her and offer it around the room.
“What can I say, Uncle Kamal? I’m not planning to settle down until I find someone who matches up to you.” With a long-suffering sigh and a wink for her uncle, she finished her round of the room, placed the tray on the coffee table and went to perch on the arm of the chair her father was lounging in.
“I’m destined to be a spinster. They just don’t make men like you anymore.” Shaking her head mournfully, she bit into a cookie.
Settling into the curve of her father’s arm, she let the talk and laughter in the room swirl around her. It was good to be home. No matter how shitty her day, she had this to look forward to – family, love, laughter.
“Bad day?” Her father’s murmur had her smiling ruefully. He’d always had an uncanny ability to read her mind. Before she could answer, her cousin interrupted from the other end of the room.
“Alishakka, you’ve got to give me something to wear for tomorrow.”
Looking over at her cousin, Pooja, sitting between her mother and aunt, she said, “Sure. Take whatever you want. Are you going somewhere special?”
Flashing a small smile in her uncle’s direction, her aunt put down the glass she was holding and said, “Actually, that’s why we’re here. One of Kamal’s colleagues brought us an offer for Pooja. The boy is from here and we thought it would be a good idea to have the initial meeting here in Hyderabad rather than at Bangalore.”
Turning towards her sister, she continued, “I wanted to ask you Sumi if it would be okay if we have them over for dinner here. It will give the families time to meet and mingle in a slightly more informal setting.”
Amid all the excitement and plans, Alisha gestured to her cousin to follow her to the door. Excusing themselves from the room, they headed to Alisha’s bedroom. Flopping down on the bed, Pooja toed off her heels and made herself comfortable. Shutting the door, Alisha sat at the foot of the bed and raised an eyebrow enquiringly. “What happened to Sidharth?”
“I don’t want to talk about him.” Pouting, Pooja rolled on to her stomach and started to rifle through the nail polishes on the bedside table.
Exotically pretty at just over 5 feet tall, with an explosion of curly black hair that gave her a very gypsy look, Pooja was used to having life always go her way. Spoiled rotten by the family because she was the youngest, she’d gone from being a charming toddler who had everyone wound around her little finger to a gorgeous adult who expected everyone to come running when she crooked the same finger.
Propping herself up against a pillow, Alisha waited patiently. It wouldn’t take long for Pooja to spill the whole story. She’d never been able to keep anything to herself.
After a minute of fiddling with the nail polish bottles, Pooja looked at her furtively. “Mama and Papa don’t know anything about him. I don’t want them to find out also.”
“I thought you were planning to marry him. What happened to all those plans you both had made?”
“I broke up with him. You won’t believe what he did!”
Alisha had always quite liked Sidharth and felt he was a good influence when it came to the excesses in Pooja’s personality. She would be surprised to find out that he’d done something truly terrible.
“What did he do?” she asked finally when Pooja continued to stare broodingly at her feet.
“He got promoted at work.” Shaking her curls out, Pooja fell back against the pillows stacked near the headboard.
Placing a hand over her heart, Alisha gasped, “He got promoted! Oh My God! How dare he? He should be hanged.”
“Shut up!” Throwing a pillow at her, Pooja smiled reluctantly at her theatrics. “The job is in Colombo. I’m not going to go live in Sri Lanka. What would I do there? My life is here. My friends and family are here in India. If it had been somewhere cool like the US or Europe or something it would have been different but Colombo? No chance.” Disgust plastered all over her face, she stared at the ceiling.
Feeling sorry for Sidharth, Alisha asked, “So you’ve decided to have an arranged marriage instead? No heartbreak to get over? Don’t need time to heal from the break up?”
Alisha was pretty sure Sidharth was nursing a shattered heart. From what little she’d seen of him, he’d been crazy about Pooja.
“I’m fine. The biggest advantage of an arranged marriage is you can pick a guy that fits your requirements. Mine definitely include someone who lives and works in India.” Shifting restlessly, she turned towards Alisha. ‘So what do you think I should wear tomorrow when they come to see me?”
“Didn’t you bring anything with you?”
“I did but I love your clothes so much more.” Grinning, she grabbed Alisha’s hand and started dragging her towards the cupboard. Trying to shake off the disquiet settling around her, Alisha let herself get pulled into Pooja’s plans for the next day.
Chapter 5
A herd of elephants were trampling through the house. Groaning, Alisha pulled the comforter over her head and tried to burrow in deeper. When the elephants showed no signs of quieting down, she gave up the battle and shoved herself out of bed and into the shower.
Sighing, she tipped her head back under the hot spray of water and let it soothe her bad mood. She stalled as long as she could before finally leaving the sanctuary of her bedroom and going down to see what the elephants were up to.
Wiping her wet hair down with a towel, she walked into the kitchen looking for tea. Locating her mother busily stirring a pot at the stove, Alisha peered into the dish before making lost little puppy eyes at her.
“It looks absolutely yummy. You have to be the best cook in the world.”
Snorting a little, her mother shooed her away. “Save it. Go sit in the other room. I’ll have the tea sent to you.”
Satisfied with the result, she grabbed the newspaper from the side table and sat down. When her tea arrived minutes later, she thanked the maid and continued scanning the headlines.
Hearing the doorbell ring a minute later, she set her tea down reluctantly, and went to open it. Still flicking through the paper in her hands while opening the door, she glanced up and promptly dropped the paper.
“Hi.” Flashing her a gorgeous smile, he looked at her expectantly. Probably a little more than 6 feet tall, lean and rangy with an unruly mop of dark brown hair, his smile wasn’t the only thing that was gorgeous. Warm caramel colored eyes twinkled at her. Twinkled, for God’s sake!
“Hi.’ Acutely conscious of her Bugs Bunny patterned shorts and old frayed white tank top she crouched to pick up the paper which mercifully hadn’t scattered all over the floor. Straightening, she saw his eyes travelling the length of her legs and back. Clearing her throat, she tapped a foot waiting for him to make eye contact with her again.
Not looking the least bit repentant, he grinned at her. “I’m here to meet Mrs. & Mr. Kamal Varma.”
“Come in.” Knowing she was being rude but unable to help herself, Alisha turned and led the way back to the living room. Feeling his eyes on her butt, Alisha swung around to glare at him before gesturing for him to sit.
Leaving the room, she went into the kitchen and found her aunt.
“There’s someone here to see you.” Leaning over her shoulder, Alisha tried to dip her finger into the curry still bubbling on the stove to taste.
Swatting her hand away, her aunt turned. “Who is it?”
Pausing with her finger halfway to her mouth, Alisha stared blankly. “I didn’t ask.”
�
�You let a complete stranger into the house without finding out who he is?” Raising an eyebrow at her, her aunt left the room muttering about scatterbrained nieces with their heads in the clouds.
“I take after you.” Alisha yelled after her. Ignoring the snort that floated back to her from the corridor, she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and took the stairs two at a time to get ready for work.
---xxx---
Coming down fifteen minutes later, she heard gales of laughter erupting from the drawing room. Slinging her laptop bag over her shoulder she tried to slink past the open living room door but managed only two steps before her aunt called out her name.
Pointedly looking at her aunt’s beaming face, she said, “So, I guess he isn’t a serial killer after all.”
“This is Vivaan. He’s Arav’s brother; the boy who is coming tonight with his parents to meet Pooja. This is my niece, Alisha.”
“We’ve met. My morning looked up when she opened the door earlier.”
Hackles rising at his easy charm, Alisha ignored him and spoke directly to her aunt. “I have to go, maasi, or I’ll be late for work. I’ll see you in the evening.”
“Try and finish work early today.” Interpreting her expression correctly, her aunt gave her hand a warning squeeze. “Vivaan has some things he brought over in the car. Can you help him bring them in before you go?”
“Sure.” Giving him a tight look, she waited for him to get to his feet. Leading the way, she opened the front door and went out into the bright sunshine.
“My brother’s a lucky man. I haven’t met your cousin yet, but it does seem like good looks and charm run in the family.”
Flashing him a cool look, she waited pointedly for him to open his car door before saying, “Cute. Inappropriate but cute.”
“I’m sorry? Did you think I meant you? I was talking about your aunt and mother who I just met in there.”
Alisha grabbed the bag he was holding out to her and stalked back into the house. Still chortling at his own idiotic humour, he followed her.
