• Second Chances •

13. Silent Night

Priya looked at the photographs with a heavy heart. Trying to sleep was a waste of time, she knew it. So she was trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She had pulled out Sara's wedding album and was leafing through it. 

Why were all marriages in her family so weird? Her father had attended the wedding of his eldest daughter, but just in the capacity of a guest. Her Mama and Mami had done Sara's kanyadaan. Over the years, Sara's husband had turned out to be the reincarnation of Satan from hell. He rarely came to meet any of them. He was unemployed. It was Sara who had to work her backside off to keep the house running. And then there was Neeraj. In many pictures from the album, he had a discreet hand on her waist. 

Priya's skin crawled. How had she ever allowed him to touch her? She was so stupid. They were dating then. But after a few months, Neeraj had so cruelly dumped her and went on to marry her other sister Maitri. It wasn't the breakup that hurt her. It was her sister's betrayal that had broken Priya's heart. She had been blind to not see the signs. Now that she was seeing the album, she could see them looking at each other. 

She sighed. She closed the album and kept it aside. What was the point of doing this? She was just inflicting pain upon herself. Her eyes stung with tears. She drowned her face in her palms and sat there, wondering how had her life gone off the rails like that.

"Priya..." 

She felt a hand on her head. Priya let out a sigh again and looked up. Meera was looking at her with concern. It made her all the more guilty. She harassed her mother so much. 

"What happened? Why are you sitting like this?" 

"No, nothing..." Priya surreptitiously wiped the corner of her eye. "I was just thinking about something." 

"About what?" asked Meera and dabbed Priya's eyes with the edge of her dupatta. She could read Priya like an open book and knew that she was crying. 

Priya wrapped her arms around her mother and rested her head on her shoulder. "Just. I want to tell you something." 

Meera sat back and kissed Priya's temple. "Okay. Go ahead." 

Taking a deep breath, Priya told her, "I felt bad for leaving Mr. Kapoor like that in the restaurant. So, I had called him and asked if he could meet me at the bakery. Luckily, he agreed. I had not gone to meet Twinkle. I had gone to meet him." 

Meera straightened and looked at Priya in surprise. Her daughter rarely did things like that. She never ever lied to her.

"Really?" 

"Yes..." Priya said tiredly. "We both got talking and then Mr. Kapoor put forth a very weird proposal." 

"What is it?" Meera held her breath. 

Priya couldn't dare to look into Meera's eyes while telling her what had Ram said. 

"Well, he thinks that it will be great if we get married. That way, I get settled and Akshay is free to marry Shivina..." 

"Oh my god!" Meera gasped. 

Priya had expected the reaction. Meera had been trying to get her to marry for years now. Priya held her hand and corrected, "Don't get happy so soon. He was also in a relationship that failed. Mr. Kapoor has only agreed to do this because it will help his sister. Nothing else. Nothing more. If I say yes, it will be a marriage of convenience. There won't be love, ever." 

Meera's mouth fell open. "What?" 

Priya didn't know why, but she had the sudden urge to defend Ram's proposal. "It's not as bad as it sounds, Ma. I mean, think of it. I am not interested in marriage. He isn't. He is doing it for his sister. And if I do it, I will be doing it for Akshay. I will get to live how I want even after marriage. There are no obligations. It is as good as it can get for me."