#TejRan - The After Series

After the Wedding - Part 2

It was 2 am in the morning in Punjab, India. Teja was sleeping in her hotel room. Most of India was sleeping. But in a wedding venue in the same city, some people were doing anything but sleeping. All hell was breaking loose and all it took was one eye contact. 

Karan watched Teja walked out of the wedding hall and knew he couldn't do it. He looked at Diya, who was already looking at him and knew she knew it too. He looked at her helplessly and she looked back daring him to do it. No, forcing him to do it. He can't take the easy route this time. Karan looked away from her and continued receiving guests. A sort of cold aura had fallen on them and the whole atmosphere changed. The reception was ended an hour earlier than it was planned to and the DJ arranged for after the reception cancelled because the bride had a headache.

Karan was sitting on a divan in Diya's room and she was pacing. They hadn't said a word to each other since Teja had left and he didn't know what to say. Karan stood up and stopped her pacing. "Diya, calm down. It was just a momentary thing from my side. I haven't seen her in years and I just felt nostalgic. This changes nothing. Don't freak out. We are getting married tomorrow"

Diya looked up at him, the man she had been dating for two years now. She looked at him for a full five minutes and finally made him sit down and sat with him taking his hand.

Meanwhile, Teja finally came to her senses as the sun hit her on the face through the open windows. She had slept like a log and hadn't even changed her position throughout the night. She got up to close the blinds and that's when she remembered her early morning flight. She quickly checked the time and groaned when she saw she had already missed it. She went back to bed, a headache creeping in.

She looked at the almost empty bottle of tequila and felt ashamed of herself. She had given up on drinks a for quite some time now and having fallen back to it made her mad. She called for breakfast and tried tidying up the tray brought for last night. The room service soon came with her breakfast and that day's news paper. The guy also told her how they tried waking her up for the flight, but she was not answering the room's phone and her personal one was switched off.

She thanked him for the concern and assured that it was quite all right. She did her breakfast and went to take a bath to wash last night off of her. She stayed away from the news paper because she knew what she would find in that. And when she tried to turn on her phone, it was dead with low battery and she put it on charge.

The headache was a bit better after breakfast but she felt another nap would help. She can't book tickets without her phone and she didn't want to trouble the hotel staff about it. She is very picky about her flight seats and did not want to trouble anyone. She took an aspirin and laid down for a nap. This time sleep didn't come easily, as images of weddings kept running through her mind. But it eventually came and she drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

Everyone had left the wedding venue and he was the last to leave. He didn't know how he had gotten through the whole thing. He was driving his mini on a empty road and after a while, he just pulled over and got out of the car. He realised everything was lost now. Leave it to him to make one stupid decision after another. He pulled out his phone to call Teja. He had to know if she was okay with this. With what he had done.

Her phone was switched off and it triggered his anxiety like it did in the past. He didn't know what to do. He should go home. Diya would be waiting. But he didn't want to face her yet. He was sitting on the roadside pavement when his phone dinged with a text. "Madam is staying with us. I thought you might want to know". It came from a hotel staff who was also a fan he had met years ago.

He thought about it for less than a second and started his car. He knew where to go. He was soon pulling into the basement parking of the hotel and called the staff who texted him. She let him knew the room number and floor. Karan took the elevators up to the sixth floor all the while tapping his toes because of his nerves. He made his way to her room and knocked on it.