How to Woo Your Bride

20| Shipped Boxes

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." 

― Mae West

Chapter 20: Shipped Boxes

   "Ignore her. Don't try to converse with her. If she talks to you, act indifferently. Girls go crazy when someone is either playing hard to get or shows no interest in them." Armaan said.

   "But that's stupid. Why would girls want that?" Madhan asked, skeptically.

   "Just trust me. " Armaan smiled, as he ushered Madhan out the door.

   Just trust me, Madhan thought. The last time he did that, he ended up being admonished by Riya.

   Madhan sighed. Right now, he didn't trust himself. That left Armaan as the only option. With determination gaining on slow momentum, he pushed opened the door, mentally imagining himself doing a kayak.

   Riya looked up from her umpteen number of boxes. "So did you ask your lovely friend?" she asked, sarcastically.

   "Hmm yes," Madhan replied, noncommittally, and proceeded to his room. He was about to enter it when Riya stopped him.

   "So?"

   "What so?"

   "WHAT SO? Dude! I think you owe me an explanation."

   "I asked him. He said my drink was spiked. What can I do?"

   "Apologize, maybe?"

   "What for? For getting my drink spiked?"

   Riya paused. When he put it that way, it made her look silly. In Chennai, clubbing wasn't that socially acceptable. Yet. So when someone drinks, it made her very judgmental. She was going to have to be more open minded. It wouldn't do her any good if she didn't change her views. She didn't have to "DO" them. Just be more accepting.

   "Okay," she said simply.

   "Okay?" Madhan asked, perplexed.

   "Yeah. It's okay," Riya said, and she went back to her work.

   Once Madhan went inside his room, he let out some air. That went well, he thought, surprisingly. Armaan was right. But it took a long while for him to realize that it was not always the case. 

   Riya had six boxes to unpack. It took her half an hour to tear the tape. The shipping people were definitely good at their job. One time, when she was in sixth grade, she had her boxes shipped from the US, and unfortunately, one of the boxes got lost. The one with board games. At that age, it was certainly a huge loss. But now, the impression of the shipping men was changing.

   She lined all six side by side and contemplated on which one to open. Finally going by einne minnie mieni mo, she chose the third box from the right. Holding her breath as she lifted the lid, a huge smile broke onto her face as she saw the huge stacks of photo frames.

   There was one family portrait, one of her and her brother, one of her and Aakash, and three huge portraits of her and Madhan. She liked only three of the million pictures they took together. One at the engagement, one at the wedding, and one at home. She removed the bubble wrap from each of the portraits, and lovingly glanced at the ones of her family.

   Riya got up and placed them in her room. The family one in front of her bed so she could wake up to seeing them every day, the one with her brother on the side of her bed, and the one with Aakash on her dressing table. She hesitatingly placed the one of her and Madhan on the wall of her bed head-board, feeling morally obliged to do so.

   She placed another portrait in the living room and knocked on Madhan's door.

   "Do you want this?" Riya asked.

   Madhan looked surprised. "Definitely," he said, without batting an eyelash. "But why?"

   Riya didn't bother answering him as she went back to her boxes. She chose the box next to the opened one. It contained all her makeup. She groaned at her stupidity. There was absolutely no space in her room. How was she going to fit everything?

   The next one had all her stuffed animals, which she had no problems in propping them up on her bed. She had missed them so very dearly. The other boxes contained silver plates and gold cups, which were ancestral property handed over to her. Although they were so old, they were immensely treasured, and she was determined to pass these on to her children as well.

   She had two more boxes left when Madhan came outside of his room. He was dressed casually and didn't say a word to Riya, which surprised her.

   "Where are you going?" she asked, curiously.

   "To a world where one minds his own business," Madhan said, and instantly regretted it when he saw Riya flinch. Maybe he was over doing it a tad too much. No, it's a part of the plan, which she forced upon herself.

   "Okay," Riya shrugged it off. She wasn't going to let him know he affected her. Madhan leaned on the side of the front door and watched Riya as she unpacked the remaining two boxes. His eyes widened as he looked at the number of dresses present in the box. When Riya caught him staring at her, he coughed and headed out the door.

   Riya let out a giggle, the moment he left. She remembered a conversation she had with her brother.

   "Mom! I don't have anything to wear," she wailed.

   Mrs. Sharma was washing the vessels, so she turned a deaf ear towards her. Knowing that Riya was hopeless when it came to clothes, she signaled her son to tend to her.

   Ajay rolled his eyes and went to her room. " Are you blind? I think you need to have your eyes checked. Dude, you have like twenty grand dresses, twenty casual dresses, and twenty-night sets."

   "I've worn them all once already. I don't have any new ones."

    "I have two sets of party clothes. And I alternate between them."

   She had shoved him away and continued to call out to her mother.

   "Man, the guy who marries you is certainly gonna need tips from me, otherwise, he'll just go berserk."

   "What tips?" Riya asked, narrowing her eyes.

   "Tips like ignoring you when you go bat crazy, maybe?"

Thinking back, Riya guessed Madhan and Ajay must have had the talk. Otherwise, Madhan would have commented something. For some reason, that made her chest ache. Aakash knew how to handle her. He would show pictures of poor children, and say that they don't even have one dress to wear. And then he would say, "after we get married, we'll give away your old ones and get you new ones." That would bring a huge smile on her face, and she would choose a dress she hadn't worn in a long time.

   Smoothing out each dress she took from the box, Riya folded and stacked them on top of each other. She went to Madhan's closet and checked to see if she had any space. There was space for probably only one-fourth of her clothes.

    Oh well, she thought. There's only one solution to this.

As usual, please vote and comment <3 Hope you liked the chapter. The plan has kickstarted. *Fist Pump in the air* :P