An Arranged Marriage Like This

|Seven|~

"Acha aapko hesitate ho raha toh hum bataye. Waise toh khuch batane ko hai nahi. Simple se crush story with very ajeeb se co incidence...humne aapko us din hi bata diya tha...", Haseena tried to ease him up...

"Aap janti thi ki humare dono relationship physical bhi thi. Phir bhi aapne humse aur khuch kyu nahi pucha?", He waited keenly fot her reply.
She sighed.

"Kyuki aapne humme saamne se ye baat batayi. Aap chahte toh chupa sakte the. For entire life humme konsa pata chalta. Lekin aapne humme apne bare me pehli cheez hi yahi batayi...log apni first meet me impression chahte hai lekin aapne  woh cheez humme batani sahi samjhi jo shayad humare descision ko bahout effect karta. Hum aapse humare day out ke din phuchna chahte the. Par humme laga ki bahar ye baate karne me aap comfortable nahi honge"

He smiles.

"Humara pehle relationship wahi general sa... attraction me confused wala college 2nd year phase...bas sab khuch rush karte gaye...aur phir wahi toxic sa breakup...", He chuckled but soon became serious. "Humari dusri girlfriend...", He looks up and whisper her name to her. I don't know what went wrong that she fell out love to someone else...or maybe I was loving her less...These words prick her heart. She didn't not expected love in this arranged marriage but neither did she wanted a man who had feelings for some other person. Her mind went numb for a second and all their happy moments of their date day blurred. "Papa warned me that she is a weird person...not right for me but...", He was interrupted by her voice. "you said you moved on didn't you?"
"Yes Haseena", he said confident and determined which pacified her a little. "But humme aaj bhi khuch cheeze yaad karke bahout gussa aata hai...because I loved her at a time", he confessed.

But was it real? Do love happens twice? And if not why does he want to marry?

"Aisa nahi hota Anubhav. Love happens only once. Agar aap usse sachme pyaar karte the you can never love me. Aur kabhi humse pyaar hua, you never loved her. Some people feel special. We can't figure out if it's love" she felt hurt but he was not at fault. He cleared it on their first meeting itself...Her eyes sparkled in tears under the light of her room.

Why does she have to cry like this again he thought... didn't the free each other from obligation of loving on their date?

But aren't we all searching for just person to rely on fully? Love and be loved like no one else. Fed up from the word marriage due to her close understanding and wrong examples she had seen but she too wished for her one...And here that dream broke just before it was weaving a hopeless romance to put one rose from the bouquet he brought in her diary...Now the momentary anger and frustration  wanted to trow that away in the dustbin beside it and with that the expectations she hold.

She looked away from him clenching her lower lip.
"Papa ne toh humme mana kiya tha aapko ye baatne. Hum hesitate isliye hi kar rahe the... I didn't want to hurt you. Hum move on kar chuke but past ke emotional baggage ko bhulana easy nahi hota...And aap bhi ye samjhti hai"

He waited for to her to reply but when she chose to stay silent he got up and left her room. He could not put any more efforts than this, he thought as it was just a starting.

As he left her eyes let go the tears she held...She went near the bouquet plucked a rose and kept it in the middle of the diary with a little smile. "Sahi toh keh rahe the woh...agar humme sirf failed relation ko dekh kar itna dar lagta, trust issues hote toh unhone toh woh experience kiye hai..." She thought it was best to take a step behind in protecting her heart and be open to him letting him take a space inside. Because he was the only one she thought going forward with the talks after meeting once.

When she came out of her room her parents eyes her strangely as they guessed the change of behaviour. She looked him. He avoided looking at her. When her mother eyed her she walked towards her and spoke, "humesha yaad rakhenge ki humari third meet me India Pakistan se Hari", she said smiling. He turned  with a soft grin and shook his head. Her father laughed.
"Bye Haseena..."
"Bye Anubhav..."

She thought she had to initiate the talk next time...or may be tomorrow morning while going to office.

_______________________________

"Aise aap ek ek karke humme apni family members se milayenge toh humme kamre me band rehna padega over socialising se...", She said irritatedly as he dropped a bomb of meet his uncle and aunt tomorrow after meeting his sister Preeti today. She turned her side and groaned pulling up the quilt. Though she was very sweet to her but it is a very tiring task for her. More than meeting his sister today, she was anxious of the conversation they made the day before...

"Haseena..."His voice turned softer. "Umm woh...Chacha-Chachi...thode se aise purane khayalat wale hai toh...matlab aap thoda sa handle karlena, baaki Maa or Didi dekh lenge"
"Hmm", she sounded low over the other side.
"Sorry"

"It's ok Anubhav"

"Thank You"

"Welcome...", She said animatedly as if she knew why he thanked her...It was difficult to understand each other at this point.

"Monday ko Shaadi ki tareek fix ho jayegi Haseena...aapka kya jawaab hai?", He asked all of a sudden, to clear his doubts after that conversation. "Kya Anubhav?! Agar na karni hoti toh na Aaj aur na kal Milne aa rahe hote"
"Aap khush hai?"
"Haa...aur aap? Ready hai humare life partner ban ne ke liye...??"

Ji Haan...