Vows of Misfortune

3.

It had been two months. A whole eight weeks since Varun had left me to be with the girl he was cheating on with.

Claudia.

The name made the bile scratch at my throat and the squeezing of my ribs to intensify. And to think that she spent every moment with me smiling and laughing and making jokes when she was seeing Varun behind my back.

I had even sacrificed my life for him. Halted it all for him.

What was I supposed to do now?

Mum had gotten better in that time. She was instructed to take things easy. No more stress. I had to make sure I didn't cause a lot more stress. Telling her that I was planning to enroll in another short course because I had stopped my internship? She'd faint again.

She had fainted because of exertion and it was only a brief scare - nothing major with her heart as they'd predicted. Dad was always there to look after her. Now she was back to normal.

And me? I had to be the one to look after myself.

"You need to stop drinking so much," hollered Jade over the loud, pounding music of the nightclub. "It's been two months. You should forget about him."

Easier said than done.

I shrugged. I didn't care. The buzzing heat of the drinks numbed my pain. It felt good. I chugged down another shot and tried to drag her onto the dance floor with me but she was frowning. Or at least I think she was. I couldn't see her properly through the haziness of my vision.

"Why rang you comfing?" I said, my tongue feeling as heavy as cotton in my mouth.

"You're drunk off your head, oh my god. Come on, we're getting you home."

"No! I wont to stay here."

"You won't stay here."

"I said I wanft."

"Fuck me," sighed Jade. She grabbed the next shot in my hand and slammed it onto the bar table. "I said you're coming with me."

Sometimes I hated her. Deep down, though, I knew she was looking out for me so I let her drag me out of the club. To be honest, after getting out of that humid, sticky club, I didn't really remember much after that.

All I remembered was being shoved into her car and then waking up in bed, crying. I was alone. The curtains were drawn as it always was for the past two months. I buried my head in between my knees, wrapping my around my legs and rocking myself back and forth. It was the only source of comfort I could get. I didn't want to worry my parents whenever they came over to visit to see how I was.

They didn't know that I spent all my time either crying in my dark, empty room or out partying and drinking with my friends until I had no sense of the world.

Mhm. That familiar scent of buttery jalebis and sugary, floury ladoos wafted through my nose. Sweets? We were in what looked like a hall, people with their backs turned toward me. No one was looking my way. I waded my way through the sudden crowd. The table filled with food was just a few meters away. If I could just...

The sound of a big church bell rang throughout the air. I turned around, suddenly in my wedding dress again. Wait, was that all a dream? Had Varun come back for me? A smile broke out on my face as I spotted the man in the black tuxedo facing the limo.

"Varun!" I called, lifting up my dress and running over to him. "Va—"

He turned around. No. On his arm was Claudia, looking up into his face the both of them smiling at each other as if they were the only people on earth. My smile faded. They turned to me.