My lucky Charm

02 | Unexpected

                                                             ~~~~~Ramya~~~~~

I was wearing a simple cotton saree ,with a short chain and few bangles on my hands. I have braided my hair the usual way and finished it with garland.

Finally I am ready to meet my future life partner. Hope I find him good enough for me , who understands me and cares for me. Most importantly,someone who does not consider me unlucky. 

I don't have very big expectation on my marriage. I want this marriage proposal to work out somehow, so that my parents can live happily without worrying about me. 

Few minutes later, I heard some foreign voices which meant the groom and his parents have come. I waited for my turn to meet them. 

When I was called out to meet them, my mother handed me the coffee tray. Holding it in hand, I went and distributed the coffee to them. 

I was too shy suddenly to take a look at him. Through the corner of my eyes, I saw him wearing a beige pants. With the way his legs looked, he must be pretty tall, I presumed.

His name is Naveen. I heard his mom mentioning his name , asking my Father if we could go and talk separately. 

Now we are in one of the bedroom with the door practically open. I did not care to open or close it. I took my time to look at him.

He looked decent and good. Could not say he is more handsome , pretty blah blah... But for me and for my beauty he looked good. 

I am not that beautiful but an average looking normal girl. I like to add that still I looked pretty. After all I am the one who has to boast about my beauty.

"Hello... done with observing me?" he asked making me come out of my thoughts.

"oh.. sorry.. I .. I was just" 

"its ok.. I guess you have not seen my photo earlier."

I did not lift my head nor have courage to face him. Suddenly I felt like I am blushing.

" I was not interested in this meet first of all" he spoke with a genuine voice.

Hearing it suddenly my head short up to face him. 

"I was just joking to make you look at me" he said with a beautiful smile. "So... I think its ok from your side too, with the way you are looking at me"

"hmmm" I nodded in yes with my head down. 

"your parents are not forcing you right?" he asked with a genuine concern.

"actually.. sort of.. its that, because of my horoscope and problems with my luck, I was asked to marry soon. But I like to proceed with this if you are also ok"

"what's with the luck and unluck, I don't believe in those superstitions."

Hearing it made my heart flutter. After talking for few minutes ,we exchanged numbers. It felt really good to talk with him.

We came out together. He informed everyone that he is ok to proceed further. I too nodded my head in yes to my mom who felt happy. 

His parents too seemed happy. My Father suggested having a direct marriage instead of engagement and then marriage. They too agreed for it  readily, as they wanted their son to get married soon. 

From what they spoke with my parents, I understood that he was keep on rejecting  most of the proposals and I am the only one he said yes. 

Although I am happy to hear that he chose me, I mentally noted to ask him later on what made him choose me out of all.

Deciding on the further activities, Naveen and his parents left. I was so elated as never before.

2 hours later, I heard my Father talking worriedly to my mom. I went near the door to hear what they were discussing about. 

My mom who casually turned saw me standing. The look on her face was kind of worried which was giving me a hint of something bad happened.

Oh god... no... Before I could pray to God, my mom informed me that Naveen and his family escaped from an accident while driving home.

I started getting panic. How did I forget about my unlucky charm? I waited for my parents to reveal that they are considering this as a bad omen and have rejected me. To my surprise, they did not say anything. 

Though it sounded giving relief, I immediately made call to Naveen enquiring about his well being.  A drunkard was seen to drive the car recklessly thus hitting Naveen car. 

Naveen wittily drove the car aside when his car was slightly hit.  He assured me of his and his family's good health.

What was more happy to hear was, he denied blaming it on me and my luck for whatever has happened. 

Days passed. My days were happy spending few minutes a day with Naveen on call.

Having to hear always the unpleasant incidents which make me think about my stroke of luck, after talking with Naveen things were different.

Even if I start with complaining about my charm , he always warns me not to speak anything degrading myself. Last week, we made purchase of dresses and jewels.

When we were about to pay the bill for the muhurta saree, strangely the cards did not work due to some limitations.

The card reader too did not work in the middle. Finally we decided to do  gpay. But there was no network in mine or my father's ,making it impossible to pay the money. 

I found it not as a good sign. Not only me , Naveen's mom too. I saw her distressed face with whatever was happening.

In, fact happened to hear his complaining about this to Naveen and his dad.

Naveen gave an apologetic look at me  for his mother's words. He then turned to his mother and pacified her. 

After struggling with the mobile data, finally it worked and we paid the bill.  We then headed out to the jewel store and moved to the mangalyam section.

The sales person , started displaying the designs. He took one of the design and handed over to Naveen's mom when the power got cut off.

Out of all that has happened, this scene made my heart clench in panic. This time both my parents and Naveen's parents felt bad for what happened. Soon the power got restored due to the generator.

Naveen was there to support me and cheer up everyone. After completing all the purchase, we departed our ways.

I could sense that Naveen's mom was not happy with all things that happened today. She was remaining silent for Naveen's sake. 

Days passed quickly. In the next 2 days, I will be married to Naveen. Just when I was thinking about it and living my dream happily, I came to know from Naveen that, his office has started with layoff suddenly and he might also come under the radar.

It sounded alarming to me , still Naveen was advising me to not think negatively. I could clearly see the difference this time in his tone slightly.

After we started talking , Naveen too faced some problems in his office with his manager which was going smooth earlier.  I was convinced by Naveen again to not overthink.

Today is the day of my marriage. We all were getting ready to go to mandapam and were busy.

My Father completed his call with the caterers and cut the call. Just then he got call and attended it . Hearing it my Father displayed a heavy shock face. 

Looking at him, the same expression carried with worry applied on our face. "What happened?" my mother asked nearing him.