Rajveer really likes to keep his life in order and doesn't like anything that messes it up. But when his mom insists he spend the summer with a woman she introduces him to, Rajveer has no choice. Even though he didn't want to, he ends up caught in a...
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"Wait a little," she said. "Can we talk?"
I sighed and put the car back in park. It looked like we were going to do more of this thing where she talked and i just listened, just like when me and my mom talked.
"Thank you,Rajveer Hukum." Women in Jaipur called their husband Hukum, as they donot take their husbands name out of respect. but they weren't husband and wife so it was more of a word used in a respectful way to address a man of superior social status. Or may be this girl was already tring to behave as my wife. i didn't find it endearing. But when she flashed another of her disruptive smiles at me, i forgot to be annoyed.
Right as my brain function started to stutter, she looked about the interior of My car.
"This car is nice."
"Thanks." i didn't generally like flashy things, but i loved to drive.
my car was by far the most self-indulgent thing i owned. Too bad about all the bird shit on the windshield.
She took a deep breath. "I know you don't want to marry me."
"That's right." i saw no reason why i should lie.
Silence hung in the air as she worried her bottom lip, and my muscles tightened unpleasantly.
"Are you going to cry?" i asked. "There are tissues in the center console." Should i get them out for her? i didn't know what else to do. Pat her on the arm maybe.
She shook her head before she lifted her chin and met my gaze. "Your mom wants me to change your mind."
"You can't change my mind."
"Do you have ..." She glanced to the side as she searched for words. "A perfect woman in your mind? What is she like?"
"She leaves me alone." i already had a mom, a sister in law, and a bazillion aunts and girl cousins to send me on senseless errands, harass me about my clothing choices, and tell me to cut my hair. i didn't need any more women in my life.
"You don't want that," she said with a decisive shake of her head. "I'll help you be happy. You'll see."
i stiffened. "I don't need that kind of help." Her suggestion was galling in unprecedented ways. If she was going to spend the summer pushing me to dance and sing, i was probably going to have some manner of epic mental breakdown. Happiness, like grief, was not in my personal emotional card deck. But minor emotions like irritation and frustration were. i was feeling those in healthy measure right this moment.
A skeptical look crossed her face. "Happy people don't wear all black."
my clothes again. i tightened my fingers on the steering wheel. "I disagree." Black was perfectly acceptable at weddings, and those were happy events. For other people, anyway. i'd rather have a colon exam.
Proctologists only tortured you for a few seconds, whereas weddings went on for hours and hours.
Her lips thinned, and a tense moment stretched out before she asked, "What work do you do? Do you like it?" "It's complicated to explain, but yes, I like it."
