"These days, I haven't been sleeping..."
Aru paused the song that was playing ( put her bags inside and ran to hug her mom.
"Hi mom." she said, her voice muffled while hugging her. She smelled like neroli perfume and paneer curry.
The smell of her home.
"Hi beti. Put your bags in your room and shower. We'll have dinner soon." Her mom pulled bback and smiled. "I'm making paneer curry and I ordered some naan."
"Did you also get pooris?"
"Why of course! And I bought grape and strawberry jelly for variety."
Aru gasped. She didn't realize how much she missed her family.
And food.
See, she's had this thing going where she'll eat poori with jam because it tasted much better to her than chole, though both were good. She just didn't like the texture of chickpeas, so eating poori with jam became her signature food. Plus, Aru and her mom loved watching the distressed looks on auntys' faces when she asked for Smuckers concord grape jelly with her poori. A lot of indian households in the area didn't seem to have it, which was a shame. (a/n: inspired by what i did with my pooris growing up. i'm eating poori and grape jelly rn simply for the nostalgia. except for the fact that most aunties learned to buy jelly for me if they were gonna have poori at their poojas and such. lol they were so tired of me.)
She put her bags up in her room and the door creaked open.
"I wanted to talk to you where your dad couldn't hear me."
Aru nodded.
"I was thinking we could talk with him tonight together. He only wants the best for you so if you really don't want to go through with an arranged marriage and you really love someone else, I'm sure he'll be okay."
"Okay. Where is he now?"
Krithika chuckled. "Focusing on a new hobby he's developed recently." Aru raised an eyebrow.
"He's crocheting." she finally revealed and they both broke down laughing.
"Why?" Aru finally asked.
"I don't know. Maybe he got tired of the origami?" Krithika guessed and they laughed some more.
When Aru got out of the shower, the scent of paneer, garlic and bullet naan, and fresh poori wafted into the air. She jumped down the steps, two at a time, to find her mom setting the table and her father reading the newspaper at the table.
"Dad!" He looked up from the paper and smiled.
"Beta!" He got up to hug her and kissed her forehead. "You know, this newspaper? Complete crap. Nothing's true in it."
"Then why are you reading it?" Aru asked, crossing her arms.
"For the fun of it of course!" Aru laughed and took a seat and making herself a plate with okra fry and rice, paneer and naan, and poori and jam. She mixed the strawberry and grape jelly together and had that first (because why not) and then moved on to the healthier stuff. About halfway through the meal, after making fun of her father for crocheting of all things he could do with his time.
"Actually, Aru needed to talk to you about something Suyodhana." Krithika looked pointedly at her and Aru gave her a pleading look, then sighed. "Yeah, I-um- actually do."
Suyodhana took off his glasses. "Well that's perfect. I need to talk to you two about something too."
"What?" Krithika asked.
"Well, Aru, I'm going to say this straightforward. I've found you a match for marriage."
Aru spit out her water. "What?"
"Ye!. And he even goes to the same college as you! His family's quite wealthy, and they're also helping sponsor the firm so it'll really be quite good to-"
His words were all a blur inside her mind. All she could think about was Aiden. What would he think? She knew her father wanted her to get an arranged marriage. She knew it was going to happen soon. Why didn't she stop? Why didn't she stay away from Aiden at her father's request? They would never be the same if he knew she was getting an arranged marriage. They'd never be the same if he found out she was lying.
"Suyodhana, I think you should pause and listen to Aru and what she thinks." Krithika nodded towards her.
"W-what's his name?" Aru stuttered out.
"Rudra Naga-Loka."
Her eyes widened. Not only was she getting an arranged marriage when she had a boyfriend, she was getting one with his cousin. Not only that, it was Rudy. Her best friend's crush.
And no offense to him, the very thought of getting married to him made her want to puke.
But when her father was set on something, he was set for life. And family always came first.
Right?
"Suyodhana, why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Well, I wanted to surprise you both! And I just found out today." He looked at Aru, eyes gleaming.
"Aru? Are you okay beta? We don't have to do this if you don't want to." His worry lines creased.
Family first.
With her breath shaky and ragged, she responded, her voice barely above a whisper.
"It's fine."
She couldn't bear to say it any louder.
"Are you sure?" her mom asked.
Family first, family first, family first.
"I-I'm sure mom."
She didn't sleep that night. She forgot to comb her hair in the morning. She didn't shower that day. She hid in her room so her parents couldn't see the tears that seemed to constantly fall out of her eyes.
It'd get better, right? This feeling was just momentary?
Her heart wrenched with the realization.
She was losing Aiden.
And that was way more than she could take.
"Staying up, playing back myself leaving..."
Back to December (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift
(a/n): so hiii. i kindly request for no knives, swords, electrical chairs, hardcover books, or anything else of that natue that can be used for murder or torture to be taken out.
thanks!
if it makes it better, i PROMISE this is only momentary.
what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
oh shit i really shouldn't have said that uhhhh
the skys purple rn! so thats good! LOOK AT THE SKY DONT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT
okay but i'm genuinely so sorry for this and for the short chapter, please accept my apology, it comes with a box of sally jackson's blue cookies and a brand new set of spiderman pjs!
i'm sick blame it on covid please not me
anywaysss
MWAH MWAH MWAH MWAH MWAH😭
-samhita❤️❤️❤️
YOU ARE READING
New Years Day
FanfictionDid Aru want to go to the new years party? No. Would she rather be on her couch in her pajamas watching Lord of the Rings while eating way too much Swedish Fish? Who wouldn't? Her father. Her father wouldn't. He wanted her to go there and "socialize...
