The Arranged Marriage

In the PRESENT: BOMBS at Family Dinners

Aisha POV
"Come on Aish", nagged my sister, "you never do anything fun. You have to come with me". "No I don't Rashi and I have work. You know that", I told her. "Yada yada yada. Fine. Don't come. You're the one missing out on all the fun anyways", Rashi shrugged. 5 years later, I was coming to terms with the heartbreak he caused. Of course the fact that his face was practically everywhere due to being a millionaire was not helping. At all. 5 years ago, Sahil Oberoi stole my heart and crushed it. All in one night that too. I didn't expect to fall in love with him within a few hours of knowing him. I also did not expect the huge bomb he dropped on me that morning. And a huge bomb it was going to be. It's not everyday the guy you like tells you his ex-girlfriend is pregnant. He never once looked back after walking out on me that morning. It wasn't like I expected him to. I knew I didn't mean much to him but the fact that he proved that, hurt more. I'd never dealt with rejection before, so thankfully Rashi was there to pick up the pieces. She also threatened to cut off his man parts and feed them to cows. Don't ask me how she even thinks of stuff like that. Never in the past 5 years did he contact me. Not even once. I saw him on magazine covers, I saw his interviews, and I was proud of the man he had become. The only problem was, I never seemed to be a thought to him. I was good with that now. It just hurt once in a while. Currently, I was sitting in my office and wallowing over yet another interview that he had given yesterday. I worked for Zummer Inc. and our company worked closely with Sahil's. I'd never met him face to face but often, I would walk past the girls in certain departments who had accompanied their bosses to meetings where Sahil was present, and let me just tell you that their swooning was too much. It's kind of hard to hear people talk about the one person you really want to see. I couldn't give him much thought though. I needed to finish collecting the data from the last few files I was working on and then I could go home. It was a Friday night and after staying so late at the office, I was heading to my parents' house to have dinner with them. Gosh! I have no social life. Didn't bother me too frequently. "There. Done. Now, I can finally go", I murmured to myself. I shut down my laptop and put all the folders in my tote. I got up and collected my coat and switched off the lights to my office. I walked out into the chilly October air and breathed in the scent of the beautiful city. My family and I now lived in New York and it was a wonderful thing for all of us. Dad's work was really booming and Mom was organizing tons and tons of Charity Drives. Rashi's interior designing was really taking off. Hailing down a cab from the end of the block, I told the cabbie my address and lay my head back to rest for a little bit. Before I knew it, the old man was telling me we were there. Guess I was too tired to stay awake. I paid him his dues and got out of the cab. Breathing in deeply and steadying myself for the interrogation that was sure to come from my Mom, I rang the doorbell. I could hear my Mom rushing to the door right before the door flew open. "Come on in Aisha", my Mom said while practically pulling me in herself. She engulfed me in a huge and I took a deep breath of her scent. Cherry Lavender with a hint of cinnamon. It used to be my favorite scent when I was a little girl. "Hey Mom. Hey Dad", I said. "I see your sister didn't come yet again", Mom grouched. "Cut her some slack Ma. She's 22. She needs to enjoy", I told my mom. "You didn't need to do all that when you were 22", she points out. "Rashi is not me", I reminded her. Mom just pouted at me. "Fine. Come on, the food is ready", she lead me to the kitchen, "we have a lot to talk about". Right.. Talk, because I don't know that means she's going to grill me about my life and then criticize the fact that I wasn't married yet. Another thing I forgot to mention was that I had a boyfriend named Marcus. He's 25 and a little controlling. It's safe to say that Mom and Dad don't approve of him. If they knew how he acted with me, their disapproval would really be justified. That was a very negative thing to think about at a moment like this. Right now, I needed to enjoy with my family. I took off my heels and my coat and hung it up on the coat hanger and walked to the kitchen. Rolling up the sleeves to my work blouse, I helped Mom carry all the food to the dining room. Having done this at least a hundred times before, we fell into a comfortable silence and all the old routines and memories came back. We went to the dining room and sat down at our respective seats. After taking a few bites of the delicious food, I looked up to see that Mom was making strange eye gestures and head nods to Dad. "What's going on?", I asked them obviously confused. "You tell her", Mom nudged Dad. "No, you tell her", Dad whispered. "Tell me what", I questioned. "You've got a proposal", Mom finally confessed. "I'm sorry. Did you just say I have another proposal? I thought I said I wasn't interested in that", I gritted out. Let me tell you another thing about my parents. They believed that I was a failure when it came to my love life. Which was actually pretty mean of them but I would never say that to them. "Aisha, you don't even know who the proposal is from. Anyways, it's not like your relationship with that Marcus character is going anywhere", Mom stated bluntly. "I take complete offense at that statement", I retorted. "I don't care. We've already decided on a date for you two to meet on and honestly speaking, I really think this one will work. It'll be good for you", said Mom. "You don't honestly agree with her about this, do you?", I turned to my Dad knowing that speaking to my Mom would be a futile effort. "I'm sorry Aisha, but I do. Like your mom said, I think this will be good for you. You need to start thinking about that aspect of your life too", Dad said. "That's it", I said as I got up and walked out onto the porch. How could they do this to me? I told them I didn't care about obnoxious stuff like that. That wasn't a responsibly I needed at this point in my life. After a few minutes of pacing here and there, I realized I hadn't even asked them who the proposal came from. Reeling in my anger, I walked by inside. "Who sent it?", I asked them with my face looking impassive. Or so I hoped. "Do you remember Sahil Oberoi from your University?", my Mom asked timidly. I'd told her about everything when Sahil had unknowingly broken my heart. "Yeah", I replied. "Well, it's from their family. Specifically, him", Mom told me. I was sure at this point that my face was astonished win my jaw practically sweeping the floor. "He remembers me?", I squeaked out.

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