Unhappily Married

Ch.03 Bumps and Bruises

Six months earlier.....

After the sudden surge of adrenaline, caused by Mr.Hottie, I've become quite numb. As slowly as I could, I inched away from the pillar and started walking without any direction.

Life is so weird at times. In my 24 years of existence I have seen some pretty crazy stuff. I've been a part of some too.

When my relatives started jesting about me getting married, I thought those were just empty threats. Now they actually went on to talk with potential families! I've got to put my foot down and say no to their schemes.

So far, I have liked a guy for the past half hour, and turns out my aunt is trying to extract a marriage proposal from his family, purely coincidental; of course!

That seems too sensational to be true for my life. I kept thinking about it for a long time, which was really 10-15 minutes. In the end I realised that, I was taking this way too seriously. I was definitely not in a teenage girl's fantasy. The chances that my family actually brings a prince charming for me, (ruining his life in the process) tend towards negative infinity.

With my new found clarity in place, I brightened up and searched for the buffet. Thinking so much had made me hungry, I decided to stick to my original plan of spending these two days in the company of food.

Wonders of wonders only a few cousins of mine were present near the food table. No nosy Aunties or noisy Uncles. Seizing the golden and very rare opportunity, I went around trying all the snacks. Me and my cousins debated on which ones were the best and ended up have second and third helpings of each. I realised this was what I liked about family gatherings, though they had their unpleasant moments, we all felt a sense of belonging to each other.

My aunt was hurrying me while, I carried the offerings for the rituals in my hands. She was working me and few other cousins like pack mules. As I rushed to complete the errands, my 3 year-old niece started following me around and tugging on my dress. And the people watching her, instead of stopping her, were egging here on. Apparently this was supposed to be 'cute'.

Really people? What if the baby trips and falls on a sharp object? How 'cute' would that be!

I figured if I moved out of their sight, they'd stop encouraging her behaviour and she'd lose interest too and leave. I stepped outside in the hall, looking behind to keep an eye on her. Suddenly, I stumbled over the sandals kept haphazardly on the floor and crashed into someone, toppling both of us down the entrance stairs.

We landed at the foot of the stairs with a thud. My head was throbbing painfully, stars clouded my vision. I breathed in deeply to control my pain and the tears.

When my vision became clear of the haze, I saw the person who was the unfortunate victim of my downfall, literally. I stilled, staring back at me from where he was sprawled on the floor was Handsome Hunk.

I breathed in sharply.

So, I had caused my crush to fall down the stairs and injure himself.

I looked left and right. The ground showed no signs of opening up to swallow me. Maybe I will dig a hole and bury myself in it. When I finally found my voice, I started stammering apologies.

'I'm so so so so sorry! Oh gosh I just stumbled a-a-and...oh god I hope you're not hurt!'

He blinked and said in a drawl, 'I'm okay. Though, you might need a new dress. Actually-'

'Hmm', I stared at him stupidly. He was speaking something, but I only saw his mouth moving. He had such a lovely voice, it was mesmerising. A thought struck me that I still didn't know his name. I could keep dubbing him nicknames, but something within me yearned to know the name of the person who stole my breath away.

We both got up (I was so going to feel the bruises tomorrow) and he turned to leave. In a fit of desperation, I called out, 'But your name?'

He stared at me before replying, 'Samar. Samar Devan.'

And I smartly replied back, 'Nina, Nina Madhavan.' and gave him a big, goofy grin.

His eyebrows creased. Maybe he was trying to figure out the language of a stupid. In any case he gave me a sheepish shrug and hightailed from there.

I rewound the past few moments in my head. I remembered him mentioning something about my dress. I looked down and saw a giant cut running across the side of the dress. Oh shit!

Holding the two torn parts together, I waddled upstairs, ignoring the questioning looks of the people there and the pain in my limbs. I went to the supply room(the tiniest room in the venue where everyone stored the essentials), searched for safety pins and patched up the tear roughly.

My suitcase had been taken to the hotel room and I would be leaving in an hour anyway. After making sure I wouldn't accidentally flash the people around me, I decided to scout for Samar. Samar! What a beautiful name!

Well it's no mystery at this point, but I was infatuated with this guy and not being near him seemed like a waste of breath. While, being near him turned my brain into a pile of mush.

Over the course of the next hour I did some stuff which were actually quite embarrassing once the high wore off.

I kept roaming around the place he stood, chasing my cousin. In my mind, I looked like a playful heroine who charms the hero with her cuteness. I probably looked like a baby elephant running amuck, with its giant paws splaying.

Next I engaged in deep and meaningful conversation with my baby niece, cooing at her and laughing weirdly. I had pictured a hero looking at a wonderful woman and imagining her to be the mother of his children. During execution, I may have come off as more childish and immature than the 3 year-old sitting next to me.

I did some other wild stuff too. I actually talked to my grandma voluntarily as she happened to be sitting in his vicinity. While he left in a minute, I was stuck in a dreary monologue about marriages 'back in our day' for ten minutes.

By the time our families left the venue, I swear we made eye contact at least 5 times. It was really thrilling! On our journey back to the hotel, I couldn't keep the wide grin off my face. I walked side by side with my cousin Maithili.

'Nina, there's something I want to discuss with you. Raji Mami spoke with one of Rohan's relatives and they have shown interest in marrying their son to you. Now don't freak out--'

'Oh! I know about this Maithu, and I'm not sure if it will amount to anything.'

She seemed a bit relieved. 'Still, hypothetically what do you think of marrying Udit?'

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Glossary
Mami- Mother's brother's wife in Indian languages

Dear readers,
What do you think of Nina's antics? I'm sure puppy love has made us all crazy every now and then. And more importantly, who's Udit now?
Please do vote and comment on the story. It would really mean the world to me. Every vote and comment encourages me immensely.
Love,
Vi