'...There is no need trying rewriting the story which is written on the palms of the hands. Its ink is permenant...'
'An excerpt from Manya's essay in English literature exam.'
He came to my house first time through the door. He greeted my family and asked for my hand in marriage. It was all bizarre. As expected, my family was jubilant. They liked him. They had always like the potential groom.
I,on the other hand, was disturbed. Quiet so. As I leaned against the kitchen counter with a glass of water in my hand and stared at Parth who was standing in front of me.
We had been given alone time to talk to each other.
'Who is the old man?' I asked. His face wasn't familiar and introductions had already finished by the time I came.
'A distant relative.' He replied.
'Your parents?'I asked another question as I stared at his perfect profile.
'Haven't seen them since I became legally adult.' He replied. A simple sentence and he explained many things with it. His eyes were fixed on water glass in my hand. He hadn't looked me in the eye today.
Kitchen was silent as I didn't had anymore questions to ask. I started to sip water slowly. My throat seemed dry for some reason.
'Manya.' He said.
'Huh?', I replied.
'Please say yes to my proposal.'
I thought and then asked, 'Why do you want to marry me? We broke up a long time ago.' Its been years. If he had any feelings he would have come back earlier. Why now?
'I never forgot you. I just wasn't in the financial position to marry you.' He told me.
'What that has to do with anything?'I said slowly.
He looked up into my eyes for the first time today. His eyes looked desperate. 'I had nothing. I was turning eighteen. Neither of my parents wanted to keep me with them. The uncle wasn't ready to bear any responsibility any further. I had nowhere to live. I could only go back to Australia. It was hard. I didn't want you to face it. But now, I can give you the lifestyle inwhich you were raised.'
There was an itchness in my right eye and I closed the eyelid. I placed the water glass which was cold against it to relieve it.
It was surreal. So much heartache, unreplaceable losses and all because he thought that I won't be comfortable. I laughed. I had expected another girlfriend. I had expected parents disapproval. I hadn't expected this. The sound of my laugh was loud. I immediately tried to stifle it as ladies weren't expected to laugh. It turned into sobs. Sobs which I couldn't stifle.
