My Arranged Love Story

Chapter 11: Dying

"You need to be careful Dhiraj, you know that stress is not good for you at all. Take these medicines and stop worrying ok." Dr. Resham said.

"Well, ok." answered dad.

I walked along with Dr. Resham to ask about dad's condition.

"So, what's the problem Dr.? I asked.

"Christina, you know that he has high blood pressure and blood cholesterol. He should not be stress. Stress makes these types of diseases more serious. If he keeps on taking so much stress then he might have heart disease soon."

I gasped.

"It's early, so give him less to worry about. And make sure that he takes all his medicine."

I nodded. He patted my head and left in his car.

It's all because of me. It's all my fault. He got all stressed out because of me.

I was deep in my thoughts and suddenly Rani aunt grabbed my arms.

"What did the doctor say?" she asked in a hurry.

"Well, he told me that he should reduce his stress level and take medicine every day."

"God, now I have to be more strict in his diet," she mumbled.

"Umm," I nodded my head with a sad face and just started walking with heavy feet.

I can't give more stress to dad. All his life he protected us, now it's time to protect him.

_______

"Dad, can I talk to you for a minute?" I knocked at dad's door.

"Yeah, come in" he was in his bed having his soup.

"Sit." he gestured towards the chair.

I sat." Dad, it's about the marriage."

He gave me a glare. "Talk."

"Well..." I hesitated."...dad... I am...ready to get married. You can fix any date you like." I blurt out rapidly.

I looked up to see his face. His face suddenly started to get lightened up. His smile came back and I felt as if his tension was all released from his shoulder.

He stood up from his bed and hugged me. He patted my head slowly.

"What happened?" Chris asked while bringing a plate of food along with Nisha.

"She agreed !" explained dad with tears full in his eyes.

"Really?" Nisha and Chris shouted in a sink and looked towards me for confirmation.

With a smile, I nodded.

"Oh, congratulations."Nisha and Chris hugged me.

Yeah, this is more important to me. I want to see my family to be happy. It is not important to be in love with the person that we are about to get married to. For sure I have to make those happy whom I love already.

_______

"Chrisee, is it true," asked Kriti while pounding.

I knew what she was talking about so I just nodded my head.

"Butt.."

"...it's for good. Anyway I am going to state. Dad is happy, Chris is happy, everyone is happy." I quelled her.

"Do you love him?"

"Well, I don't love him but he is not that bad. He is sweet." I ruffled my hair.

"Chrisee," whined Kriti and gave me a tight hug.

"Heh, stop rankling me. It's not like I am dead or something."

I was brimmed. I could not stop my tears. I just cried along with Kriti for some time.

It's just for today. Today is the last day I am going to cry.

_______

"He is coming today, not after a year so hurry up," shouted Chris.

Everyone was busy today. People were just rushing around the hall. Everyone was trying to make every corner of the house perfect since it was one of the biggest days for them.

Except for me, everyone in the house was busy. I was just sitting in front of the dressing table while my friends were dolling me up since Daniel was going to come to our house.

"Christina, so after all, you are getting married to your love," screamed Diena in her raspy voice.

Everyone in the room laughed, whereas I smiled with a stone in my heart.

"We all want to know how you two met and how did this guy proposed to you. Did he book the whole restaurant and give you a ring in your dessert or did he decorate someplace with lights and BOOM he confessed to you." further asked Diena.

I smiled at her and tried to ignore her.

"Thank god you met the guy otherwise I thought you would end up alone. Do you all remember how she used to refuse to date any random guy from our college? How she broke the hearts of the guy who liked her?" said Reshma.

Everyone nodded their head and suddenly Kriti came inside the room.

"It's time, let's go," said Kriti, quelling everyone.

I stood up and marched towards the hall wearing the red suit of Anarkali. I could clearly see Daniel sitting next to dad wearing a black shirt with a pair of light jeans staring at me while I was walking towards him.

There were other family members of Daniel sitting next to him. One woman in her forties, two men-one in his late twenties, and another in his fifties.

The woman must be his mom, the elder man his father, and the other guy his brother. But their faces do not match at all. They came to Nepal so fast from the USA. Or were they in town?

With random thoughts, I reached the sofa and greeted them since they were guests after all. I sat on the sofa next to my dad. The priest was also there already.

All of the elders started to talk to each other and started to discuss with the priest about the marriage date.

I started at the floor blankly. Although I looked in peace, I was not. I was thinking about what Reshma and Diane talked about earlier.

I always rejected boys because they could not match up with my expectations. Not a single guy could win me over through their proposal. I was always expecting to have a magical and wonderful love story like in novels and movies.

Due to my greedy nature deity punished me by fixing an arranged marriage to some stranger. Now I won't be able to love anyone as I wished for. One of my dreams is breaking up.

I won't be loving anyone now. I am going to get stuck with the man whom I barely know. One part of me is dying now. It's over.