That's The Way We Met Part 9

A Few Things Left Unsaid.

Once we reached Mumbai, we headed straight for our respective offices and gave notices about our extended leaves. A reasonable excuse about missing our scheduled flight, with no flight for the next two days in snow covered Ma.n.a.li, did the trick for us. Riya couldn't come up with an excuse and so she got a warning letter from her HR department. But it didn't hamper her incentives or job profile. I consoled her and told her to take it easy.

After a hectic day at office, we left for our respective homes.

'Aditya, where is your laptop? I was unpacking your bag and realized that it was missing,' Mom asked me.

'I have given it for servicing. They will return it in few days,' I lied, trying to dodge the question for the moment.

I found myself overwhelmed with a sense of shame.

The next day, Riya informed me that she had purchased a brand new Acer laptop for me worth eighteen thousand rupees. I screamed at her for having spent that entire amount without even once consulting me.

'Jaan, you know how your family is hard pressed for money. You should not have spent that big an amount. The trip cost us a bit of money too and going ahead and blowing up that entire amount on a laptop is not right. We have already spent a lot of money in the last few days,' I reasoned with her, but she got angry at my sudden outburst.

'You don't care that I bought it with so much love? Here you are bombarding me with your logic when all I did was buy you a new laptop so that your work doesn't suffer,' she replied.

She left without saying another a word. I never intended to hurt her. I just cared for her family and didn't want her to be scolded for pampering me without thinking the least bit about them.

She refused to take my calls the next day nor did she meet me at our regular meeting time outside her office. I knew she was supposed to be going for an office party, but would she be going at all after our little argument? She called me to tell me that she was indeed going for the party and that I should not call her or chase her there. I felt utterly dejected.

Mohit called me after some time.

'Aditya, I am so sorry. G.o.d! I am such an idiot. I hadn't opened my luggage since returning to Mumbai as I was busy answering congratulatory calls from relatives. I opened the bag right now to find your laptop inside it. I must have put it in there by mistake in a hurry while checking out of the hotel,' said Mohit in an apologetic tone.

'Oh G.o.d. And just when Riya got me a new laptop! I have already angered Riya with my scolding and now this discovery. This can't be happening to me,' I said and kept the phone.

I called up Riya immediately. She didn't pick up as expected. I tried again but to no avail. I kept on blaming myself for the foolishness. I felt bad that Riya had spent all that money on the laptop unnecessarily. But who can predict the future?

I called her again. This time she picked up. Her voice sounded like she had consumed far too many drinks at the party. She shouted at me over the phone when I told her my old laptop had been found in Mohit's bag and hung up without listening to anything I had to say!

Later in the night, I got a message from her. From now on, please don't message me or call me. The sight of your face irritates me. In fact, everything you do irritates me. Don't do all this drama in front of me, trying to sound apologetic and all.

I messaged her back saying, I never put up a show, dear. Please, I am really sorry. Cross my heart. I swear never to repeat this. Please give me one last chance.

I got an instant reply from her saying, Please stop doing all this. Today you have hurt me a lot. Money doesn't matter to me. What matters is your trust, which you broke today like a piece of gla.s.s.

I messaged back saying, What are you accusing me of? I merely got confused. I forgot that I had given my laptop to him. I am sorry. Please. Can't you understand just how sorry I am?

She replied, Please. Even after knowing me for the last few years you can say that I am lying, then I was a fool to love you so much. You can never change. Fate brought us together again and we were so happy. Why did you have to do this? Now you are confused. You took revenge. You never wanted me back. My Mom scolded me like h.e.l.l for having spent all that money on a laptop! I know what I went through for your eighteen thousand rupees.

I could not understand why she was saying all this. So I called her up instead. She took a long time to pick up her phone and when she did, I could tell she was still at the party as there was music being played in the background. She seemed to be drunk and by the gibberish she spoke, I could tell she was not in her correct state of mind.

'Can you stop drinking? I know that you are with your colleagues and must have joined in their drunken revelry. But, please, don't cross your limits. Just go home and sleep,' I said shouting at her so that she may take me seriously.

She agreed and returned home. I called her up to confirm and only once she reached home did I breathe a sigh of relief.

Sometimes I close my eyes to imagine how it would be if everything were perfect! I loved her and knew that she loved me and cared for me. No relations.h.i.+p is complete without its fair share of fights.

The next morning when I got up, I saw a message from Riya that brought a huge smile to my face.

I am so sorry for behaving so badly last night. I was drunk and don't remember a word I was saying. If I hurt you yesterday, it was done unintentionally. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but I was really not in my senses. I love you so much but when you are careless, it drives me nuts. When you speak about my past, it hurts me. I know you don't mean anything by it, but I am so insecure when it comes to your love. I don't want to lose you again. I realize you can have any girl in the world, but you chose me. And I am not going to let a silly fight come between us.

Is there any way I can make it up to you? I hope you have it in your heart to forgive me. You've no idea how much I have missed you all these days.

Love you a lot!

I called her up and we decided to meet after our office hours.

I was desperately waiting for the s.h.i.+ft to end. It feels so nice when you make up or kiss your girlfriend or boyfriend after a long fight. It had been three days that we hadn't talked to each other, neither had we met. I went to her office after my s.h.i.+ft got over and when she came out, I rushed to give her a tight hug. She couldn't hold back her tears and ran towards me, clinging to me tightly. We kissed each other and looked into each other's eyes. I could see the pain of missing me in her eyes.

'Aadi, I have made the decision of telling my Mom about you and about our wish to get engaged,' she said.

Goodness gracious! Was she serious?

'Your Mom has a hint about our relation and she knows that you love me. However, my Mom still doesn't have a clear idea about what we are up to. I will try and convince her to accept our relations.h.i.+p and take it forward with my father,' Riya said as we headed towards her home, hand in hand.

'Don't you think it's too early? I doubt your Mom will accept our relations.h.i.+p so easily,' I said knowing how strict her family was.

She a.s.sured me that she wouldn't do anything silly and make her Mom understand. It made me utterly nervous. I was not afraid to face her Mom if the situation demanded it. However, I was afraid of losing my love. We had seen many difficulties in our relations.h.i.+p until now and I wanted a smooth journey ahead. Not everyone is as lucky as Mohit and Sonam. We had tried to and had managed to come so far. We managed to maintain the pa.s.sion and intensity in our relations.h.i.+p even after so many years. We didn't let it be monotonous. We kept the spark of love alive.

They were about to tie the knot after seeking the blessings of their parents. We did not know if the same future lay ahead for us. But life never is so easy and predictable, is it? Will it be a smooth journey ahead or a roller coaster ride?

We were keeping our fingers crossed!

When I reached home that night, I logged in to my gmail account to check for unread mails. I saw Riya online, so we started chatting.

Aadi, I am very nervous. I don't know what my Mom's reaction will be. I don't want to lose you again, popped her message.

Don't be nervous. When you will speak with your Mom, be confident else, your nervousness will reflect in your tone. G.o.d is with us. Don't you say this often? I typed.

But I am still afraid about her reaction. Tell me something to calm me down, she said.

If I were in your place, I would have held you tight, taken you to my Mom and said, 'Mom, she is my wife. I hope you don't mind. Even if you do, she still will be my wife! So the best thing for you will be to accept her with open arms, I punched in.

Stop it, Aadi! I will kick your...

Come on, go ahead. Finish your sentence. Kick your what? I said cheekily.

I will kill you. Bye. I am logging out. I will tell my Mom tomorrow morning when I get up. Love you.

With that we came to the end of our online chat. All I could do was wait for the next day to know what transpired at Riya's home.

The next day, Riya told me about her conversation with her Mom.

She told me that she had woken up early in the morning, not having had much sleep due to a tense state of mind. She had gone into the kitchen where her Mom was preparing breakfast. She went and stood behind her without speaking a word. Her Mom turned around to find Riya standing right at the entrance of the kitchen. She saw that Riya was nervous and asked if she wanted to speak about something. Riya told her Mom to follow her into the room as she wanted to speak to her on a very important topic.

They sat on the bed facing each other.

'Mom, I want to speak to you about my future. I know it's too early and I am not old enough to be speaking on this topic, but I will try and hope that you understand my point of view,' said Riya.

'What are you talking about, my dear? Is there any problem?' she enquired.

'No Mom, there is no problem as such. But I... Actually... You know... I want to talk to you about Aditya. We want to be engaged. We won't marry anytime soon. However, we wanted to get your seal of approval and take our relations.h.i.+p one step ahead.'

'What are you saying? Are you in your right senses? You know what the condition of our family is. Dad is still not over the loss we suffered in our business. We are struggling to make ends meet here. We have the responsibility of your brother's education as well as running the house with the salary that you get. I think it is too early for you to be thinking about such things,' she said in a fit of anger.

She kept quiet for some time after which she told her, 'I am not asking you to arrange a grand function for our engagement. I am not even asking you to call all our relatives. However, we can manage a small family function and proceed with it.'

'You are being selfish here and thinking of just yourself. Why can you not think of your brother? For once, think about him and his education. Your father is already in a trauma, and if we discuss these things in front of him, then G.o.d knows what will happen. Try to understand, dear. I am not against you or your relations.h.i.+p with Aditya. I know that he is a nice guy and will keep you happy. However, I also know that he is not stable financially and will not be able to provide for your well being. Let him get somewhere in life and maybe then we can talk,' she advised.

'I still don't understand what problem it will create.

It's not like after marriage I will stop thinking about my brother and my family. I obviously care for you and Dad. But I don't want to lose Aditya. Please try and understand,' Riya pleaded with her.

'I do understand your feelings. I have told you this before that I am not against you and your relations.h.i.+p. However, this is not the right time to speak about this. You both need time to get settled and have your own ident.i.ties. You have some responsibilities to fulfil. Once your priorities are done with, we can surely think about Aditya. I hope you won't talk about this again, especially in front of your Dad. He has too much on his plate already', she said.

'Forget it. You will never understand me. I have told you so many times that I won't stop caring for my family. You are my first priority, I very well know that. But there is nothing wrong in taking our relations.h.i.+p one step ahead at this point. So fine, if you don't want me to talk about this again, I won't,' said Riya.

And that's how it all ended.

I told Riya that I wasn't surprised by the outcome and said that I had expected this to happen.

'Don't be upset, jaan. Your Mom is not against our relations.h.i.+p. She just doesn't think it is the right time for us to get engaged. At least she didn't reject it outright. Please don't cry. I am not going anywhere, so please smile. You look pathetic when you cry,' I said trying to make her smile.

Love is a pain which keeps burning inside you. That burning feeling keeps a person alive. We lived for each other and dreamt a lovely life with each other. Not having my expectations met hurt me. But I kept the hurt within myself and prepared to face another day.

A Secret Marriage.

Come soon near Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mohit messaged me. I called Riya to tell her that Mohit had asked me to meet him at the mall. She told me that Sonam had sent her the same message. I was near Malad and reached the mall directly. I called Mohit to enquire where he was. He told me that he was waiting at Pizza Hut with Sonam. Riya hadn't reached yet. She was on her way to Malad.

'What happened? Is it something urgent?' I asked while sitting on the couch.

'Let Riya come. We will tell you then,' said Sonam.

I ordered one spicy veggie pizza for myself. We talked about general stuff until Riya came. She asked the same question that I did.

'I don't understand why you have both called us at the same time at the same place? What is it guys?' I asked with curiosity.

They smiled looking at each other and Mohit gave Sonam the eye nod to reveal the suspense.

Finally, Sonam said, 'We have called you here for a special reason. Just this morning, my Dad called to tell me that Mohit's family and they have decided the engagement date. It has been set for March 3. We have to leave after some days for the preparations.'

'Wow! This is awesome news. Congratulations to both of you. I can't express my happiness. This calls for a party. I still can't believe it is happening so fast. I remember the day you both met for the first time, and today your engagement date has been fixed. We are really happy for you guys,' I congratulated them on behalf of both Riya and me.

'We are leaving in some days' time because there are a whole lot of preparations remaining and even the invitations have not been sent out yet,' said Sonam.

Mohit was leaving for Gujarat while Sonam was going to Delhi in the coming days. The engagement date was nearing and they had to plan and implement many things. They had booked their tickets and were ready to leave for their respective homes. This was one love story that didn't have any twists and turns by G.o.d's grace. But I knew such a perfect story is a rare case.

I suggested that they throw a party just for friends before leaving. But Riya was not particularly excited about it. I suppose I knew the reason. Before I could speak, Mohit asked her why her mood was low.

She told him about her showdown with her mother regarding the engagement. I felt bad but helpless. I took her in my arms and told her all would be okay. Sonam too got up from her chair and sat on our couch, trying to make Riya understand.

'Riya, you are harbouring a misconception in your mind. Your Mom did say that Aadi is a nice guy and that she would think about it in the near future. So why are you thinking so much about it? You should be happy that she has at least agreed to think over it. If she had any problems regarding you and Aditya, then she would have stopped you from seeing him altogether. She wouldn't have encouraged your relations.h.i.+p,' Sonam added.

I could tell Riya saw light in her argument, but she was still doubtful. 'You don't understand, Sonam. No one does. I have felt the pain of losing him before. I can't afford to lose him. I know that I have to take care of my family, but that should not come in the way of my marriage. I can't get a guy who will love me so much and accept me as I am. I have seen darker sides of life. It is not easy to be in the world all by yourself,' said Riya trying to hold back her tears.

Mohit got out his mobile phone from his jeans and showed a message to Riya. It was the message I had sent him the night before.

I was so happy today that Riya will be telling her Mom about our relations.h.i.+p. But I think luck will never favour me. Her Mom rejected me as an unsuitable groom owing to the fact that I am just starting out in life and will not be able to support a family economically at this stage. She is not wrong on her part. And I always expected this to happen. I feel bad for Riya. She really cares a lot for me and I know she would be depressed after this incident. I managed to make her understand that we will always be together and that no one can separate us, but it hurts me to see her so upset. I hope she gets over this and moves on. If it was in my hands, I would have married her today itself. She is a sweetheart. Sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to share my feelings with someone.

I don't know what overcame Riya at the moment, but she suddenly got up and exclaimed, 'Let's get married.'

'Jaan, we are already married. I hope you remember our seven promises,' I teased her.

'That was unofficial. Let's make it official. I am serious,' she said.

'Have you gone nuts? What are you talking about? I was just kidding with you. Is getting married so easy?' I was not in a mood to joke anymore.

'It is. If you love me, then stop arguing. We won't tell anyone. We will keep it a secret. Let's have a court marriage.'

Everyone was shocked. Mohit stared at me while Sonam gave a hard look to Riya.

'This is not a piece of cake. It's marriage. Don't you understand? It's marriage, for G.o.d's sake!' chided Sonam.

A long silence engulfed the room No one spoke. I was speechless. I felt like someone had banged an iron rod on my head. Was it a dream or a nightmare?

Aditya gets married to Riya officially. A secret marriage. Wake up. This is real life, not reel life!

'Riya, you think it is easy? What if your parents come to know of it later on, maybe one or two years down the line? I know you both love each other and I can understand what you are feeling right now. But that doesn't mean you will take a bad decision now and regret it for the rest of your life,' said Sonam.

Riya was firm with her decision. I knew she could do crazy things, but never thought just how crazy.

'No one will know. We can keep it a secret. And we are eligible for marriage, so what's the problem here? No one can take legal action against us for getting married. Heck, no one will even know we are married,' said Riya. I could see how excited she was at the prospect of getting married secretly, making it a big cause of worry for me.

Mohit, who had remained quiet until then, said, 'Riya, do you trust Aditya? If you trust him and have faith in him, then stay calm. Your family needs your attention now and if you take such steps, they may lead to several other problems in your life ahead.'