13 Wedding Hells #2
I took a deep breath, put the car in first gear and went for it.
Within the first two seconds, I knew that the angle was all wrong.
The passenger side of the Honda City would definitely bump against the SUV on my left.
So, I reversed the car and tried to undo the damage.
Except there were two cars waiting behind me, and they began honking angrily as I tried to encroach onto their road space.
I tried to go forward to let them pass, but somehow, I had even less space to proceed than before. I was stuck.
At first, I waited for a parking assistant to help me out.
When nobody magically appeared at my side, I honked my own car a few times.
Nothing. Seconds turned into minutes as I sat there, blocking the traffic and panicking wildly.
The driver in the Range Rover behind me was shooting daggers at me through the rear-view mirror.
A line of other drivers was waving and screaming at me to get moving.
And all I could do was sit there, hyperventilate and pray that the ground would swallow me whole.
‘Hey!’ Someone had walked up to the driver’s seat.
My first thought was that one of the angry drivers had come to harass me up close. But when my eyes focused on the man at my window, I realised I knew him. It was Karan, my OG Chauhan match.
I rolled down the window and said two desperate words: ‘Help me.’
He motioned for me to get out of the car, and I jumped at the chance of being rescued.
He got in, reversed the car, did some sharp manoeuvring and less than thirty seconds later, the Honda City was snugly parked in its spot.
The drivers who passed by gave me dirty looks, and one had a particularly annoying expression on his face when he took me in – like the past five minutes suddenly made sense to him because he’d found a woman driver at the end of it all.
‘Here you go,’ Karan said as he shut the door behind him.
I took the keys from him, feeling a rush of gratitude. ‘Thank you.’
‘No problem. It was a tricky spot,’ he said, shoving his hands into his Nike joggers. ‘What are you doing here though?’
‘Ah, I’ve got a work thing. You?’
We crossed the road and began walking towards the row of shops.
Khan Market had always intimidated me. When I was in school, a bunch of my classmates used to celebrate their birthdays in the expensive restaurants here.
Back then, no matter how much money I spent on their birthday gifts or my own outfit, I felt out of place and judged.
These narrow lanes frequented by foreigners and the crème de la crème of Delhi’s elite represented a world I could never quite feel at home in.
‘I’m meeting a friend for drinks in a bit,’ Karan said.
‘Oh, nice.’ I wondered if it was a date, but guessing by the way he was dressed, I doubted it.
‘Is my brother going to be joining you?’ he asked.
‘No, why would he be here?’
‘You two are working together now, aren’t you? Besides, from what I hear, you guys do hang out a fair bunch,’ he said with mock sincerity.
I ignored his sarcasm and responded, ‘No, I’m just here to pick up some clothes. So, if you’ll excuse me …’
I halted at one of the lanes that led to the inner market, where the store was located.
‘Oh, I don’t mind walking you. I’ve got some time,’ he said, motioning for me to lead the way.
‘So, what’s been up?’ I asked after a few beats of silence.
‘Oh, you know. This and that. Nothing as exciting as looking for a life partner to win a bet,’ he said, his tone casual.
Okay, so Aadar had told his brother about The Bet. Any doubts I had about their closeness immediately evaporated.
‘To be fair, I’m not looking for a life partner, just a boyfriend,’ I said, allowing myself a small smile.
‘Yes, my brother does seem to have the stiffer end …’ he trailed off as a group of young girls in sundresses and short shorts crossed us, eyeing him flirtatiously.
I stopped walking and turned to face him. I wasn’t in the mood to take shit from someone who enjoyed the attention of teenagers, even if he had just saved me from a distressing situation.
‘I’m not forcing this on him,’ I said.
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming you. I actually love this whole thing,’ he said, taking his hands out of his pockets.
When I just looked at him in confusion, he went on, ‘Apart from the constant entertainment it offers me, the strange relationship that the two of you share is perhaps the first bond he’s made with anyone in a long time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s a long story. I don’t want to get you late for your work thing,’ he said.
I knew what he was doing. He wanted to see if I’d take the bait and unfortunately, I was too curious to say no.
‘I really do have to hit that store, like, right now,’ I said, pointing to the designer boutique across from us, ‘but we can grab a quick coffee after that if you’re free?’
‘Sounds like a plan. Meet you at Starbucks in fifteen?’ he asked, and I nodded.
And that’s how, a half hour later, I found myself sitting across the table from my former Tinder match, aka the brother of my former arranged marriage match.
It was weird, to say the least. On the whole, Karan was still an insanely attractive man.
But I couldn’t detach my focus from his individual features.
His eyes, for example, were dark – way darker than his brother’s scotch-flavoured ones.
His jawline was sharper, making him seem less approachable.
His hair was straight and smooth, like his father’s.
Aadar, I knew from the time his family had come to ‘see’ me, had taken after his mother in this regard.
‘My brother … how do I put it?’ Karan said with a pause. ‘He, um, has a hard time making friends.’
‘He is quite disagreeable,’ I couldn’t stop myself from saying.
Karan let out a soft laugh before taking another sip from his cappuccino.
‘It’s kind of a recent development,’ he said.
‘Oh?’
‘Between the two of us, he was always the charmer.’ Karan leaned back, looking into the distance in a way that indicated he’d let himself slip into the past.
I sipped my own coffee, waiting for him to continue.
‘In school, in college, he was always front and centre. Teachers loved him … strangers, friends, relatives, my parents … everyone adored the shit out of him. And the girls … don’t even get me started,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘I used to be so jealous of my older brother.’
He shook his head, a glum smile playing on his lips. ‘I never thought he’d need any help in that department … let alone from my parents.’
‘What happened?’ I asked, placing my mug down on the table.
‘He got his heart broken,’ he said.
‘Oh,’ I said, then added in a low tone, ‘happens to the best of us.’
‘Yep,’ he said, then abruptly added, ‘except she died.’
It took me a few seconds to register what he’d just said.
My mind began to race as I took it in, trying to piece this information together with the image of the man I’d known for the last couple of months.
I thought back to the photo I’d found on his Instagram of a beautiful girl with no caption.
Was that his ex? And had that been before or after … ?
When I didn’t say anything out loud, Karan continued, ‘Road accident. Four years ago. It was truly, truly terrible.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ I managed.
‘Yeah, we all were. It was heartbreaking to watch him. He stopped hanging out with his friends – their friends – stopped going out, stopped being his chatty, charming self. He’d just work and sleep …
in the apartment the two of them had shared,’ he said.
He took a deep breath, then continued, ‘At first, we gave him his space. But when a whole year had passed, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I convinced him to move in with me. That’s how we got our flat together. ’
I thought back to the apartment I’d spent a night in after Saurav’s party. Karan’s room with the cartoon figurines, the living room with the suede blue sofa set, the washroom with a fresh supply of toilet paper and Aadar’s room that I’d never gotten to see.
‘I tried to set him up with some girls I knew, but he was genuinely not interested. Not in girls, not in friends, not in anyone.’
‘Until …?’ I offered, trying to match this mental image of Aadar with the one I’d come to form.
To me, he had never seemed like a man who was running away from love. He was probably the only guy I knew who was so eager for it that he wanted to get married and start a whole new life … with a stranger.
‘Until my parents brought up the topic of shaadi one day,’ he said, sighing. ‘I’m sure they hadn’t expected it, but he said yes. Instantly.’
‘But why?’ I asked, even though I had begun to form my own suspicions.
‘I guess he was tired of being lonely. This way, he could start a family, have a wife, a few kids … without ever risking his heart again.’