Vasudha's heart beats almost drowned all the chatter and laughter in the living room below. She looked at herself in the full-sized mirror before her. She was wearing an olive green saree that was tightly draped around her ample curves. Her braided hair fell down to her knees and fragrant jasmine flowers decorated them. Her neck, wrists and ears were all adorned in gold.
She tugged at her uncomfortably heavy necklace. "Stop fidgeting," hissed her grandmother Rajam. "But Ammuma, I don't want to wear all this... and for the umpteenth time," Vasudha protested against the gaudy display she was made up to be. "Girls of a good family should put on a show of their wealth when the boy's family comes to visit for the first time," Vasudha's grandmother replied. "If you were a little prettier, slimmer or a bit fairer, we would not have had to parade you like this," she added to the insult.
Ammuma was right, Vasudha thought. The reflection in the mirror looked a little less pretty now. It grew blurry as Vasudha's eyes filled with water. Had she been a little prettier, she would have been married by now. Thanks to her apparent plain appearance, she had managed to complete her MBA and harbored dreams of creating a career of her own. But her parents could not wait any longer to get her married, especially her father. After being rejected by a slew of men due to her homely looks, her parents were desperate.
"This wedding better happen. This is the best proposal we have received yet," Vasudha had heard her parents discussing the other night. "The family that owns the illustrious Siddhi Group of Industries! Billionaires!" exclaimed her father, Dev Balakrishnan "If this wedding happens, my business will reach the sky piggybacking on their success." He rubbed his hands happily. "I hope Vasudha likes their son too," her mother Priya said. "I don't care if she likes him or not," her father had burst out. "If he likes her, Vasudha will marry him." Her mother had cowered silently, unable to speak for her daughter. Vasudha's parents had a difficult marriage. Dev was abusive towards Priya. Vasudha had even witnessed him hitting her mother. He was also known to indulge in affairs during his business trips. Vasudha suspected her mother knew but did nothing. "Why do you take this, Amma? Why don't you leave him?" Vasudha had asked her mother after a particularly violent episode. "And where will I go?" her mother had answered, resigned to her fate.
Vasudha had been sleepless last night after she overheard her parents, worrying if she would end up like them, if she would also be trapped in a loveless marriage, if she too would have to live like her mother, resigned to whatever fate had in store for her.
"Vasudha," her mother's voice woke her up from her reverie. "Come, let's go down. They are all waiting for you."
"Don't say much and smile sweetly." reminded her grandmother.
The room hushed down as she entered with her eyes glued to the floor. What did it matter if she saw her would-be-groom or not? He would either reject her with just a glance or if he did accept her by some twist of fate, she had no option other than marrying him. She was here only as a formality. Her destiny was set.
"Vasudha, greet our visitors," her father said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "She is just shy," he told his guests. "Namaskaram," Vasudha whispered softly with folded hands and her head still bent.
"Vasudha," an unfamiliar voice said, "Come, sit with me." The voice was kind and maternal. Vasudha raised her face to see the warm smiling face of a woman. Vasudha smiled a little and sat down beside the woman. "Are you okay?" she asked. Vasudha nodded in return.
"My name is Neha," she introduced herself. "That is my husband Mr. Govind Rao, and beside him is my only son, Anil." She pointed at the couch opposite to them.
There sat an almost bald man with a protruding belly and the most innocent smile. And beside him was a strikingly handsome man. Vasudha's eyes met almond-shaped ones. His face was a smooth rich bronze with just a shadow of stubble. His hair was jet black and was longer than her grandmother would approve but carefully styled. He wore an off-white casual shirt and blue jeans that looked out of place compared to her outfit. He smiled uncertainly and then she noticed the slightest evidence of a dimple that took her breath away.
She blinked momentarily. "He is going to reject me," she thought to herself. "There is no way this handsome man, heir to the Siddhi Group of Industries, is going to agree to marry me."
"Why don't you both head to the garden and get to know each other?" Vasudha's mother said, to which the grandmother looked daggers at her.
"Uh no, our daughter is too shy. And anyway, what I say goes in our family," Dev said with a fake smile on his face. He could not risk his stupid daughter saying something and having this proposal or rather this business opportunity slip away from his hands.
"But I want to speak to her," Anil said firmly. His voice was just as beautiful as he was. "It is our life we are here about, isn't it?" he said.
"Of course, of course," Dev said grudgingly. "Vasudha, show him to the garden."
Vasudha got up and wordlessly walked ahead, and Anil followed her into the garden. This had never happened before. A prospective groom had never asked to talk to her. They would leave and then call later with a vague rejection like too fat, too dark or too plain. Was Anil really interested in her, she wondered as a flicker of hope arose deep within her. She took Anil to the bench under her favorite tree, where she had spent countless hours of solitude escaping her toxic home.
"Please sit down," Vasudha said to Anil.
"Vasudha, I don't have much to say. I am sure that you are a wonderful person but I cannot marry you," Anil blurted out.
Speechless and confused, Vasudha stared at Anil.
"Vasudha, you have to reject me," he said, baffling Vasudha even more.
"You did not have to bring me out here to tell me this," Vasudha said. "You could have just told your parents. They would have informed my parents later. That is how it usually happens."
"I have my reasons, reasons that I can't explain to you. Please, I beg you to reject me. Tell your parents that you don't like me," Anil pleaded.
"Don't I deserve to know the reason?" Vasudha asked.
"We have nothing in common, and we may never meet again in life. These few moments cannot assure me enough to trust you," Anil said.
"Okay, I understand," Vasudha nodded.
"Thank you, Vasudha," Anil flashed his dimpled smile. He looked relieved as he walked back, leaving Vasudha under her favorite tree.
Tears filled Vasudha's eyes. Stop, she scolded herself. What did you think would happen? How did you dare to hope? So stupid!
Then dread filled her heart. What would she tell her father?
She stayed seated under the tree. As soon as the Rao family left, Vasudha's parents made a beeline towards her.
"What did he say to you?" her father demanded.
"Did you like him, beta?" her mother asked her lovingly.
"Of course, she liked him," her father said dismissively. "Didn't you see how handsome he was? Do you think she would find a husband like him if she waited a hundred years?"
"I won't marry him," Vasudha whispered timidly.
"What did you say?" her father glowered at her.
"Papa, I... I don't want to marry him," Vasudha said, faking firmness.
"How dare you? Who do you think you are to reject a proposal like this?" her father went off the handle.
"Talk some sense into your daughter," Dev turned to his wife. "If this marriage doesn't happen, both you and your daughter will know what true suffering is. This marriage will benefit my business, my status in the society, my wealth..."
"Everything, everything except me!" yelled Vasudha, cutting her father off. Adrenaline rushed through her veins seeing her father shout at her mother and her mother cowering again helplessly... all because of her.
"They will not want me anyway," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
As if on cue, Dev 's phone rang in his pocket. He looked at the screen to see Mr. Rao's number flashing. Dev put up a hand to silence them both.
"Hello, Govind Ji. Were you so pleased with my daughter that you called back so soon?" he said into the phone with his signature fake laughter. This was followed by silence as he listened.
Vasudha buried her face into her mother's shoulder. She knew what was to come. They would reject her with something vague. Anil must have made up some excuse, like they all do. She and her mother would have to take the brunt of it till another proposal came by.
"They said yes!" Vasudha heard her father say.
She lifted her face to look at her father in astonishment. Her father's face was a mix of incredulous disbelief and malicious happiness for a moment. Then it changed to stern determination.
"And, you will marry him," he declared, each word falling like a gavel sealing her fate.