I hate the most about a wedding when the elderly aunties and uncles start nagging about your own wedding. Why should I tell them when I plan to set a date for my marriage or anything of that sort? Can't they mind their own business? And for that matter, why put their nose into everyone else's concern!
One of the ladies sitting beside me, whom I never knew, began speaking, "Are you married, son?"
When I shook my head, she continued, "You know, you shouldn't waste your days as a bachelor. Marry a girl, have your kids, run your family."
I swear if homicide weren't a crime, I would have stabbed this lady with a fork from the dining hall. Priya was with the bride, she was one of her bridesmaids if you take it to be. I messaged her to help me out of the situation. Thankfully she arrived soon, "Hey Arjun, come with me."
"Aunty, I need to go!"
Finally, she stopped speaking; whatever the hell she had been blabbering over the last ten minutes or so.
Once we moved away from her, I whispered to Priya, "A minute more, and my ears would have started bleeding! I'm not sitting again. Give me some task to do."
"Okay then," she handed me a Gamosha, "wrap this around your neck and greet the people near the entrance."
"You should have allotted me this task beforehand!"
"I'm giving you now. Go there, but try to stay away from aunties with unmarried daughters." she laughed.
"I wish they had a signboard engraved upon them."
"Go now," she pushed me towards the entrance and went back to the bride.
I took a break to have my lunch. Though I'm not a teenager anymore, I still eat like one in almost all functions that I attend. Priya was surprised to see me load my plate with three-quarters of chicken.
"I thought you were conscious about your health!"
"I can't miss good meals, sorry." I laughed.
"And then go for fasting for a week?"
"Can't be more adapt!"
As I continued my part-time work for the day, mom video called me. I moved outside to avoid disturbances.
"Hey, where are you?" she began.
"In Nisha's wedding, of course!"
"Nisha, who?"
"Wait, did I forgot to tell you?"
She nodded and waited for me to continue.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't know how I missed that. She's a colleague, and we came early in the morning."
"We as in?"
"Priya and me, who else can it be?"
"There's another girl who re-entered your life, didn't she? So, my question is valid!"
Mom never stops pulling my leg. I could only smile at her taunt.
"You'll be late then?"
"Ya, don't wait for me for dinner."
"So you don't really know why I called you?"
I was confused. She continued, "You promised to prepare the lunch today, didn't you? Last Sunday of the month it is, you forgot that too?"
Shit, shit, shit. I realised that I messed up my family time.
"It's okay. Enjoy your time. It's just that I came in to check what new dish you're preparing today and was surprised not to find you there. I looked around the house, but you're not there. So I rang you up to check where exactly had you vanished and with whom?" in came the mocking again.
"Please, stop it now!"
"I'm kidding." Now I know from whom Sheena inherited the mockery.
Once I cut the call and resumed my work at the entrance, a man standing beside me began, "Are you Roshni's son?"
I turned around to meet his face. "Yes, I am. How did you know?"
"I saw your mother on the phone. We used to study in the same primary school." I doubted if he actually knew my mom, for it would be more than thirty years since my mom left primary school.
He began again, "How old are you?"
"Three more years I have before I enter my thirties."
"That is so good. You know my daughter is of the same age too!"
Aah, not again! I let out a sigh of dismay. I needn't have to say anything, for he was in no mood to stop, "She's beautiful too. Both of you would look good together!"
"Uncle, I am ..." I tried to sneak a few words but failed.
"Let me complete. She has recently completed her Master in English. My house is not very far. How about I take you to my house now, and you see my daughter."
It was becoming embarrassing now. If that lady I met before was a prickly pear, this man sure was a jumping cholla variety of cactus!
He even held my hand now and started dragging me. The more I resisted him, the more I got confirmed that he was drunk!
"Uncle, I think you should relax now."
He got offended, "You think I'm drunk? That's what you take me as, right?" he started losing his balance now. However, he managed to successfully speak another sentence before tumbling to the ground, "At least we can have the ring-ceremony today, and you can marry her later!"
I wanted to leave him like that, but my inner self wasn't complying to be inhumane. So, I lifted him, took him inside and made him sit on a chair and sprinkled water on his face, following which he regained his consciousness. When I narrated the instance to Nisha's mother, who was amongst the others gathered to check up on him, she apologised.
"Please forgive him for this nuisance. Even though we want, we can't get rid of them, for they are our neighbours!"
I felt sorry for aunty. She was toiling throughout the day to make sure nothing goes wrong, and then comes this guy who almost spoiled everything.
"Why are you sorry, aunty? It's not your fault."
"Thank you for that. I'll get someone to drop him home."
Priya laughed aloud when I narrated what happened to me once we got back inside the car for our return journey.
"Put on your seatbelt!"
"It's post-midnight. I don't think we need that; there won't be any traffic police at this hour."
"It's for safety and not to avoid challan!"
"Okay, you win." she finally put it on, and I started the engine.
"You know they had a ten-year-long relationship before tieing the knot of marriage."
"Of course, I know. She's first my colleague and then your friend. Raghav is from our office too, and they are indeed the cutest couple of our office."
"I wish I also had such a long bonding with you!"
"Me too! But we have just met a few years back, and we can, of course, stretch it up very long- till our death, if that's what you want to hear!"
"I know that, but I meant to imagine how beautiful it would have been if we were teenage couples!"
"We can only imagine that, for I never knew you back then."
She was silent and turned away to look out of the window.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I didn't understand her sudden behaviour change. The girl who was talking and was cheerful all along the route became silent.
We crossed Adabari and almost reached Jalukbari then. I turned off the music to make sure if she was okay or sobbing.
"Tell me something. You are worrying me up!"
"I'm fine," she finally spoke with a broken voice, "just keep driving."
I couldn't bear to see her like that. So I leaned sideways to turn her face towards me. No sooner had I attempted doing that, there went a wheezing sound of something metallic piercing through the windshield, and it hit the driver's seat and would have hit me straight in the forehead had I not moved from my position. It didn't take me long to figure out that someone attempted shooting me from the top of the Jalukbari flyover. Never before I feared for my life, but today I did- I wanted to be safe, I tried to breathe alive to see another day. Though I had several close encounters with mishaps over the past few months, it was the closest I came to being dead!
I somehow raced the car to reach the basement of the flyover as that would be the safest place to escape from the range of the shooter. I stopped the car and dialled up police, and asked them to hurry as our lives were under threat. I had goosebumps all over, and Priya was in trauma! I kept praying that the local police would arrive sooner than it would take for the gunman to scale down the flyover and find us! And thankfully, there were sirens from both sides of the flyover within five minutes. I could have moved out then and started our journey back home, but I waited for the police to come and assure me that there was no one at the top now.
One of the policemen tapped at my window. I was startled at first but later lowered the pane seeing the familiar brown uniform. "Are you both fine?" He asked.
"Yes, sir. Are we safe now?"
"We can say so. There were a minimum of two men, and they came in a Black Scorpio, which unfortunately had the number plate removed or it can be a new one. As we arrived from Amingaon side, one of them, who was outside, hurried back into the left seat, and the car drove off towards Lokhra side. We tried to chase them, but they were far out of reach in no time."
Once we were safely back home, I reasoned, "Nobody knew where we were going. I even forgot to tell my parents about the wedding."
"But there is one."
"What?"
"There is one person who knew where we were going." she put a lot of effort into getting the words out.
"No!" I was bewildered.
"I mean, it is so apparent now. Stop protecting her, Arjun."
"But why would she do that? I'm failing to understand that."
"Only she'll have the answer to that! Maybe because she can't have you, she doesn't want anyone else to have you either."
"Maybe."
"Arjun, sometimes the truth is right under your nose, but you fail to see it."
"I got what you're trying to imply."
"It was Meghali all along. You just failed to catch her red-handed."
"I'll do something to confirm the facts and make sure we're not barking off the wrong tree if that helps."
"And what are you planning to do?"
"We visit her tomorrow, you keep her engaged in conversation, and I'll go through her stuff."
"I'd love to do that, but I have got an important meeting with my client tomorrow. But you should surely go, and I bet you won't return empty-handed."