Stella has been considering Maya since a few months now. Maya, who will soon turn 18, is a workaholic. She would not demand much from Arya. Since Arya was not into girls, this would be a relief for him. Maya will also not be bothered as she simply doesn't care about the concept of marriage. She believes in marriage as an inevitable formality of life.
" Baby, don't cry, don't! Everything is going to be alright "
Stella strokes her hand around Arya's head and back.
" Maya is the one for you baby." Stella slowly launches the statement near Arya's ears.
Arya moves away from Stella and starts gazing at her face in awe, his eyes all teary.
The room experienced silence for a minute and then,
"But Mom are you sure about Maya? " Wini questioned.
"Yes, haven't I told you why already? " Stella responds.
"Hmm! But not completely" Agrees Wini.
"It's Arya's turn to know about her." says Stella.
Arya is bamboozled. He rubs his eyes. He is sad and unwilling to listen.
"Leave me alone mother" Arya told his Mom and tried to stand up and leave.
Stella grabs his son and makes him sit again.
"No! Not today, can't wait anymore." After saying this, Stella tells Arya everything about Maya. She tries her best to convince her by holding his hands throughout telling him about the girl.
Maya,soon to be 18, is a High-Schooler in the city's best school, The High-gate International. There is no competition in the city of Volis,which she had not won, except, Debates. Well, that again has a reason. She is an extreme introvert, when it comes to communication. Although,her introvert nature has not stopped her from becoming a bright student, she still finds it difficult to express her emotions appropriately, as her mother, Mrs. Aguilera keeps saying.
A complete Workaholic, Maya is not any ordinary girl, who dresses and acts cute. She is reserved yet compassionate. When her family asked her about marriage and if she had anyone in mind, her reply was straightforward. She said that she does not have any boyfriend. She is ready to get married to anyone whom his parents deem fit for her.
"But… " Stella stops suddenly.
"What is it mom?" Wini's curiosity rises.
Stella then described that there was a rumor doing rounds regarding her that her classmates once found her kissing a girl in the school bathroom. However, there was no evidence to prove it. Maya Aguilera has however dismissed all these talks saying, "When you start achieving things in life, people do things to pull you down."
Her reserved and humble nature is even adored by her parents. Some say that she would grow up to be an ideal candidate for the city Mayor elections. Maya wakes up early around 5am, Baths, Prays, Reads, Exercises, has breakfast, leaves for school, attends Society Welfare Club after school, does homework, looks after the garden, often cooks and goes off to sleep, as per her mother.
"My ideal daughter-in-law, I can't wait to get her feet in my house" Stella says hopefully.
Wini, who's jaw-dropped while listening to the whole thing, now looks at Arya.
Arya moves Stella's hand. He gets up and heads towards his room. He didn't prompt a single word.
Wini looks at her mother. Stella looks back at her. They're both confused regarding Arya's reaction, knowing how thoughtful and sensitive he is.
Arya felt like shouting out loudly at them, "Go Away!... Leave me alone! I am at peace in my hell, " But he couldn't. "Sana!" He thought to himself. Sana once told after Jay's demise that a day will come when the world will try to mentally rip them apart. All his memories of Jay will be delinquent. Sana was his only friend in school after Jay. " No! That won't happen Sana!" Arya murmured.
"Arya?" Wini asked after hearing him murmuring. Arya runs to his room and shuts the door. He pulls out his phone from the pocket and dials Sana.
*CRING-CRING*
The call was about to get connected and…
"Hello?" A gentle voice picked up the call.
"Sana?" Arya said.
"Arya? Long time, no see" Sana asked surprisingly. Arya started sobbing.
"Arya? Hey buddy? What's wrong?" Sana was curious. She was speaking to him after a long time and the last time they met was at Jay's funeral.
"I can't take this. I can't. You were right. They're making me forget everything about him. They're asking me to get married." Arya said and kept sobbing. "What? Married? To whom? Who's the boy? Or wait… is it that they want you to get married to a girl?" Sana asked. "A girl! " Arya gave a quick reply. His tone showed that he was pissed.
"Hey alright! Calm down now. Who is the girl?" Sana asked. "How does it matter?" Arya asked furiously. "Can you please tell me who the girl is?" Sana repeated herself. "Damn her! I don't know who she is!" Arya said.
Sana took a deep breath and said, "Arya! Why do you think I am asking her name? To congratulate her?"
"What do you mean?" Asked Arya.
"I need her name so that I can approach her. So that I could tell her that girl, your life is going to go straight to hell if you marry this guy" Sana said and started laughing. Listening to this, Arya was speechless. It was sincere advice. "Oh… oh man! A plan that sounds good." Arya said. He hurriedly rubbed his eyes in excitement and hope.
"Now can you give me her name Sir?" Sana asked. "Someone called Maya." Arya replied. "My family is already praising her!" He added.
"Maya! Seems like I have heard this name before!" Sana wore her thinking cap. "Huh?" Arya, who was curious on the other end, asked. "Maya, Maya… M-M- Maya!... " Sana kept murmuring.
"Got it!" Sana yelled on the phone.
"Ouch! Can you speak a bit softly, it hurts!" Arya said.
"Man I remember, I guess she is from that International school who came to our school during an inter-school event. That year our school hosted an event, remember?" Sana asked. She thought she already knew who Maya was. Arya, who rarely participated in any event said, "Oh yea! I know! I remember everything about every event our school ever organized!" Arya replied sarcastically. "That's how much you know me? I bet you're guessing it wrong about her too," Arya added.
"Woah! That's rude buddy!" Sana said.