The sun's gleaming even though it's about to set and it makes him sad. I know it does, he had said it countless times before too. 'I don't like sunsets even if they're gorgeous. It seems like all good things of the day are dipping in for the night. The nights are always the weirdest time of the day anyway. They're lovely with a little company and insufferable without any.'
"Dhruv beta, where is your head?", his father, Mr. Mohan Malhotra, asked with a sigh and a tap granted to the back of his son's neck. Like it has been their ritual for over four years, he was once again at his parents' place for the weekend.
"Sorry, I got a little distracted," he tried to smile, he always tried.
His mother, a grumpy but loving one, Mrs. Sonali Malhotra, sat to his left with a cup of green tea between her fingers. She made a discontent noise and then shook her head. "Did you listen to any of it or should we start from the beginning?"
"The beginning," he grumbled and then shifted on the couch till he was sitting cross-legged.
"I want you to get married," His father mentioned, shrugging like it didn't mean anything. Dhruv's jaw slackened and he continued to stare at his parents in a way that made them squirm uncomfortably. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there anything wrong with what I said?"
"You don't see anything wrong with what you said?", he scoffed and leaned forward with palms on his knees.
Mr. Malhotra sighed and tossed his glasses onto the glass coffee table before pinching his nose bridge in a way that was common to most Indian parents. "No, I don't. We know you haven't moved on from Meera and what happened with her but," he then paused and raised his eyes to his son sympathetically. "You too deserve someone who will love you back."
Meera. Meera Rai. That was me.
Meera Rai, Dhruv Malhotra's long-term best friend, short-term and rumored girlfriend who flung herself off the balcony of their shared apartment in Bandra on 5th April 2016.
That's the first thing that came up when one searched my name in a web browser.
"Meera had always loved me," Dhruv defended with half a growl and almost thought of getting up to leave but he had enough respect for his parents to not do that.
"No, she didn't," Mrs. Malhotra pitched in. "She did not love you like you loved her. It's time you accept that Dhruv. If you like somebody else, tell us that otherwise, we'll find you a nice girl."
"Do you mean arranged marriage?", he asked with astonishment. Dhruv was twenty-five now, pushing twenty-six. Of course, his parents wanted him to start meeting new people.
"It doesn't really have to be arranged, you can meet up with several people and decide if you want to date any of them. If things work out...then we can get you married. If not, we'll keep searching. The world is full of women Dhruv, and men too."
"Forget it Ma," the boy scoffed. "I am not going to get married."
"There's no harm in meeting people," His father said tentatively. While Mrs. Malhotra was a fairly reasonable and soft-spoken man, his wife was literal chaos in front of him. I fear that's exactly what made them fall in love with each other. You know? The same old opposites attract bullcrap.
Dhruv and I were never like that. We both had the same personalities growing up, we got along even better than most 'opposites' couples.
"I'm not meeting anybody. I'm fine by myself," Dhruv grunted as he pushed himself off the white couches. "Don't- Do not bring this up in front of me again."
His parents only gaped at their son who stormed off to his room only to return a few minutes later with his bag thrown over one shoulder. "I'm going back to the apartment, see you next weekend," Dhruv told them as he slipped his feet into his flip-flops.
"What about Neha's engagement? Are you going to attend?", Mrs. Malhotra asked, calm for the first time in hours. "You know she misses you a lot. You're allowed to bring a plus one as well."
"When is it?", he questioned with a soft sigh and rested his back against the shoe racks.
"In ten days," his dad supplied with a yawn. "Please do me a favour and ask one of your female friends to accompany you."
"You two should really try to be a little more understanding."
His words fell to deaf ears. "Meera isn't going to come back Dhruv, get a grip it's been years."
Mrs. Malhotra had always taken me as her own daughter but there was a slight bitterness to her tone whenever she spoke of me after my death. Did she not like me at all? Or maybe she just despised me for leaving her son empty like that.
"I know but I won't pretend that I will be able to stop loving her," he heaved finally after a long minute of silence. "You shouldn't too."
He walked out of the bungalow with that. Not only was Dhruv their only child, he was the center of attention amongst his relatives too. Neha was his mother's sister's daughter. Mausi's daughter and probably one of the only few people he always stayed in touch with.
He owned a red Porsche, a two-seater, which meant he had to switch to his parents' car every time they went to events together. It was a beautiful car but not a smart purchase, clearly. The door to his car was locked and in almost no time, he was at his apartment complex, chewing down on his bottom lip as he wondered whether or not to go to Neha's engagement party.
God, it was the terror of meeting his family and answering questions that he definitely didn't want to. It wasn't like they had any bad intentions behind their intrusiveness, everybody saw him fall apart but he was okay now, he just needed people to stop fucking talking about it.