A Love called Myra: Raj and Meera

Chapter 8

Meera

The day of the engagement came around before I could count the days. A week ago, Raj had been so sweet to come by on my last day of work, to give my class a party. They loved it. Of course I'll miss them but I'll visit from time to time.

 On the day of our engagement, he did everything he could to make me feel like a princess. He had a team of makeup people come to my house and when they were done with my face and outfit, I could still see Meera there but a totally different me. This me should be able to move on from what I've been through in these last few months. 

By now, I was slowly getting over Ram. I still couldn't believe he left me like that. I feel like it's almost a dream because I found an extraordinary guy after him. Raj is the sweetest. I don't know what to say or do when I'm with him though. He is a complete stranger and he's seven years older than me. I'm not sure if that's too old or not but he doesn't look older. I'd say he looks about my age! I've only seen him on the screen before actually meeting him. Now, I'm marrying him! I'm just doing what my parents want. I can't believe it's come to this.

Today's orders from Commander Mom, "You must smile, speak to everyone happily and enjoy the company. Forget your past and think only about your future." And I did what I was told to. Today, I was dressed in a magnificent white sari with some gorgeous jewelry to accompany it . We went to the banquet hall for the party once my family and I were all dressed and ready to go.

Once we got there, the first person I saw was him. He wore a white suit and wow, he did look quite handsome. He gave me his hand to help me out of the car. The cameras were on either side of the long aisle. When he had told me about the media following us around he hadn't been kidding. They had just found out about our marriage and there were bits of news about it here and there. No one actually knew how I looked so they had come out today to our event. 

My parents had gone in and soon it was just us. There were blinding flashes and so many shouts. I felt his arm slide smoothly around my shoulders and he calmly guided me in. I could only stare at him like a dork. As soon as we got past the cameras, he turned to me and asked if I was okay. I blushed saying I was fine. Then, he gave me a romantic look which made me blush even more! "Looking good." "Same to you!" I replied thinking about what a dork I must've sounded like. I got nervous again. Was I flirting with him?

 For some reason, he reminded me of Ram and I couldn't help but feel a stone drop in my stomach. As soon as we entered, there was just a big crowd. They were  enjoying the party and standing around drinking and dancing. It was a light atmosphere. We had congratulations from many people. 

When it was time for pictures of just the two of us, I stood beside him stiffly and firm but his arm had gone around my waist just to where the patch of skin not being covered by my saree was exposed. My body tingled when he touched me. I looked up at him but this was all too natural for him. I pulled his hand lower over the saree and he kept a hold onto it before letting go when we were done. He gave me a grin before turning to talk to someone.

 Soon, we were gathered to the stage where both of our families stood around us. The marry me speech had come and as he spoke I could only stare into his eyes. They were comfortable and welcoming, not so hard. They were loving eyes. I could only smile back. When he knelt down, my eyes grew big. He opened the ring box and slid the ring onto my finger. I heard the clapping around me but I felt like I was floating on air. 

And then I ruined the moment for myself by thinking about how all of this would've been if this was Ram. I slid the ring that was given to me over the finger of his waiting hand. He held my hand as we turned for our pictures and I didn't stop him. I felt loved; I felt beautiful; but I felt sad. I could only think about Ram. What was wrong with me? It felt like I had just started forgetting him. I felt like I had finally begun to develop feelings for Raj.

As we left the building later that night, Raj arranged a date with me for the very next day. We had gone to a restaurant he enjoyed and then it got a bit late. It was dark outside. I couldn't guess where he was driving me because there were trees on either side of the road and I knew it wasn't the way back home. I began to get scared. "Raj, where are you taking me?" "You'll see." "Raj, please, tell me!" 

He silently stopped the car on the side of the highway. Nobody was around us. We're in the dark. What was he thinking? He turned to me and I felt pretty endangered. I leaned back just a tad bit. The safe feeling I had had with him was leaving quickly and it was being replaced by panic. He told me there was no reason for me to be scared.