Just Fate

Part Two: Chapter Thirteen

    Jessica Gupta's  POV (Priya's mother)

   Seven years later...

    "Anjali, you've barely touched my samosas, come on, take one." I said serving Anjali Bhatia a freshly homemade samosa from the plate. It was the 24th of December and there was no better way to celebrate Christmas Eve, and the soon return of out children, who suprisingly were going to arrive Madrid on the same day, the 27th of December. The Bhatia's have been our family friend for centuries now, our parents got along really well, so did we, so did our children. Priya and Rahul have been best friends since they were tiny. They were inseperable. But it was strange after Priya let. Rahul was alone, he often came to visit, but couldn't stand her absence, and one day, he stopped coming. I hadn't seen him for about seven to eight years now. I had seen pictures of corse, but not him. The kids were coming back from Vancouver for New Years Eve and soon we would all be reunited again. The excitment was tempting, we have not had a complete family event together after both Rahul and Priya left for University. 

    "Jessica, it's time for desert, bring out the sweets." My husband, Aaditya Gupta, demanded from beside me. I nodded and silently walked into the kitchen for the best part of dinner. Indian sweets always had a way to make the atmosphere even more pleasent. I stacked the sweets, side by side in a floral design and took the plate out carefully in my hands. Smiles lit up the room as I put the plate on the crystal table and sat down. 

    "Wow Jessica, did you make these yourself?" Anjali asked suprised.

    "Indeed, I had a little help from the maid, but the rest was all me." We all smiled and started digging into the plate. For the next hour, we laughed, drank win talked about the economy of Spain, the old times in India, and gossiped about the women in the Indian society of Madrid. It was a habit. We could never leave an event without some gossip. Suddenly the room turned silent. Everbody was quiet, it seemed that we had run out of things to talk about. That was until Nikhil Bhatia broke the silence.

    "So, the kids are coming back soon ha? This is going to be incredible. It's been quite a while since we have all been together." It was true, we all nodded in agreement when I joined in

    "Yeah. I still can't believe it though, it's as if it was yesturday I was in the hospital with one year old Priya in my arms and one day old Rahul in Anjali's arms. Time has passed so fast. I mean can you believe it?  Priya is already twenty seven, and Rahul turns twenty seven next month." I said with amusement, but at the same time, sadnesss. They were so big, yet young.

    "I know, oh if only they were married." Anjali said with her hand on the top of her head before she continued. "I mean look at Aruna's children, married already, and I heard her daughter is expecting her first child soon too." I agreed with her, afterall, I didn't want to be a grandmother at the age of eighty.

    "Oh I know dear" I said in agreement with Anjali. "But look at Aruna's son, he married a spanish girl, I just don't want that to happen to my Priya. I want her to have a good indian husband" I said picturing the perfect image in my head. 

    "Yes, I guess that is right. But that is impossible to find these days Jessica. Where you find a good guy, he won't be indian, and where you find an indian guy, he will have a bad family. The world is so different these days. Our day was so much simpler. Mama and Papa told us who to marry, and we did it, and it was successful. If only children these days would let us do that." She said with an accusative tone towards the children. I hate to do this, but I had to agree. I had an arranged marriage, and it was perfect, then why couldn't our children agree with it. Suddenly we were interrupted by the voice of Nikhil Bhatia.

    "Oh god, the only way to get the the children to have an arranged marriage these days is doing it  secretly. There is no other way." He said shaking his hand in the air. I was confused, what did he mean by secretly? How could there be an arranged marriage in secret? Just as I was about to ask, my husband stole my words from the tip of my mouth

    "How would you do that?" He asked with a curious look on his face. 

    "Well you chose the guy or girl and make them fall in love with the child, thats all. And if they know each other, then even better." He said sipping his glass of wine. 

    "Well that is a genius idea. I wonder if it works?" Aaditya said with curiousity.

    There was another moment of silence between us. We were all in the deep thoughts of Nikhil's theory, wondering if it could work. This time the silence lasted longer until Anjali broke it.

    "We could try it? I mean there is no harm right?" She said looking at all of us for opinions. We all froze for a second, thinking it was a joke. But it wasn't. She was serious.

    "Even if we did try, there is no way it is going to work. I mean we have to look for a person first, then convince them to fall in love with our children. It would take ages, and I don't think many people will be up to it." I said wishing there was another way to find a perfect husband for my beautiful daughter until Anjali interrupted my thoughts again, with her own. 

    "Not if both our kids had to fall in love." She suddenly said with her mouth open, as if she just made a discovery. All of a sudden, she stood up from the table and continued. "Oh my god. This could actually work. Both of them live in the same country, both of them are coming to Madrid soon and both of them have been best friends since they were small. I don't think it's going to be that hard to make them fall in love. Besides, can you imagine it, our children getting married, we wouldn't have to worry about our their future family and if there partners were going to be indian or not. I mean we love both the kids as our own. So why not?" She said with excitment. She was right, we wouldn't have to worry about anything, and it wouldn't be that hard. But before I could express my own opinion about it, my husband blurted out 

    "I don't think it's going to work Anjali. They are friends, we cannot make them fall in love in fifteen days." he said putting down his glass of red wine. But it was worth the try, if Rahul and Priya could really happen, then I wanted it to happen. 

    "Don't be so negative Aaditya" I said "I think Anjali is right, we can give it a try.  There is no harm in trying."  I said with slight desperacy in my voice. 

    "Alright" He said. Soon after that Nikhil got up and agreed to the decision too.

    "The only question is, how do we make them fall in love?" Aaditya asked. My mind started searching for ideas but Anjali beat me to it. 

    "We get them to spend more quality time together, thats all. I mean I'm sure the kids don't meet up and spend time together now a days with all the work they have. We just have to bring them back to being best friends and remind them of their closeness." We all smiled with bright smiles on our faces. The idea was brilliant, and we were all very excited. We were going to make our children fall in love with eachother. We were arraging a secret arranged marriage. Incredible. 

    By the end of the night we all said goodbye to each other and left the Bhatia residence with great enthusiasm in our hearts. We didn't normally buy presents for christmas since we barely celebrated it, but this time it was different. This was going to be out present if our plan was successful. I prayed to god on my way back home ´Please god, help us succeed in our plan. Help bring Priya and Rahul together´ my mind said. I couldn't wait...