Dating my Fiancée

11. It didn't feel right.

"Hey calm down. It is just my family. You ain't meeting no prime minister." All through the ride they both kept talking and cracking jokes like they have been friends for ages and haven't just met a week ago. But as they got near the airport, Mohini's nerves started getting tense. Just one more day and they would officially be a couple. She wanted to do it, even Isha wanted her to do this, but she wanted to do this with her daughter alongside her. When she would be exchanging the rings with Aryaman the next day, her beastie might be playing some game or would be eating away Vini's brain cells. It didn't feel right.

It didn't feel right not to tell Aryaman about her. It would be unfair to him, after all he was the person with whom she'd be taking the seven circles of holy fire and taking vows someday. He deserved to know what was coming his way. He deserved an explanation of the whole thing and a chance to back out if he wanted to. Yet she couldn't give him that chance, all because of a promise she made to her daughter. She felt an emotion that she wished she could never feel surging through her veins- GUILT.

Was there even a guilt free day in her life since Isha became a part of it? She felt like a coward for not letting the world know her decisions; a betrayer for ruining her parent's trust; and lastly- an incompetent mother who couldn't even give her daughter the love of a family. There hadn't been a single day, in which she didn't feel guilty of not telling parents about her life with Isha. Every single day she wanted to ring them up but then all the memories from her past would resurface again. She could remember the day vividly when her maa-papa gave away the infant to an orphanage. 'What will she tell them? ' was the question that whirled through her head. 'Oh maa, you remember once you gave away a child to an orphanage-well I, I got her back ten years ago and have been raising her since then. And I want you to love her the way any grandmother would love her grandchild.' Wouldn't she sound funny saying that. She often laughed at herself for coming up with something this absurd. And if she ever assembled the right words in her head she could not say them out aloud because of her fears. What were the chances that her parents won't do the same thing that they did years ago.

The deep brown hued eyes that were cheerful moments ago, had lost their glimmer. Her boisterous laughter had faded away and was now replaced with a thin lipped smile. Aryaman sensed the change in the air. She might have been nervous to meet a family that she knew nothing about and was supposed to spent her rest of the life with. She might have been worried about what they will think about her, will they judge her or will like her.

It was genuine to be nervous. How would one feel when he was asked to leave his parents, the ones that gave birth to him, and shift with a family he knew nothing about. But that happened to most of the girls, right. Why did society want only a woman to sacrifice her hard earned job, her freedom, her life for a man and his family. And even after she sacrificed all of that who was responsible to ensure her happiness and safety in that family. Can society explain the horrifying cases of domestic violence and marital rape?

Aryaman was brought up well. His mother always taught him and his elder brother to be respectful towards women and treat them as their equals. About his family judging her, he was sure they already loved her. Aarini kept bouncing whole day like a crazy fan who got a chance to meet her idol. His mother- well, she was totally on another level selecting gifts for her daughter-in-law and then forcing each of them to agree that Mohini would certainly like the gifts she selected. Oh and his father, you see, he just asked him if he was really ready for all this because later he wouldn't like Aryaman not treating Mohini well. All this commotion made him wonder if this was how they treated his brother's fiancée back then. He would have surely asked Rachit had he been here. His brother wouldn't be attending his engagement ceremony because he was busy with a deal that could prove to be milestone for his company.

Not wanting Mohini to freak out by over thinking he gently said- " Hey, calm down. It is just my family. You ain't meeting no prime minister. " She was brought out of the reverie. She shook her head to clear up her thoughts. She promised Isha that she won't tell Aryaman about her yet so she had to keep her promise. What was done was done. All she needed to do now was to enjoy the event twofold, one for herself and the other one for her cute little beastie.

When they reached the airport lounge the first thing mohini did was to bend and lightly touch the feet of Mr. Nanda, Aryaman's father and said- " Pranama". Touching the feet of the elders was a way to show your respect. In the twenty first century India this practice was disappearing. It was very rare to see someone touching the feet of elders on a regular basis. On occasions like this, Mohini preferred to stick with her morals and the teachings of her parents.

Mr. And Mrs. Nanda were spellbound when she did the pranama. They always had been the ones to encourage Indian culture but never forced it upon someone, not even their own children. Knowing about the present generation and their obsession with trends and their beliefs like being-modern-is-forgetting-the-traditions, they were impressed seeing Mohini. Oh and not to mention, Mohini's hairstyle gave them a different idea about her personality when they first saw her photo. Turns out they judged a book by it's cover. But they were glad she had both, the cool and the sanskari character in her. Acknowledging her gesture Mr. Nanda said with smile etched on his lips- " May god bless you, child."

When she turned towards Mrs. Nanda to do the same, the elderly lady caught her before she bent down. Putting her arms around the latter, she politely hugged her and said- " You don't need to do that. My blessings will always be with you."

As Mrs. Nanda pulled back, Aarini, who had been standing behind the couple, jumped in front of them and grabbing Mohini's Hands in her she excitedly said- "Oh finally I met you. You know I was so so so excited to meet you but Aryaman Bhai said that you were busy. But no worries! Now that you are with me, we are gonna have lots of fun together. We are going to wreck havoc and no one can stop us. Oh and did I tell that you are beautiful. Your hair, well they took my heart away the moment my eyes got the privilege to have a look at you photo... " On and On she went without giving Mohini a chance to reply. Happiness was radiating off her as if she was the moon on full moon night and the world seemed to be bathing in her high spirits or at least Mohini did. She couldn't help but smile giddily. Aryaman had already told her about the twenty two years old kid of the house. Her effusive and enthusiastic nature already made Mohini feel at home. 

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*giggling*