The Great Indian Wedding Romance

7. Company

Siddharth spent the rest of the afternoon nodding along to his relatives. 

There were a lot of snide comments about the party that had apparently gotten so out of control that everybody but his Tauji knew what the groom's friends had done and he was being clubbed with them. 

He caught his cousin in the middle of tea. He grabbed Veer by the sleeve and pulled him aside. 

"Veer, what happened yesterday?" Siddharth asked him.

"Oh man, it was crazy right?" he said with an idiotic grin.

"Do you not remember I left before your party got... insane?" 

"Did you? I remember you. You were the one who caught Jatin right?" Veer said scratching his head.

"No!"

"Oh, I could have sworn you were there. Anyway, you missed a hell of a party then. It was amazing!" he said dragging the last syllable of 'amazing' and then paused before adding, "Until Hitesh started that fight."

"Yeah, I think I'll live. Could you please clarify to your mother that I wasn't a part of whatever happened on the rooftop last night?" 

"Why, man?" 

"Just tell her," he said sternly and gave him his best no-nonsense stare. 

Veer was startled at Siddharth's tone but recovered quickly and nodded. 

"Good," Siddharth said and walked away. 

He walked inside and looked for the same balcony where he'd smoked yesterday. 

It was only day two and he was done with this wedding. It was more exhausting than he had pictured. His relatives were getting on his nerves but the way his mother was acting around them got to him even more. He couldn't say that to his mother but it bothered him. 

Maybe it was a good thing his friends were coming in the day after tomorrow. Then he would have an outlet for his feelings. Not that he was one to vent or talk about what was on his mind a lot but Yug and Meera always said the right things. He felt infinitely better with them. 

"You seem upset," a voice said. 

Siddharth looked up and found Chetna standing a few feet away with a bunch of bags laden on her arms. He immediately walked up to her and gestured for her to give him the bags. 

"Wow, that's very chivalrous but I can't," she said clearly struggling under the weight of the bags. 

Siddharth sighed,

"I thought we were over this."

"Do you want my Bua to kill me?" 

"Ask the hotel staff for help then," he said frustrated. 

"That is who I am looking for."

"Just give me a few bags. If someone comes in I will claim these are mine," he said.

Chetna finally relented and transferred the bags to his arms and sighed in obvious relief. 

"Now then let's walk to your destination," he said. 

She looked like she wanted to protest again but Siddharth interjected,

"Only until we find someone to help us with these." 

"Okay, let's go. Give me a couple. They are heavy," she said.

"I can handle it," he said with half a smile.