Her Mr. Right

Uncertain yet, certain 🙃

Neha sat smiling to herself, zoned out with the idea of being close to Arjun while he left her house. The clouds of infatuation dissipated and reality settled in. She went paranoid when she realized Arjun had invited her on a dinner all alone today evening at a restaurant. Was she ready? She had no idea.

“Is it a date?” Her heart wondered, feeling elated upon getting the admiration being reciprocated but her smile faltered when her brain reprimanded, “Are golgappas not enough that you want to date?”

“I should text him that I cannot come”, she mumbled to herself while her brain had on gone on hyperactive mode.

“You just want to let him enter inside your home, your personal space and your life so that you could blame him if this society would pinpoint your character. Why can’t you just stay away from him, Neha?” These musings crossed her mind and something in her heart shattered into pieces.

Tears blurred her eyes, just ready to fall down washing her regrets while her heart cried, “His company gives the strength and acknowledges who you are, Neha”.

“If a dinner makes you happy then don’t crib over Pawan’s words. Moreover, even your own parents disrespected you when you rejected a marriage proposal but Arjun stood with you when you needed someone.” Her heart tried to explain the reality while her hands typed, ‘I am sorry I cannot join you in the evening today. Some guests are coming over’.

But before she could hit the send button, the video call from her sister Piya sprang on her screen. It was often a ritual for her siblings to connect her on a video call and exchange pleasantries on the weekends. Wiping her tear-stricken face and faking a smile, she received the call only to find her elder sister live on the screen, sitting in her balcony with a genuine smile on her face.

“How are you, Neha?”, chirped Piya excitedly while Neha responded with a meek ‘good’ along with a fake smile but her elder sister could see through Neha’s eyes. As Piya coaxed Neha to speak up about what was wrong with her, Neha broke down and her waterworks began.

As Neha narrated her ordeal and insensitive words of Pawan hiccupping all the while, Piya felt bad for her sister. Having stayed in a joint family with a mother-in-law who disliked her and constantly judged her, Piya could feel what her younger sister was going through. She could feel that Neha was getting drowned in the darkness of disappointment and loneliness. She could feel her sister regretting all her decisions.

Piya had always seen Neha as a confident girl who had even made a choice to be financial independent while their parents were against the idea of women being working. Piya was disheartened to see her sister breaking down just because someone had questioned her character.

Neha had not always been like this. She had been a headstrong girl who had always kept her point and held her head high. However, Neha had changed after her engagement was called off. From a strong, independent girl; Neha had transformed into a timid, weak woman after she had decided to talk to Rahul about his incapability.

Rahul, her ex-fiancé had not just called off their engagement but also called her unspeakable names. Neha could have still coped with the trauma if their mother would have not labelled her as a ‘disgrace’. Their parents had trusted Rahul instead of their daughter and this fact had broken hearts of all the three siblings.

Piya’s heart bled looking at her sister devastated state. Her voice stuttered as she asked, “Neha, be strong and this shall too pass”.

“How long, Piya? How long? How long do I need to be strong? First Ma and Papa blamed me and my job for calling off the engagement. No one questioned Rahul, right. I thought I will just focus on my work but then Arjun came to ruin everything.” Neha bellowed and Piya was amused at her sister. She mentally thanked Arjun for paving a ray of hope in Neha’s life filled with darkness, disappointment and devastation.