The Great Indian Wedding Romance

28. Deja Vu

Eight months later 

The missed calls on Siddharth's phone from Veer did not surprise him. 

After the wedding, they had been in touch and unexpectedly he hadn't hated it. Veer was okay once Siddharth understood he had nothing to do with his childhood trauma. He had introduced Veer to his friends and they had hung out a couple of times since then. 

He figured that Veer might have some plans he wanted to involve him in. He had been talking about organising a trip of some kind. Not that he wanted to go. 

He pulled into his lane and parked his car. He grabbed the bag of groceries and walked into his home. 

The faint sound of music greeted him. He figured mother must be inside enjoying her glass of wine as she sometimes did. He laid the bag on the dining table and a vague sense of Deja Vu hit him. 

Lying on the table was an ornate peacock blue box. 

To say he approached it with some sense of foreboding would be too dramatic but it did weigh down his gut.

To, 

Mrs Yamini Rajput and family

It read. Siddharth read the rest of the calligraphy with a sinking heart.

You are invited to the auspicious occasion of the wedding of 

Chetna Haldar 

Daughter of Mr and Mrs Nitin Haldar

with 

Bharat Agnihotri

Son of Mr and Mrs Kishan Agnihotri

Please grace us with your presence on 28th September. 

The door to his mother's room opened and the music filtered out at full volume. His phone buzzed in his hand, it was Veer yet again. 

"Siddharth is that you? I thought you were back." 

His mother's voice was barely an echo with the blood roaring in his head. The card was made out of hard cardboard and not flimsy paper or else it would have crumpled in his fist. 

"Oh, you saw the card? Chaarvi's sister is getting married? Very strange." 

That was when she saw Siddharth's expression and stopped speaking. He seemed frozen in time, that was how still he was standing. His jaw was clenched and he clutched the card in a white-knuckled grip. She knew he had liked her back in December but she hadn't expected the news of her wedding to impact him this much.

Gently as she could she placed her hand on her son's shoulder, which snapped him out of his daze. The card cluttered across the dining table, spilling some of the cashews it had come with as Siddharth flung it. 

Before she could get another word out Siddharth's door had slammed shut. 

***

"Siddharth beta, are you okay?" 

Siddharth heard his mother's voice at the door for the third time in the past hour. 

He had been blasting music and playing his guitar alongside the noise to drown out any thoughts that might surface. Any thoughts about those lively honey eyes. That lilting voice. Those rosy lips.