Arranged Roommates

|4| Roommates After Marriage

"We can just live off as roommates after marriage. No commitments. No obligations. No interference. And most importantly, No more emotional blackmail." He emphasised the last sentence as if it would convince me of this maniacal idea.

"No."

"But what's the problem with this? It's the best idea considering both our situations!" He looked at me with big eyes, waiting for my approval.

"The problem?" I laughed at the absurdity, "There are so many problems with this ridiculous idea. It would take me the whole night to list all of them."

He rolled his eyes, "Then kindly enlighten me with the problem which is at the top of your list, please."

"You told me that you are not ready for commitment yet."

"So?"

"It means you believe in the real kind of marriage. So, what would happen to this marriage when you are ready to commit to your real marriage and all those things?"

"Please elaborate on what you mean by all those things?" he grinned amusedly and a small dimple that appeared on his left cheek entranced me. For a moment I forget what we were even talking about.

Stupid cute dimple. Focus.

"You know what I mean." I stared at him unblinking, "So what would you do if you want to marry someone else in future?"

"Look, when I had agreed to this marriage, I wanted to go fully into it because I really had no other choice. I had just thought that, if you agreed to do this, we could develop some sought of friendship or mutual affection after marriage, if not love." He looked at me and I nodded for him to continue.

He heaved a sigh, "But if we do this roommate thing and if any of us wants to get out of this marriage after some time, for whatever reasons, we can just take a divorce." I gaped at him at the mention of divorce as he continued, oblivious to my reaction, "Of course, we will sign a prenup and other required agreements to avoid any future complications."

I screeched, "Are you crazy! Do you really think my so-called progressive parents who are practically forcing me to get married would agree to a divorce?"

"You are too dramatic. I have met your parents. They just want you to be happy. I am pretty sure if you told them some exaggerated tale of how miserable you are if we take a divorce, they would support you. And till then you can live freely without their interference in your life."

That sounded so correct and tempting.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I know what you are trying to do by repeating that no-interference thing again and again."

The corners of his full lips turned up in a slight smirk, "But it's totally working, is it not? Saying yes to this arrangement is right at the tip of your tongue. Stop overthinking and say yes."

I thought for a moment, listing down the pros and cons. Cons- could lead to divorce complications, could lead to unnecessary drama, and shared living would lead to less personal space. Pros- freedom and no more meddling by parents.

"Okay, yes. Let's do this."

"Let's do this!" He was practically beaming at this point like a kid high on doughnuts when I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"Don't get too excited, we still have so much to discuss before we finally do this."

-x-

"No, we need to have at least five days of wedding functions, Ria. What would the relatives say? You can't have a single-day wedding. Does this type of thing even exist? The rituals require more than three days minimum."

A week after we decided all the conditions of this arrangement and we told our parents 'The Happy News', I got my mom's call about setting dates for marriage functions and engagement ceremony. When I told her that we have decided to skip the engagement altogether and just do a small, one-day wedding, all the expectations that she had for a grand wedding went down the drain. And for the past fifteen minutes, we have been arguing about the same.

"But ma, both Aryan and I are too busy to take such a long break from work for marriage." We are too busy to take a break from work for our scam-of a marriage.

"God, The kids these days! Nothing is visible to you beyond your work. How will you manage a family?"

I could hear the disappointment in her voice but I wasn't going to budge from this decision. And I wasn't even going to answer her last question because I was barely old enough to manage myself. Managing a family wasn't even in the picture.

"We can have a simple court marriage with no rituals at all if you have so much problem with a short wedding." She gasped at the suggestion as if I had told her to drink poison.

I heard her breathing deeply and when she didn't say anything for thirty seconds, I asked her, concerned, "Ma, are you okay there? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"What did Aryan's family say about this one-day wedding? Have they agreed to it?"

A little white lie won't hurt.

"Yes. His mom was happy with this. In fact, too happy. Said that it would save her the hassle of preparations required for a big wedding." Happy wasn't the correct way to describe how Aryan's mom felt after hearing this.

Shock, denial, arguments, lots of convincing and final surrender were the stages she went through according to my dearest roommate, husband-to-be.

I can sense a similar pattern of events with my own mom.

She sighed with discontentment. I felt a little bad for robbing her of the joyous marriage spirit. She had been waiting to plan my wedding for a very long time.

"I know you won't listen to me now that you have made up your mind. It's fine." I could hear the pout in her voice as it would have pained her immensely to let out her next words, "Have your way. Are you glad now?"

"Ecstatic. Thank you, ma"

Ria: Ma agreed to the plan.

I texted Aryan to give him the news and closed my eyes, sighing.

Let's get married.