Titaliya

Chapter 28

He was still rubbing his eyes. Veda had been far enough from him that the pepper spray didn't have a full effect. She dusted off the dirt from the back of Sanjay's suit.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. Shall we go?" he asked. "But you'll have to drive."

"Of course, of course."

She opened the passenger door for him and slipped into the driver's seat.

"Veda!" Arnav called out. She looked at the man beside her, with his closed eyes and his soft demeanor. A man that didn't get angry at her unintentional mistake, her ideal guy in another universe, was sitting right next to her. And her eyes wouldn't leave the man she was leaving behind in the parking garage.

She reversed the car and drove out of the parking garage. The red car wasn't anywhere to be seen and she sighed in relief.

"Are you really alright? Do you need to stop at a hospital? Or a pharmacy?"

"No, I'm fine. And I'll be normal by the time we get to your grandmother's house."

Friday evening traffic was in full swing, and they inched through traffic. Sanjay fiddled with his fingers and started to whistle. Finally, when she slammed the brakes at a sudden red light, he snapped out of his indecision.

"I need to tell you something," he said.

She looked at him. The sun was starting to set, lighting up his tan skin with a pink light.

"I don't want to get married."

The traffic light switched to green, and she stared at him for a second before switching the gear and stepping on the accelerator. Another reason to be relieved.

"I don't either," she answered. "I'm only nineteen."

And already married, she thought.

"It isn't that. I sort of, like someone else."

I think I do too, bud, she thought to herself. Sanjay was handsome and perfect. He chose to speak to her instead of planning things behind her back. Even more important, he came grandmother-approved, and she trusted her grandmother's judgment entirely. But even before his confession of having feelings for someone else, she realized she didn't have feelings of her own towards him.

"Okay..." Veda said slowly. "Wait, why did you bring me flowers then?"

"That was my parents' idea. That and this very uncomfortable suit. They really want us to get married."

"You mean they want to be in-laws with Sharda Bharadwaj."

He shrugged. "Basically. Doesn't everyone?"

"You don't," Veda said with a smile. "Who's the girl?"

"Our former employee's younger sister."

"She must love you a lot," Veda commented.

"She doesn't even know my name," Sanjay admitted. He saw Asha three years before at a staff picnic where she came with her brother and her niece. The little girl warmed up to him, but Asha hadn't. She was quiet and distanced from the rest of the people there. And the second the picnic ended, she retreated to their car and waited for her brother.

"So you have a crush?" Veda asked.

"Yeah," Sanjay said. "I don't even know where she is now. Her brother resigned from our company recently."

"You don't have any contact with her? You're not even Facebook friends?"

"She doesn't have Facebook."