Paridhi was still getting ready for the engagement ceremony, when she heard the commotion outside. Feeling uneasy, she grabbed the photo Subrato had given to her and came outside.

“There must be some misunderstanding, Mala ji,” her mother was pleading with her would-be mother-in-law, “Our daughter is not like that.”

“The proof is here. Which mother in the world can get his son married to a characterless girl, who is roaming around the city with God-Knows-Whom! I am leaving. This engagement can’t happen.”

“What’s going on?” Paridhi interrupted.

“You tell me,” her grandmother was literally grinding her teeth, “What is going on?” She thrust the photograph Mala had brought into Paridhi’s hand. “Who is this?” she demanded.

“This is… Wait a minute… Who clicked the photo?”

“Why don’t you just answer what has been asked of you?” it was her mother this time.

“I will,” Paridhi was sure by now of where all of this was going, “But I want to know who took this photo.”

“Somebody who cared about my son and my family,” Mala interrupted bossily, “I don’t care who it was. I am just happy I got to know your true colors in time.”

“And that somebody will be you, isn’t it Mala Auntie?” Paridhi looked directly in her eyes.

“What are you saying?”

“You very well know who this is. You spoke to me, I introduced him as my Professor, I had told you that there was a class dinner and we were waiting for others. You had even cracked a joke about we being a spoiled generation. But you were least interested in any of that, right? What you were really interested in was a way to create this drama. So, after talking to us so nicely, you took this photo without telling us. Just so you could use this as a weapon against me and my family on this day, right? What more? The very next day after meeting me here, and taking this photo, you went ahead and confirmed the proposal to my mother. It was all very convenient, wasn’t it? Wasn’t that why you had insisted on a small family-only engagement ceremony. You already knew the drama you were going to play here, didn’t you? Having too many people around would have been inconvenient!”

“That’s a great story darling,” Mala was prepared for this part and confident sarcasm was literally dripping from her words, “The question is why on earth would I do that?”

“You didn’t think I would have an answer for that, did you? Unfortunately for you, I have a photograph as well,” she straightened out the crumpled photograph in her hands in front of Mala’s eyes and she visibly recoiled in surprise.

“What… what is this?” she stammered.

“The truth. The real reason this engagement can not happen, could never have happened,” she turned around to show the photograph to other people in the room as well, which included her mother, grand mother and a relative who had been instrumental in fixing this wedding, whom her family had blindly trusted.

“Mummy. These people never intended to go ahead with this wedding. Aniket is not busy. He is… well… I don’t know whom you have insulted more? Me or your own son, Mala Auntie? What is more disturbing? Living with a handicap? Or having parents who can’t accept that their son may not fetch the fat dowry they had planned all through their lives and who trick somebody into giving that dowry. Or is he also happily a part of it? Like mother, like son?”

“This is outrageous. A characterless girl is making false accusations on my family…”

“Enough!” Paridhi roared this time, “Two things. First, make sure all the dowry money that has been given to you is back with my mother in twenty-four hours. Otherwise I am reporting this to the police. There is no saying what will happen once this goes out. Proving that you intended to deceive us all along is going to be a piece of cake for me. And dowry charges on top of that… You might want to read up on Internet how bad they can be… And you too Pradeep Uncle,” she turned to the relative, “Nobody is going to preach me about trusting the family any longer. How much of a cut were you going to get in the dowry? Actually… I am not interested in that right now. You just show as much enthusiasm in getting that money back to Mummy by tomorrow, as you had shown in getting this so-called-relationship fixed. Else be ready to be a co-accused of fraud and dowry charges. And the second thing. Get out!!”

—

Subrato smiled in admiration, “That was… something. And your legalese was quite in place. Fraud charges, co-accused etc. etc.”

“I had read up about the legal implications of it all. I might be sad, but I was not shocked that it happened this way. I couldn’t have guessed that she would try to use you to created this drama though. I was expecting something on my brother…”

“Never mind! I am not harmed,” suddenly he frowned recalling something, “You said something about holding you responsible. Who is holding you responsible? For what?”

“It was because I could not impress other decent people whose proposals had come earlier that we fell for these tricksters. What will my family do now? Where will they find a groom for me? The word will get out. And it doesn’t matter what the reality is, it is always the girl who suffers. Especially given that there is also dirt to be dug up on my brother.”

“This is ridi…” Subrato reacted impulsively, but controlled himself. Given her tendency to be by her family despite their insensitivity, he did not want to become another person hurting her.

“You can say it. You have always thought it to be ridiculous, haven’t you? My family? Me? My insistence on not going against them.”

“I don’t think you deserved this. Any of this. But beyond that, I am no one to pass judgment on who is right and who isn’t.”

“You are very kind.”

“Come on now… By the way, you came back just like that?”

“No. I finally did what anybody who had any clue of my situation thought I should do. I rebelled. I told them I am going to take none of it going forward. And they should leave me alone.”

“And?”

“And my grand mother blamed my mother as usual, for everything, and my mother told me that she will disown me if I stepped out of the house, like she had done for my brother.”

“And you still stepped out.”

“Yep. I am on my own now.”

Subrato watched her sombre face for a couple of seconds. He hadn’t been blind. He had often questioned himself on caring so much about her. She refused to see that her family was ruining her life. She accused him of conspiring against her when he tried to help her. Was she worth it? This moment answered it for him. Yes. A big, fat YES. She wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t weak. She just cared. Cared to a fault. But that wasn’t a fault he could grudge her. She was worth all of it and more.

“No you are not,” he said suddenly.

“Excuse me?”

“You are not on your own. I’m there.”

“Yeah. I can see that very clearly. You were at Charbagh station too. At midnight,” she chuckled, albeit sadly. Still her attempt at cracking a joke showed that she had accepted her decision whole-heartedly and was willing to move on.

“If you accept that,” he said very carefully and slowly, watching her reaction, “I will take the liberty of being a bit intrusive and ask how are you placed financially and what help will you need.”

She seemed quite at ease as she replied and that made Subrato comfortable too, “This is the last term. Fees have already been paid for. I have enough savings from my pocket-money and summer internship stipend to last me a few months for my personal expenses. I will go for placements and try to get the joining as early as possible.”

“You have already thought everything through,” he smiled, “But if you ever need anything…”

“I will, I think…” she was more hesitant now.

“Go on.”

“If I get an admission in Ph. D. and have to go to US…”

“You will need money for the trip and setting down there until you start getting your pay from the university. Don’t worry.”

“It’s probably stupid, but I really don’t know how much that will be and how big a burden that will be for you. I still have to pay you back the application fees…”

“Umm… Despite what you would like to believe, I am not a first year MBA student. I have earned long enough now for that not to be a burden.”

Paridhi frowned and blushed at the first-year-student joke. Then she just shook her head, smiled and did not say anything in reply.

“I should go to my hostel now.”

“How will you explain reaching this late?”

“Delayed train. Indian railway can be our best friend sometimes. Nobody will doubt that.”

He realized very consciously how much he loved her witty remarks, “Have you eaten something?”

“I am not hungry.”

“Since when have you not eaten?”

She had forgotten that she was hungry since the morning. She had been advised to fast for the engagement.

“All right,” she did not directly reply to his question, but agreed to eat, “What do you have?”

“Only some dry snacks. But it’s better than being hungry.”

She followed him to his kitchen and noticed that there were no dishes in the sink.

“Have you eaten anything?” she asked in concern.

He just smiled and shrugged. He hadn’t eaten anything since morning. He had been too agitated.

“Fine. Let’s have an untimely meal of what have we got… Haldiram bhujia, Sunfeast biscuits and… Mixed fruit juice… A meal to remember!” she grinned and Subrato automatically followed the suit.

—

To be continued