Chapter One

Rajveer

"Dad! How could you make such a rash decision for me! I am an adult for crying out loud. You both didn't even bother to ask for my opinion, instead, you went ahead and fixed my marriage with some girl I know nothing about. With due respect dad, mum—" I looked averted my gaze to mum's direction. "I refuse to get married right now." I said with finality. The decision was simply uncalled for and retrogressive. How did they expect me to live the rest of my life with a stranger? It just wasn't right and old fashioned.

I was still deep in my thoughts when I felt a hand connect with my left cheek so violently that I could swear I saw stars floating and dissipating into the air.  My eyes widened in total disbelief at what just happened and before I could open my mouth and speak, she beat me to it.

"How dare you try to go against what your dad and I have decided for you.

We, as your parent only want what's best for you and Roshni is the ideal wife for you. We have known her parents for more than a decade now and have arranged for you two to get married when the time arrives. I don't plan on going back on my words." Mom said disappointedly.

Dad tried to calm her down by placing a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it away angrily. "Get your hand off me and let me finish." She said through gritted teeth and her gaze averted back to me. "You must get married to her Raj, whether you like it or not, unless you want to see me dead." She finished and stormed away furiously.

"Dad, please talk to her. I can't just commit the rest of my life to a person I don't even love or have ever even seen before. A strange!" I pleaded, my voice laced with only a tiny bit of hope. I couldn't imagine what my life would be if the marriage would push through. It would be a total disaster. I was definitely not ready for any kind of commitment, especially that of marriage – they ought to understand and respect my decision.

"We only want the best for you son and getting married to that girl would be the best thing for you, but if marrying her would make you sad, I will try my best to convince your mom to allow you make your own decision, for your happiness is much more important to us." he smiled and patted me on the shoulder before going upstairs to their room to convince mom – I suppose.

"This is going to be tough!" I muttered underneath my breath and sauntered to my room.

Stepping into my room, I plopped right into bed with my gaze fixed outside the widow, staring at nowhere in particular – into space. At twenty three, mum still thought it was okay to make decisions on my behalf. She thought it was that easy to abide by everything she wanted. She wanted me to settle down with someone – worst, someone I didn't know a thing about. Is that even possible? I didn't know and definitely was not ready to give it a try. I still had a life to live. I promised myself not to give in to mum's demand this time around. It had always been a thing I did, but that would have to stop.

Mom was a very strict and demanding person. She always tried — no, enforced her decisions on us – on me especially, and that was exactly what she was trying to do again by asking me to get married to some stranger. A stranger for God's sake in the 21th century? Who does that these days?

I was astounded when I came home from a friend's house, Yash and overheard their conversation. It wasn't my intention to eavesdrop. I never eavesdropped, but when I heard my name being mentioned, I became curious and out of curiosity, my manners flew out of the window and I decided to listen to their conversation, but only for a while.

I overheard mom talking about a wedding and the perfect time to make it happen. I became more interested and listened more attentively.

Who's getting married? It's not me and definitely not Sam, then who?

"Raj and Roshni will be a perfect match for each other." Mom said, joyously, almost shocking the life out of me.

Wait!...what! Me? That can't be, It has to be someone else. I couldn't believe my ears. I refused to believe what I was hearing. It couldn't be possible for I had never shown interest in wanting to get married.

"When Raj comes back, we will tell him about his wedding." I heard mom said, happiness dripping from the tone she used. She had expected me to be happy? Absurd!

"I will tell him myself." dad spoke next.

They can't be serious, they simply can't make a life turning decision for me and expect me to give my consent. I have to clear their misconceptions.

Without thinking twice, I made my presence known to them by barging into the living room with a scrunched up face. I felt like yelling and telling them not to even dream about me getting married soon, for it would never happen, but momentarily, I lost my voice. I could only stare at them and wait for one of them to speak up first.

"You're back son! We have something very important to tell you." dad smiled. I narrowed my eyes at him, but allowed him to continue anyway. I did not bother to interrupt him for I might have misheard or something... I consoled myself with that. Misunderstandings always happens.

"Go ahead honey, tell him the good news." Mom smiled. " tell him," she urged.

I heaved a sigh and waited impatiently for one of them to open up.

"Son, your mom and I have made a decision for you... more like a good choice." Dad began.

"What decision?" I asked. I was suddenly feeling very nervous. I dreaded what his answer would be.

"You're getting married next month to our friend's daughter!" Dad announced with a huge grin on his face. He was smiling from ear to ear. I averted my gaze to mom and met with the same reaction as dad. She smiled broadly at me.

"Dad! How could you make such a rash decision for me?" I asked in disbelief "- I am an adult for crying out loud, you two didn't even bother to ask for my opinion, instead, you went ahead and fixed my marriage with some unknown girl," I lamented. Mom being the kind of a person she was, slapped me across the face and told me I must get married to the girl willingly or unwillingly, unless I wanted to see her dead. After she had left, I pleaded with dad to talk to her and make her see reasons why I didn't want to get married to a stranger or even anyone else. He told me the decision was a very good one, but he assured me he would talk to mom and try to convince her otherwise.

I hope he succeeds, mom can be very difficult at times.

I went into my room and slumped into bed exhaustedly.

I hope my parents allow me to make my own decision this time. How do they expect me to spend the rest of my life with a stranger? If I decide to just leave the house and never come back, I won't have to get married. That's a good idea, but very childish. I can't and won't run away from my problems. I need to face them and stand my ground. I refuse to get married to her. My life will definitely get ruined if I accept their decision.

I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to overcome me. How I wished everything that happened was just a dream – a nightmare and I would wake up the next day and realise that.

Tomorrow is another day. A new one.