That Is How Things Work

Clink, the spoon tapped the rim of a hot cup of tea. “Congratulations on your marriage, Jay!” Jacob said. One could easily see Jay blushing while saying a polite thank you to the wish. Veer could see it too. He felt extremely agitated. He just wanted to enjoy his cup of tea, while taking a short break from his work, still it was impossible for him to not look at Jay’s face glowing with happiness and love.

What Veer could not comprehend was how someone could be so in love with their partner, when it was an arranged marriage. “Maybe there are some exceptions like Jay.” He had concluded. However, there was a sense of hopelessness and doubt inside him. He could not help but feel annoyed about the fact that Jay was happy about his arrange marriage and actually in love with his wife.

So in the evening when he was about to leave work and heard another ‘Congratulations Jay’, he looked at Jay right in the eye. “How can there be love in an arranged marriage? That is not how things work, only love marriages can have love in them!” Veer snapped. Jay was taken aback for a split second, the next moment he went into deep thought and the very next moment the smile on his face reappeared.

What Veer heard next made him take a step back to look at his situation. All Jay said was, ”Why not?” 

While driving back home, Agitation and Annoyance had retreated. Doubt, Fear and Hopelessness were now in positions to start their act.

“Why not? Why can the people brought together by an arranged marriage not fall in love?”

At that moment everything was crystal clear, but a thought crept in.

“People in arrange marriage cannot fall in love because that is not how things work. People in such situations are only there because of compromise and settlement. They can respect each other but never love each other. Why? The answer is that, that is how things work.”  

Veer hit the brake for the car to stop at a red light. At the same moment, he hit the accelerator of his memories and gave them a green light.

She had told him that he was the only one she will love forever, he was the only one she will look for in happiness and sadness, he was the only one in her eyes and heart. Nevertheless was he that, was Jay that for Saloni? If he was really that for her, why did Saloni betray him on the night he was going to ask her the question? Why did she leave with another man, when he was the one who had asked her to walk beside him for their entire lives?

His memories came to a red signal, as the signal on the road turned green. 

Rhea.

Was he in love with her? Is it possible that he can be in love with his wife? Why not?

The answer is simple. That is not how things work. Things just do not work like that.

Jay believed that he could not love anyone now. He was married. He could not fall in love with his wife because his marriage was an arranged marriage and he could not love anyone else because he would be depriving his wife of her rights. These are the rights he had promised Rhea at the time of their marriage.

“I cannot love you. My girlfriend left me for another man. I am tired and the only reason I might married you is because of my parents will." He remembered saying these exact words to Rhea. He had been so surprised when the girl had accepted the proposal.

She had seemed so peaceful and calm on that day, with a pretty smile on her face.

The sight of his fiance, had strangely calmed his restless heart then. Just her presence had made him feel that life would be bearable from that moment onwards.

Ting Tong. The doorbell rang.

The door was opened by someone inside the house. She was a normal lady in her late twenties. She was dressed in loose and airy shorts paired with an over sized long t-shirt. Her hair was tied in a loose bun. She was slightly overweight, yet she had a spoon in her mouth, with which she had been having ice cream. People had never allowed her to forget that she was overweight, but that is fine.

“People will say hurtful things, it is important for me to accept myself and be happy. It is fine to be overweight as long as I am healthy.” Besides how can her loved ones be happy when she is unhappy?

She opened the door to a tall man, his facial features were defined. He had dark brown hair falling on his face. He was very fit. He was a man, who would be very popular with ladies. Along with a broad and masculine body, his expression was that of sternness. It was as though he was very strong, yet his eyes spoke of confusion and longing for escape. This expression of his could be seen when observed with patience and she saw it.

Rhea had seen this expression for a long time. She had noticed Veer’s expression in the third month of their marriage. She had thought that he was rather selfish, when he spoke to her on their first meeting. He had not cared about Rhea’s feelings and bluntly told her that he will never love her.

She had never believed that any man would love her and had not expected the man she was meeting for marriage to love her. When Veer said those words when they first met, her heart was hurt. She did not know the reason. She had been rejected by multiple men before Veer, but none of the rejections had hurt her more.

She said yes to the proposal for a simple reason. She, herself, did not want to be in love either. The rejections had made her stop believing in love and to a certain extent hate it. She did not want to hurt herself because of love anymore.

“How was your day?” Rhea said.

“It was normal.” Veer replied.

“Freshen up. It was my chance to make dinner today, so I made....”

“Let me guess. Pasta?”

“Yes.” She replied with a slight chuckle.

“Irrespective of our situation, we have become close.” They thought.

Veer was about to enter the bathroom, when he stopped. For the first time after his girlfriend had left him, his heart was calling out for him.

"Do it Veer, do it."

He took a sharp turn and came back into the hall. He saw his wife behind the counter of an open kitchen. She was heating up the pasta for him.

“Why did you marry me?” He blurted out. Rhea raised her head to look at her husband. She had never spoken to him about her feelings. Their conversations had always been about their life experiences and general topics. Their feelings were never discussed.

There was a specific answer his heart was looking for, which he was unaware of. He was waiting for her to answer. He was anxious.

“I did not want to love anyone too, but...,” she said.

“I wonder if my heart had the same reason to choose you.” she wondered.

It was as if someone pinched his heart. He felt embarrassed to have considered the fact that they can love each other. Now he realized. Things worked in a different way. Arranged marriages can have love in them but only one sided. That is how far love can go in an arranged marriage.

 

“Why do you ask me this?” Rhea inquired.

“I was just curious.” he replied. "Do not lie", his heart told him.

At that moment, Rhea spoke. She had always lived her life on her terms and had listened to her heart. The times she had not listened to her heart were the times she regretted. She did not want to regret this night as well.

She spoke in a slow tone with her heart in her throat, "I will not lie Veer. That was my reason to marry you. Over the six months, I have realized you are more than a man who is heartbroken because of his past. I have come to realize that you are an amazing man. You are hard working and try to give your best. These are the reasons for me to respect you immensely.” 

She stopped.

His heart was beating fast and his ears were listening to her attentively.

Maybe, just maybe, he thought in his mind. “You mean that you respect me and married me because you did not want anyone to fall in love with, be it me or you.” Veer spoke to Rhea, almost hoping she had more to say.

“Yes, that is what I mean.” Rhea said.

She had noticed the hopeful look on Veer’s handsome face. She had never seen such a look on his face. She had almost believed that he had no expectations and hope from both, people and his life. On the other hand, Veer had noticed the uncertain look on her face. He had never seen this expression on Rhea’s face. He had almost assumed that Rhea did not have any uncertainty in her life. She had always been very clear of what her heart feels and what will be the right thing to do.

Rhea served the hot pasta in a bowl and walked from the kitchen to where Veer was standing. She held the bowl for Veer to take it, which he did, but he held her hand tightly while doing so. He kept the bowl down on the table, near him. He leaned in slightly so that he could see directly into her eyes. Her deep black eyes and his deep brown eyes. There was something unexplainable. One could clearly feel the respect they had built for each other over the past months. However, there was a hint of friendship that comes hand in hand along with the respect two people have for each other. They had never been so close to each other, both physically as well as emotionally.

“Respect. That is the only emotion you feel for me, is it?” Veer said softly almost in a whisper. It was as if he was sure of Rhea’s liking for him. He became more confident of this when Rhea leaned closer to him, while looking into his eyes. Nonetheless, his conclusion was made based on assumptions. What are her true feelings? He wondered.

“I am not sure. I do not know. I enjoy myself around you. I can be myself and you will not judge me. I know I can rely on you and I like that. I am unaware if it is right to feel such emotions in a type of relationship we are in.” Rhea's speech at this point could not be heard very well if one did not have their full attention to it. All these thoughts had been killing her. A person who was willing to hear her thoughts was the only way for her to speak her mind and Veer was that escape her mind was looking for.

“This is not the way things work in arranged marriages, right? It is supposed to be a nightmare, where you spend the rest of your life with a stranger, yet sometimes I wonder if you continue to be strangers with a person you spend most of your time with. I feel terrible Veer, I hate this dilemma, this confusion, these thoughts. Is it wrong that I have started liking you, is it wrong that I look for you when I am happy, is it wrong? I am unaware Veer. I am unaware. Please help me. I beg you. Please help me.”

She broke down. The sound of her sobs pierced Veer’s heart. Veer immediately pulled Rhea into a hug. He held her close and tight. Rhea sobbed while resting her head on Veer’s shoulder. Her tears being absorbed by his shirt.

Silence. Nothing but sobs could be heard. In a dim lit hall of a house somewhere in Mumbai, One could see two figures holding onto each other tightly. Neither one of them wanted to let go of the other.

The sobs faded slowly and the silence was broken when Veer spoke softly, “If it is really wrong to possess those feelings, then I am a wrongdoer as well.”

Rhea’s grip tightened around Veer. She did not know what the future held, whether she will be hurt or not. These things did not matter. Her real feelings were the only thing that mattered. As for Veer, he was content and happy. He had learned that things can work differently, that arranged marriages can be a relation where two people prosper by loving each other.

The two people in the dim lit hall knew that it was not going to be easy, but it will be bearable with each other. With the hope of seeing the end of things, together, the tempest in their hearts had finally calmed down.