Chapter 3

Harjot.

@Angel-Jot

Chapter 2.

Bitter

I jumped around the house looking for my phone. This evening, i was going to some Indian party taking place at my aunt's friend's house. It had been so long since i had been to Indian parties. I quickly ran up to my room once i found my phone and keyed in my cousin's number.

"Hello?" Nadini said on the other end. I grinned. "Nadini! Where are you? Come home! I wanna get ready but i need your help." I said excitedly and she laughed. "Yeah, i know you need my help. Who doesn't? I'm just amazing at this kind of stuff." She said and i rolled my eyes. "Are you coming or not?" I asked annoyed. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be home in 5 minutes." And with that, she hung up. I sighed and plopped down on my bed.

About 10 minutes later, Nadini walked into my room. She grabbed my arm pulling me up and walked over to my closet throwing all my Indian dresses on my bed. "Alright.." She mumbled looking through them. I just sat there watching her inspecting all my Indian dresses one by one. Almost half an hour later, she held up a white net armed Indian dress and smiled. "You haven't worn this one and it'll look nice on you!" She exclaimed. And with that, i was pushed into the bathroom with the dress in my hand.

I sighed as i put the dress on and looked in the mirror. I looked nice...

When i came out of the bathroom, Nadini had left. "Nadini!" I yelled and i heard a groan from her room. "Dude, just fix your hair and put some make-up on! I need to get ready too!" She yelled back.

Frustrated i just stomped back into the bathroom. I hated dressing up myself. I was perfectly fine wearing sweatpants and a baggy sweater.

As i sat in the back with Nadini driving and my aunt in the passenger seat, i could barely contain my excitement. I had always been a fan of Indian parties. Living in a foreign country, you didn't get much Indian anything, forget parties. Especially not in this small town.

As soon as we arrived at Aunty's house, we stepped out and entered. Almost instantly, i felt all eyes on me and i turned red. At first i thought i was being stared at for good reasons but boy was i wrong.

When my aunt and Nadini went to go grab some tea, i heard some ladies talking about me and how my engagement had been broken off.

"Ladki ka character hi bura ho ga. 27 saal ki hai aur abhi tak shaadi bhi nahin huwi." One lady said with a disgusted face. I gulped the frog in my throat.

"Shaadi kaun karega isse? Pehla vaala toh chor kar chala gaya." Another said.

"Bechari Nandini ki bhi shaadi ab ho ya na ho, iss ladki ki vajah se."

I could literally feel the tears threatening to pour out. It wasn't my fault was all i wanted to scream. He cheated on me! But the bitter truth about society was that boys were never considered to be at fault for marriage matters. And that's when i saw my aunt's head bowed in shame. My heart broke into tiny little pieces.

The next morning, i found myself face to face with Maan Singh Khurana at my store.

He smirked at me as he looked at a few antiques. I grit my teeth in anger. What was his problem? Suddenly hungry and craving a snack, i decided to go grab myself a granola bar from the back. As i walked by him, my arm touched his gently and i suddenly froze in that one spot. My eyes clouded and i once again saw that man with the knife. His face was masked but i could see the sneer he wore on his face. And then Maan emerged laughing at something. It was a forced laugh, i realized. The person with the knife seemed to keep getting closer and closer. My breath caught in my throat and before anything else could happen, someone shook my shoulder violently and i was back to reality. I turned to look at my side and saw Maan giving me a look as if i was crazy. I gulped and stepped away from him still shocked.

I ignored his look and walked out of the store, needing fresh air.

I didn't notice Maan leave. And i definitely didn't notice his wallet that he dropped by accident inside my store...

To be continued. XD And, your thoughts? Haha.

-Jot.