Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 3

3

Song: Saagar Jaisi Aankhoon Wali

- Sreerama Chandra

Kriti

T he moment Aakar and his family left our house, I rushed out the door to head over to Meera’s place. I called out to Maa and told her that I’d talk to her after I returned home. If I stopped to hear her out even for a second, she wouldn’t leave me alone until she got every little detail about my conversation with Aakar. I ran to my two-wheeler, pulled off my dupatta to tie it around my face, and, with a quick start, drove off.

Today, Meera was paying off the loan that had been hanging over her head for years. After the loss of her father, Meera’s mother had refused to sell their farm. But after years of healing, forgiveness, and dealing with the grief, she finally asked Meera to sell it. Fortunately, our friend Surbhi needed more space to accommodate the widows and children of farmers who had committed suicide. Surbhi ran a nonprofit organization helping the families of deceased farmers, and Meera’s father had been one of those farmers.

Just last month, Meera told Surbhi about her land for sale, and Surbhi proposed to buy it. Today was the big day. Meera had called all her friends and family to witness her paying off her loan to Baldev, the sleazy loan shark her father had borrowed money from.

I zoomed past a few slow-moving two-wheelers, past a few cars that seemed to think the road belonged to them, and took the turn at the street that led to Meera’s house. The uneven bumps on the road slowed me down a little, but soon, I drove through the little gate of her house’s compound. A few two-wheelers and a car were already parked.

Removing the dupatta from my face, I draped it over my shoulder, checking my reflection in the tiny mirror of my vehicle. My hair was all right, but I was overdressed. Maa just had to arrange the meeting with Aakar today. But I couldn’t even complain. It was one of the few good meetings I’d had.

Putting it out of my mind for now, I ran inside her house. “Am I late?” I asked.

I turned to Meera, who stood at the doorway to her kitchen, and she shook her head. “Uh. No. Baldev hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Thank God,” I said, realizing that everyone stared at me, their mouths open, a teasing smile on Meera’s face. I should’ve changed before running out of the house. Trying to regain some semblance of control, I said, “What are you guys looking at? Maa roped me into a sudden meeting with a man. Apparently, they were only going to be in the village today.”

Before anyone could comment on it, I rushed into the kitchen. I would only come out when necessary. The delicious aroma of tomato, garlic, and herbs engulfed me as I stepped inside. I looked at the giant pan filled with pasta and couldn’t help myself. I grabbed a small bowl from a cupboard and served some.

I know I had just had some chai with Aakar, and samosas and kachori before he arrived, but the pasta smelled delicious.

Before I’d taken three bites, Meera, Surbhi, and Luke walked in.

“How did the meeting go?” Meera asked.

I hadn’t had much time to think about that. Maa was going to ask me many more questions. Just thinking about it put a sour taste in my mouth. But Meera’s question was easy yet difficult to answer. “Actually, not bad.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Surbhi asked.

I turned to her and tried to explain the disaster that awaited me. “I don’t think so. It’s just…it’s easier when things don’t go well in these meetings. It’s an easy no. Now, if the guy is interested, we’ll have to talk again and deal with all the questions and rushing from the parents.”

Luke went back to spreading butter on his fancy bread while Meera, Surbhi, and I talked about Meera’s plan for today. Just a few minutes had passed when the doorbell rang. Meera quickly turned to walk out and said, “That must be Aakar. Let’s go to the living room. Baldev must be arriving soon.”

Her words dropped like bombs at my feet.

Sweat coated the top of my lip, and I was sure Surbhi could hear my heart pounding. My hands shook as I carefully placed the half-eaten pasta bowl on the kitchen counter. Did she just say Aakar?

I couldn’t help but follow Meera out of the kitchen. My eyes met Luke’s, and he raised his eyebrows in question. I shook my head and offered him a smile. He put down his half-glazed bread and followed us.

And there he was when I stepped foot in the living room.

Aakar.

He had a gentle smile on his face as he talked to Meera’s mother. He turned his head to look toward where all of us had gathered, a smile on his face, when our eyes met.

His eyes widened in shock for a second, but he collected himself far quicker than I had. “You,” he said, his face turning slightly red as he looked around at all of us.

“You know Meera?” I asked, wondering how I didn’t know that Meera knew Aakar.

He walked toward me, his eyes moving across everyone. He closed the distance between us and stood right across from me, nodding. “Um…yeah, family friends. How do you know Meera?”

“She’s my best friend,” I said without taking my eyes off him.

“That’s good to know.”

“You came for Meera all the way from the city?” I asked. I liked to believe that if a man came for a friend when she needed it, he had to be a good person, right? And Meera wouldn’t have asked for help from someone she didn’t deem honorable and kind.

Aakar nodded. “I did. That loan shark wasn’t on his best behavior the last time I was here. People like him often tend to take advantage of their position. So Meera thought it would be better if I was here as a witness. In case he gets a little mouthy, Luke and I could handle it. Since Luke barely understands Gujarati, I felt like I could help.”

I was about to thank him for coming when Meera said, “Baldev’s on the way here.”

Aakar straightened, and as if we realized how close we stood to each other, we each took a step back. I felt Aakar’s eyes on me, but I fixed my gaze on Meera.

Meera lifted the double-sized mattress in her living room and pulled out a big pouch of money from underneath it. She turned to all of us, and asked, “Ready, everyone? Luke, Aakar, and I will meet with Baldev out front, and you guys will stand on the porch. Just so he knows that everyone saw us exchange the money.”

Once we all nodded, Meera, Luke, and Aakar took the lead, and the rest of us followed them. As Baldev approached the house, the three of them stepped forward to meet him in the middle. Meera stood in the center, with Luke and Aakar on either side. Meera’s mom held my hand as we watched the scene unfold. Baldev looked at them, then back at us, clearly confused by our presence.

We could hear them talk in Gujarati, but we were too far away to understand what they were saying. As soon as Meera handed him the packet of money, he turned nasty. He said something to Meera, and she landed a solid punch on his nose. The next moment, Luke held Meera in his arms, holding her back, while Aakar stepped forward and slapped Baldev across the face. Aakar’s volume rose as he uttered a few profanities that made Meera’s mom worry even more, then slapped Baldev twice more.

You’d think a punch would’ve been more powerful, but a slap just looked way more disrespectful. As if Baldev didn’t even deserve something as solid as a punch. That nasty little worm could be eradicated just by a tight slap to his cheek and his pride.

YES. YES. Hit him. My mind inwardly cheered him on. If Meera raised her hand, Baldev must have said something really awful to her. I moved forward to intervene, but Meera’s mom and Surbhi pulled me back. Poor Luke looked confused by the words getting exchanged between Meera and Baldev, but Meera bellowed, “Leave me, Luke. I’m going to kill him.”

“Even I want to punch him, but I can’t if I’m holding you back,” he shouted at her in English.

Meera’s mom couldn’t understand their conversation in English, so I told her what they said. She looked about to cry, so I quickly told her in Gujarati, “Don’t worry, Auntie. Aakar is holding Baldev back.”

I didn’t know why I said that or why I had so much faith in those words. Before Aakar could slap Baldev once more, Luke pulled Baldev away from Aakar and punched him on the nose, right where Meera had hit him. Blood sprayed out on the ground, and Baldev dropped to his knees.

Luke bent over him and said something none of us on the porch could hear.

Slowly, Baldev got up and wobbled away, carrying the money under his arm. As his car left the compound, I stood there, then rushed inside the kitchen. I opened the freezer, wrapped some ice cubes in a few hand towels, and ran outside to hand them to Meera and Luke.

This moment, this day, was for Meera. It was the first time in almost six years that she was debt-free. Her knuckles were red, and her hair was a mess, but she wore the biggest smile. Luke looked at her like his life revolved around that smile. Not once did he turn to anybody else—not when I had them sit on the cot, not when I handed them their cold packs, and not when we moved back inside to give them a moment alone.

Because my friend was finally free. Free of all the burdens that had chained her to this village, her farm, and kept her apart from Luke. And now, she could fly. She could dance, jump, and ride off into the sunset with the love of her life. And finally, finally live.

I turned around one more time to look at their moment, so full of love, in envy and in hope. How lovely would it be to have that one person devoted to me, who cared about my happiness above all else, who had faith in me and respected me? Because I too deserved that kind of love.

Aakar

Kriti walked into the kitchen as I washed my hands and face at the sink. I needed to be rid of the filth that was Baldev. It pained me to imagine Meera having to deal with the likes of him for so many years without my family knowing about it. As I wiped my hands with the kitchen towel, I felt Kriti move closer. Her eyes on me had my heart beating faster. Her scrutiny unnerved me.

What did she think of me after seeing me raise my hand at someone and hearing the profanities that came out of my mouth? For some reason, I cared about what she thought of me.

She cleared her throat, and despite my nerves, I steeled myself and turned to her.

“Do you need an ice pack for your hand?” she asked.

Ice pack? I followed her gaze to my hand, raising it so she could look at it. “Um…I actually slapped Baldev. So my knuckles are fine. Uh…so are my palms.”

She looked at my hand, and I turned it so she could see my knuckles. A breath escaped her lips, and she gave me a big smile. “Thank God. Meera’s and Luke’s hands are all red.”

She didn’t mind that I’d beaten up a man? I usually didn’t get into fights, but as the eldest brother in the family, I could handle fights, conflicts, complaints, and bullies pretty well. But I just had to confirm Kriti’s feelings for myself. “So you don’t mind?”

Kriti started reheating the pasta, giving it an occasional stir. “Mind what?”

I was glad she wasn’t looking at me with that unbending, teacher-like gaze. To avoid meeting her eyes in case she turned to me, I went to the stainless steel rack on the wall and got the plates out. “That I slapped Baldev?”

Her loud scoff made me turn around. She had one hand on her waist, her eyes wide in disbelief, and her lips were stretched in a huge smile. “Mind? I was about to join in, but Surbhi and Meera’s mom held me back. That rascal deserved worse.”

Rascal? Holy shit.

My face must’ve revealed my emotions because her eyes narrowed at me in suspicion. “Do you mind?”

And I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Definitely not.”

“Good,” she said, continuing to stir the pasta.

This woman. Her eyes. Her manners. She exuded a confidence, a self-assuredness, that left me floundering behind her. And that rarely happened. She looked like she could handle it all with a smile. Even now, after the drama and the fight, she already had the injured settled and was on her feet getting the food ready.

She was quiet while I was lost in my head. The moment I got home, Maa would bombard me with questions. She’d demand an answer. Yes or no. To this day, I’ve never struggled to answer.

No. That was always my response.

Why? Maa would ask.

Because we don’t fit.

But did I want to give Maa the same answers for Kriti? A big resounding No came from somewhere deep within me. I wanted to talk to her more. I liked that she was so assertive in her choices and so confident that she didn’t try to impress me. That was refreshing and quite relaxing.

But I didn’t even want to say Yes to my mother. She would have us engaged and married in three months. God, this was confusing. I thought meeting women was stressful. I never thought about what would happen when I didn’t want to say No for a proposal.

Shit.

“Uh…Aakar,” Kriti said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised in question. Where were you lost?

I shook my head and asked, “Sorry, did you say something?”

A teasing smile played on her lips. “Food is ready. Let’s go outside so we can all eat together.”

As we all ate, celebrating, laughing, and basking in the relief Meera and her mother felt, my thoughts circled back to Kriti. Before Maa got the chance to ask me anything, I needed to have a conversation with Kriti. I needed to know if she was interested in talking to me again. There was no point in wondering what I would tell Maa if Kriti wasn’t interested in getting to know me more.

As much as the thought sat bitterly in my stomach, I needed to be ready to face Kriti’s answer, even if it was a no. Even if that would disappoint me deeply.

Once we finished lunch, Meera was about to join Kriti in cleaning the kitchen. But since I really needed to talk to Kriti, I asked her if I could help instead. Meera got a teasing smile on her face, but thankfully, she said she needed to talk to Surbhi about something and let me be.

I carried the remaining plates and glasses to the kitchen and found Kriti soaping up the dishes. Upon seeing me and the dirty plates in my hand, she said, “Oh, just put them on the counter. I’ll get to them.”

“Let me help. I can rinse the dishes since you’re already soaping them up.”

I quickly rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and walked toward her. As I neared her, I noticed the slight blush on her cheeks. Slowly, she made space for me, and I stood beside her, our shoulders almost touching. I turned on the tap and began rinsing the dishes.

“Do you often help out like this at home?” she asked.

This would score me some major negative points. But maybe I could get some points for honesty. “Well, not really. Since we have a full-time helper, I guess I’ve never needed to.”

She nodded. “I see.”

What did that mean? Did she want me to expand on that? Had she already judged me? “It’s not that I’m opposed to helping. But I leave for work at nine and usually don’t come home before nine o’clock. Some days, the only person left to have dinner is me. So I just haven’t had the chance to help out at home.”

“That makes sense,” she said. A smile played on her lips, yet she didn’t meet my eyes as she continued, “Can I ask why you’re helping me out right now?”

I never had to ask a woman if she liked me enough to see where it could go just after one meeting. Well, technically, two now. But there was no other option than to be straightforward.

“Kriti, you and I both know that the moment we go home, our parents will bombard us with questions.”

When she nodded, I continued, focused on rinsing the utensils, “Well, to be frank, I’ve never really said an outright yes for a woman before. I’ve had a few second meetings when the woman’s family asked for it, and I didn’t have any reason to deny it. But I don’t really want to say No to my mother when I go home this time.”

At that, she stopped scrubbing the dish, and I paused as well. The only sound was the tap running. After a beat, to keep from making things awkward, I resumed rinsing the plate as she processed my words.

“Are you planning to say yes?” she asked.

“That’s the thing, Kriti. We don’t know each other well enough for me to say yes either. I want to talk to you more and get to know you better. But if I ask my mother for a second meeting with you, or God forbid, a third meeting…” I paused.

“They would expect a final answer, or more like a yes, after that,” she finished my sentence.

“Exactly. And I don’t want either of us to feel that pressure. But before we get into it, I need to know if you even want to get to know me more. Because if you’re already planning to reject me, there really is no point in discussing this further.”

This time, I looked at her. She ran her fingers through the suds of soap on the plate. My stomach twisted into knots in anticipation as I continued rinsing the plates.

After what felt like hours, she said, “Aakar, unlike you, I have said yes to second and third meetings before. Clearly, they didn’t pan out. And good riddance for those. But it isn’t often that I meet someone who believes my conditions shouldn’t even have to be conditions or someone I’ve seen support a friend in need. You have all my respect and admiration for that. Frankly speaking, I’ve agreed to second meetings for less than that.”

A relieved breath rushed out of me. Why did I feel so happy? I couldn’t even hide my feelings as I smiled at her. “I’m glad to have raised the bar for you.”

She chuckled. “That you did.”

Now that I knew she was open to getting to know me, I said, “So if you also don’t want to get roped into the pressure of giving our parents the final answer in just three meetings, I have a proposal for you.”

She raised one eyebrow in question. One. “How did you do that?” I asked, trying to copy her.

She laughed at my failed attempts. I must’ve looked ridiculous, but she was clearly having fun. “Like this?” she asked, doing it again.

“I am going to learn this little trick. You just wait and see.”

She laughed out loud with a big snort, making me laugh with her. “Stop now. What was your proposal?” she asked, air-quoting the word proposal.

I raised both my eyebrows at that. “Well, at home, we somehow try to delay giving them an answer. And what if we exchange phone numbers right now and get to know each other behind their backs? We can take as long as we need to decide if we suit each other. And in the end, if we do, we can tell our families. If we don’t, no harm, no foul.”

Just to mock me now, she raised one of her eyebrows. “That is an idea. I don’t see much harm in that. Worst-case scenario, my mother will be ready to hear about our meeting the moment I step inside my house and demand an answer right away. In the best-case scenario, I ask her to give me some time to think, and she will continue arranging meetings with other guys in the meantime.”

The thought of Kriti meeting other men and potentially getting a Yes from them churned my stomach. A mix of jealousy and insecurity washed over me, but I knew I had no right to exclusivity. It was painful to say, but I sighed. “Well, I might be able to delay my mother from showing me other women, but you do what you have to do. We’ll figure it out along the way.”

She seemed to mull over everything as she scrubbed the last of the utensils. She passed me the soapy dishes, washed her hands at the sink, and wiped them with the kitchen towel. I quickly finished up my part as I waited for her.

“Deal,” she said and pulled out her phone.

She raised her one eyebrow with an evil smirk, goading me. I tried not to laugh but ended up chuckling as I recited the last two digits. My phone vibrated in my pocket with a message notification.

I pulled out my phone and opened the message.

Unknown: This should be fun.

I quickly saved her number and replied.

Me: Can’t wait

Kriti: Lol

She chuckled at the one eyebrow-raised emoji I sent her. She gave me a quick salute and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me staring at her retreating form.

This should be fun indeed.