Page 21 of The Secret Bride
When I finished, he just stared at me.
"What kind of solution is that?" he finally said. "That is not a solution. That is insane."
I did not have an answer for him. I did not have any justification. What could I possibly say that would make any of this sound reasonable?
"I know," I said quietly.
"And you agreed to this?"
"Dadi was in a hospital bed, Aryan. Her blood pressure almost killed her. The doctor said any more stress could give her a stroke. What was I supposed to do?"
Aryan leaned back in his seat, shaking his head slowly.
"This is messed up, man. Really messed up."
I finished my first drink and signaled for another. Then another. By the time I was on my fourth drink, my phone buzzed on the table between us.
Avija.
I stared at the screen for a moment before picking up.
"What?" My voice came out harsher than I intended.
"Where are you?" Avija asked. Her tone was cool, detached.
"Does it matter? What do you want?"
"There is no need to be rude, Armaan. I just called to check on you."
I let out a bitter laugh.
"Check on me? Really?"
"Yes. And to let you know that I am going to Paris tonight. I have some project work that came up suddenly. I cannot be here while you marry someone else."
I gripped the phone tighter.
"But you can make me marry someone else."
She interrupted before I could continue.
"This is about my life, Armaan."
"So you will destroy somebody else's life instead? What if something happens to her, Avija? What then?"
There was a pause. Then she said something that made my blood run cold.
"I do not care if she dies. As long as she clears the path for me."
I could not believe what I was hearing.
"What kind of rubbish are you talking?"
Her voice turned defensive, angry.
"What do you expect from me, Armaan? You know what the result of our marriage would be. You know what would happen to me."
"First of all, I do not believe in these things," I said, my voice rising. "Second, we could have stayed in a relationship. We could have lived together. There was no need to put somebody else's life at stake just to satisfy some astrological nonsense."
