"I threw up on him and passed out," Radhika said flatly, holding the phone to her ear. "Or did you forget that."
"Ah...right." Shreya went quiet for a few moments but it didn't last long. "But I mean... After that you guys didn't...you know..." She trailed off in a way that was somehow more suggestive than finishing the sentence would have been.
Vein's throbbed on Radhika's forehead as she said through clenched teeth. "No Shreya...We did not."
"...Are you sure?"
"AM I SURE—"
"Okay okay okay—"
"You LEFT me with a complete stranger!" Radhika hissed, pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead. "What is going on in your head?!"
"He wasn't a stranger though," Shreya said, with the tone of someone making an extremely reasonable point. "He was your husband."
Radhika opened her mouth then closed it since she couldn't refute it.
The word 'husband' just sat there in the air between them like a piece of furniture someone had randomly placed in the middle of the room, she could see it clearly but she just didn't know what to do about it.
"...I barely know him," Radhika finally managed to say after gathering her thoughts.
"Rachu." Shreya's voice softened into something dangerously gentle. "Marriage is a journey. You learn as you go~"
"I met him yesterday—"
"Love doesn't run on a schedule~"
"SHREYA—"
"Honestly? The fact that he didn't try anything while you were unconscious? Green flag. Major green flag. I'm already—"
"Already what." Radhika said, very slowly.
"Already what, Shreya."
"...Just a small list," Shreya said serenely. "Reception venues. Nothing confirmed, I'm only just—"
Radhika hung up because if this continued then Shreya wouldn't planning a reception but a funeral....
...
Radhika stared at the ceiling with a dead look in her eyes. The ceiling didn't have any answers to her life's current problems but it definitely wasn't adding any more problems, making it significantly better.
She laid in absolute silence trying to not think about anything else or atleast tried. A few minutes of solitude was enough for her brain to start thinking, recalling the events of yesterday.
And when it did Radhika felt this annoying heat creep up her neck as she pulled up the blanket upto her face.
Under the blanket, in the warm dark her brain decided to betray her. It started to replay every single moment of the previous evening in excruciating detail, as if trying to drown her in shame for the consequences of her actions and decisions.
The vial of alcohol... That was where it all started , and her staunch belief that she was built different.
'Pfft~ As if.'
Then there was him... He was like a very sad golden retriever at that time which made her want to adopt him ... And adopt him she did.
'Just kill me '
She pulled the blanket tighter rememberimg the details , as her traitorous brain made it a point to recall everything with painful accuracy.
'Come with me. This will take five minutes.'
Radhika pressed both palms flat against her face underneath the blanket as she remembered how she had confidently picked up a strange guy she met a cafe and decided to get married to him on the same night.
She remembered all the embarrassing movement from the proposal to the mortifying kiss.
The garland. The kiss she had initiated. The kiss that she had—
'Do not think about the kiss!'
She was the one to intiate everything, while Arjun just stood like a statue and let her do whatever she wanted , a shameful blush crept up her cheeks as Radhika wrapped herself in the blanket thinking it could protect her from the embarrassment.
'Stop thinking about the kiss!'
Radhika groaned in shame as her mind replayed the way she was clinging to Arjun while eating his face. Not only did she make out with a random guy but she also got married to him... A guy whose last name she didn't even know... On second thought she did because it was her last name now.
Radhika stared up at the ceiling with empty eyes hoping the world would just end now...
....
Her mother had sent her out to meet Kundan Oberoi , the most eligible bachelor with his forbes ranking, his expensive villas and luxurious life straight out of a romance novel.
Radhika was supposed to meet him and just him.
But she had come back married to a different one entirely.
She had respected her father's word and she did show up for the coffee date and she had also gotten married like her mother wanted.
But whether her mother would happy with her decision? That was a can of worms Radhika didn't want to open right in the morning.
Because she was sure the calls would be coming shortly after , since it was only early morning now.
Radhika let out a sound that wasn't a cry but not a laugh at the same time , it sat somewhere in the middle as she pulled up her knees to her chest and contemplated her next steps.
But as the seconds ticked by Radhika was keenly aware of something else that was underneath the embarassment and frustration. It was quiter than the dread and more silent than the mortification of replaying every humiliating detail.
She couldn't put a name to it so she didn't bother trying since avoidance was easier.
But it did have something to do with two glasses of milk , a man who followed a complete stranger without asking too many questions.
Radhika quickly shook those thoughts away before they could take root.
She uncurled herself from the cocoon of her creation and sat up straight, her bare feet touching the cool floor.
Radhika felt warm all over despite the AC, but she didn't bother acknowledging it.. as she had a husband to face...