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Everyone wandered off in the direction of available chairs leaving Veda and Agastya alone in front of their ugly red chairs. He stared at her, suddenly lost for words. Him, a politician, a man born to take the stage in front of the largest gatherings in the country, couldn’t find a single thing to say to his bride.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi.” Veda smiled, a bright beam of joy.
“Should we?” He gestured to the chairs behind them and she nodded, pulling her pallu to one side and sitting down. He followed suit and now, they were sitting like clowns on velvet lined thrones, staring out at the group of relatives who were, in turn, staring back at them.
Agastya cleared his throat, shifted in his seat and searched his mind for something meaningful to say.
“How are you?” he asked, closing his eyes in despair as the words left his mouth. It was like the sight of Veda had scrambled his brains.
“Fine, thank you. And how are you?” Veda replied politely.
He looked at her and found her grinning cheekily at him. A wry smile tugged at his lips in return.
“Should we start again?” he asked.
Veda laughed, crossing her legs and adjusting her pallu. “Let’s! I love do-overs.”
Before he could say anything classier or wittier than his early attempts at conversation, the mothers descended on them with large trays laden with things. So many, many things. Agastya eyed the towers of gifts and hoped nothing was going to fall on his head.
Towering trays were exchanged, stiff hugs too, and then his mother was holding out a ring box to him. He opened it and took out the ring, turning towards Veda. He heard her swift intake of breath and looked up into her radiant, luminescent eyes.
“It’s a different ring,” she breathed, her gaze on the band he held. A massive square cut diamond sat in an open setting, nothing clustering around it to detract from its simple, timeless beauty.
“Of course,” he replied quietly. “That ring wasn’t you. And you deserve to be you. Always.”
Sixteen
VEDA
Veda watched the priest view both their horoscopes with a magnifying glass. Was that really necessary? Did she have minute issues in her horoscope that he needed to look at it like that? Or did Agastya? But that seemed unlikely. The man seemed to live a charmed life.
A shrill ringing cut through her thoughts and she saw Agastya pull his phone out. Veda sighed but didn’t protest. She knew whom she was marrying and she wasn’t going to spiral into the needy fiancée who insisted he put his phone away and focus on her.
Except, she thought. It was their engagement. Surely, he didn’t need to be on a work call right this minute?
She moved closer to Agastya, subtly leaning towards him and…he got up and walked away, the phone held to his ear. Veda almost faceplanted on Agastya’s now vacant red velvet chair. Slowly, she straightened, trying to pretend that that hadn’t happened.
Raashi wandered up to where she now sat alone and perched on the arm of Veda’s chair. “You could take someone’s eye out with that thing,” she sniffed, looking at Veda’s ring.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Veda held her hand out, admiring the ring.
For a second, Raashi didn’t say anything. Then she shoved her glasses up her nose with one finger, sighed, and said, “Yes.”
Veda hugged her sister around the waist and waited.
“I’m happy for you,” Raashi ground out, sounding like the words were being dragged out of her.
“I know you are.” Veda hugged harder until Raashi relented and hugged her back.
“If he hurts you,” Raashi began. “I know how to use an axe.”
“Excuse me?” Startled, Veda looked at her.
“There are these places you go to in America where you throw axes for fun.”
“Throw axes at what?”
