From Her Past

Written for MLMM’s Sunday Writing Prompt– The food in the new restaurant was delicious/different/challenging.

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The food in the new restaurant was delicious, but Riddhi couldn’t enjoy it. All she could think about was her future, balanced below the tip of a sword.

When Milind had proposed to her, she’d been overjoyed at having found someone at last who loved her enough to marry her. Casual relationships were bearable for a while, but this felt like the right time to settle down. And who better than her boyfriend of two years?

But now, sitting at the restaurant where she was officially being introduced to Milind’s family as his future bride, she could see her future plans unravelling before her eyes. It was all because she had accepted that bet three years ago.

~*~

The six girls sitting beside one another giggled, buzzed and on the way to becoming drunk.

“You can atleast bag the guy sitting at the corner booth,” Riddhi’s best-friend had coaxed her, trying to make her forget the last two guys who’d rebuffed her. The others murmured encouragements in-between fits of giggles. The inebriated girls had then hatched a bet to challenge a reluctant Riddhi into flirting and later propositioning the elder gentleman who’d eyed her all evening.

While the sex had been adequate (nothing earth-shattering or emotional, like with her Milind), it had been enough of a stress-reliever to make her feel good about herself for the rest of their trip abroad, especially after her last break-up had left her feeling insecure.

But she had never expected to be face-to-face with her one night stand, especially when introduced to her potential in-laws.

~*~

Riddhi tried to avoid any form of eye-contact with her fiancé’s chacha, looking at the flowers placed before him instead. But it was becoming tedious since the man’s wife and daughter were the curious and talkative sort, asking her questions and engaging her attention when it was taking all her will-power to stop the tide of old memories from flooding her mind.

How could an unmemorable night have such a grave impact on the night that should have been so memorable?

Milind gave her a concerned glance, as if to ask why she sat pale, stiff and silent. Imitating a cadaver, her mind supplied unhelpfully as she played with the food on her plate. As the dinner neared its end, she knew she had to make a decision:

Should she confess to her fiancé about the incident, disclosing the infidelity of his ‘happily married’ uncle and risk jeopardising her marital future?

Or should she keep quiet about it, as the other man’s eyes had pleaded with her the only time she had looked at him?

---

chacha- uncle,(younger brother of your father).

Other prompts: #FOWC– Imitate; Word of the Day– Cadaver; #3TC– Flower & Old

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