Chapter-5: The Impending Wedding Of My Ex

11th January, 2015...

Vedhansh had been busy for a week and had finally gotten some free time, so he did what he used to do every week. He went to the conference halls located under the stairs of the auditorium to perform with his guitar. As soon as he reached there, he noticed it was occupied and decided to wait. As he listened to the voice singing inside, he closed his eyes, leaning on the corridor wall. Vedhansh likes music, but singing is not something he would take pleasure in. His father wanted him to be an all-rounder, so he signed the 6-year-old Vedhansh up for pretty much everything. He never got to enjoy anything and had his interest wane after a while. Music was more of a necessity to him, and he stuck with it because he turned out to be good at it. He was always told to perform in front of his dad’s friends, and often they were drunk. As a kid, he never understood the necessity of their approval. He still practices his guitar every week because, regardless of how his father felt, his mother always loved his singing. Vedhansh loves his mother the most, and her proud smile whenever he plays doesn’t allow him to hate music.

Even though he does not enjoy doing it, he can tell that the girl inside loves singing. She mixes her emotions well into the tune. Vedhansh doesn’t want to admit it, but the girl possesses a love for music that he lacks. He plays with precision and no emotion. It’s more of a reciprocation than a heartfelt creation. He can play perfectly, but he cannot create anything out of it.

He stood by the window, wondering how the girl looked right now. He believes anyone would look beautiful while singing with such passion. The voice was so smooth, he couldn't deny how much he liked it. He hears a door opening on the other side, realizes someone has entered the hall, and decides to stand back, out of earshot, so as not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Now that she isn’t singing and he is all alone in the corridor with nothing to do, he takes out his phone and taps around to check if there are any new messages or mail. He finds his mother’s message, asking him if he’s okay. He knows she’s worried about him, especially now that his ex and his cousin are getting married, but there's not really much he can do to assure her, so he simply replies, 'Everything's fine'. He then goes onto his Instagram, soon engrossed with new updates on one of the new theses being developed on lymphoma, a type of cancer that begins in the lymphocytes of our immune system and soon spreads across the body through the spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and other parts of the body. He is so occupied by the article that he fails to notice the caramel-eyed girl approaching, and as Aadhira rounds the corridor, she clams into him, which causes his phone to fly out of his hand. Aadhira stumbles back, losing her balance, and he reaches out to steady her. Her expression more than conveys how stupid she thinks he is to stand at the edge of the steep walkthrough, but she pauses when she gets a good look at him.

Maybe it’s because of all the staring he gets from the opposite gender that he feels uncomfortable when women stare at me because even women with the worst attitudes are quick to act sweet for his looks, and he never appreciated it. Women give him too much clemency for his good looks, and if anything, he thinks Aadhira might do just the same, but he soon realizes that the reason for his anger is because she recognized him.

"You" is the first word that comes out of her mouth. "You are the guy from the fight," she states.

He remains indifferent, not giving away that he knows her, and she continues, "I am the girl you saved that day." Vedhansh almost snorted at how naive she was to think that he saved her because all he did was make sure the fight between him and Kiran stayed just between them. Technically, she would never be in danger if he hadn't begun the fight in the first place. "Anyways, thank you for saving me that day. I could only imagine how painful it must've been to take that blow. How is it now? Do you feel better?" The worry in her voice confuses Vedhansh to no end. Even though he dodged the punch for her that day, he is as much of a stranger to her as he was that day. Vedhansh wonders if this is because she is a naturally caring person or because she’s nosy.

Aadhira watches the man in front of her go blank and wonders what he is thinking. She moves forward to check his shoulder, but Vedhansh recoils with an alarmed expression. Vedhansh is very cautious with his personal space, and Aadhira is the worst at putting up boundaries. She pulls away with awkwardness and wonders why he was so scared of her. Little did she know that it was her presence that put him on edge and at ease at the same time. Vedhansh, on the other hand, had always been uncomfortable around women, especially because he had been taken for granted by women on more than a few occasions. This has happened before when he was dating Aarti too. Aadhira smiles, understanding that they were merely strangers, and that’s probably why he feels uncomfortable.

"My name is Aadhira Balakrishnan. I am a first-year from the CSE branch. You?" She introduces herself with a smile.

"Vedansh, Medical Department" He doesn't specify his surname. Since they would not be meeting again, he didn’t think it was necessary to know much about each other.

"You study medicine? Aadhira could not imagine the ball of anger standing in front of her being a doctor, especially after the fight that she witnessed. She was amused that he is a medical student, but she can also see him as someone responsible enough to be a doctor. He probably treated the other guy that day too, she thinks.

"What?"

"I just imagined you treating the guy you fought with that day." Vedhansh couldn’t help the tiniest of smiles that took over his lips, and Aadhira’s smile grew at the sight.

"Nice to meet you, Vedansh." Vedhansh doesn’t meet new people often. Since he decided that he wanted to be a doctor, his life has been all about it, and he rarely finds time to socialize. Most of his classmates only knew him because of his good grades and the awards he got in various medical debates. For a supposedly rich kid, he had too many scholarships, which displeased both the students with low socioeconomic status and his father. He wouldn’t have needed the scholarship if it had not been for his father’s disapproval of his career decision, but he is not sorry for taking the scholarship that could’ve helped someone who needed it because he needs it just as much and he had earned it rightfully.

Aadhira stands with her hand outstretched, not willing to let it slide. Vedhansh was initially reluctant but had to shake her hand since she was showing no sign of taking it back, but he doesn’t regret it. They shook hands, and Aadhira was the one to pull away first, while Vedhansh couldn’t deny the spark he felt. The girl had his heart tangled, and he was barely feeling the surface of it. Vedhansh felt conflicted with this reaction, as he had never been quick to feel this way about anyone. Despite the spark, he was too awkward to bear this interaction any longer.

"Nice to meet you too." He doesn’t know why, but he avoids saying her name. "I've got to go now. Have a nice day." He walks around her towards the conference hall, not looking back once.

The funny thing about avoiding something in your life is that doing so will only make you more aware of their presence; in this case, there are two of them hanging around him like a dangling carrot. One was the impending wedding of his ex, which was fast approaching, and the other was the girl who left him with indecipherable feelings.

Aadhira Balakrishnan. He hasn’t said her name out loud, afraid of how it would feel on his lips, because he knows exactly how it felt when she said his name. It shouldn’t be a big deal if he gets feelings for her, but he knows that this is going to be complicated, especially because she doesn’t seem to reciprocate his interest in her, and he is unwilling to get himself into another situation that would only result in heartbreak. He wonders how this would play out because he can certainly see someone who can make him smile in her.

Vedhansh had hurt his exes, who were obsessed with this idea of a perfect boyfriend and didn’t care if he was really into her, which left him with the conclusion that most girls don’t like him for who he is. He would hate to admit it, but even Aarthi started dating him for the appeal of having a boyfriend like him—someone who is good-looking, nice, and has a good upbringing. Vedhansh sounds so good on paper that it's laughable, but in truth, he was merely a preoccupied nerd who couldn't keep a girlfriend. His mom loves him, and his father tries to, but in the end, their priorities were very clear. To secure the inheritance his grandfather will eventually leave behind.

Ranveer and Anita Mourya are merely a couple on paper for the sake of the company and their child, Vedhansh Mourya.

The only reason his family functions is because of his father’s greed towards the company and his mother’s unconditional love for his father, which is why his father wanted him to be a businessman and take over after him, but when he decided to become a doctor, his father was adamant about not letting him go. Another reason for his disapproval is that he hates hospitals and doctors, and the reason for that is pretty much a secret in plain sight. Ranveer’s first love died of cancer because the doctors failed to treat her and, even worse, got her files mixed up with another patient who was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Her death had tremendously affected Ranveer, who later got married to Anita Thakur under family pressure. After getting married, Ranveer made it clear that he didn’t love Anita, but with time, they found some balance in their relationship. Vedhansh was aware of his father’s affairs, as was his mother, but there was nothing Anita could do about it. She loved him too much to lose him. His father’s unfaithfulness had driven Vedhansh to hate infidelity, so when he found out about Aarti and Kiran, she lost control and almost thrashed his cousin to death. Vedhansh had never forgiven her, but he couldn’t hate her or forget her because she was his first love.

The next morning, Vedhansh woke up with Aadhira on his mind. He had no idea why he was thinking of her so much. He quickly washed up and went to college. Everything was going as usual, excluding the girl who is constantly on his mind, until his phone pinged, and he found several messages popping up in their family chat, which consisted of just his parents and himself. He scrolled through the chat to get the gist of it, and it was them telling him it was completely fine if he wanted to take a raincheck on Kiran’s wedding. Vedhansh never talked to their parents about the unspeakable breakup, which spiraled him into an asshole for the entire family. It was a surprise that Vedhansh’s parents were letting him go because usually they’d always pushed him to attend any possible social gathering for appearance's sake. Maybe they thought it would be too awkward to have him there at his ex’s wedding. He initially wasn’t planning on going, but it eats at him that he doesn't know if Aarti even wants him at her wedding. He even doubts if she’s willing to get married because he wouldn’t put it past her parents to force her into a marriage. But even if she is forced into this, will he help her? And she is pregnant. Instead of dwelling on his doubts, Vedhansh pushes himself harder at his studies so he can make a decision without worrying about academics.

His hesitancy on whether he should attend the wedding or not finds him once in a while, and he wonders why he was stalling in making a decision when he doesn’t even care about her. She left him, so why is it any of his concern that she is marrying an asshole who, despite making her pregnant, claims that he doesn’t love her? The answer was unfound, leaving him restless until one day he was distracted from his fickle mind.

He was in the canteen with his classmates, who could be considered his friends, and he doesn’t remember how he even managed to get there when he heard a cheerful voice from his right. He had barely slept a wink in the past few days, and the sleepless nights were catching up to him tenfold as he felt his eyes drooping with exhaustion. At times like these, he usually does not pay attention to the world, as doing so would only hurt his head more, but the voice was familiar, and he glanced in that direction lazily. Aadhira was sitting in a chair to his right with her back to him, laughing at something her friends were talking about. He kept staring at her, and his mind started clearing up. He feels a lot better now as he watches her smile from ear to ear. He didn’t realize he was staring until she turned her head and noticed him when she felt his gaze on her. She looked back at him, not saying a word, but then a small and familiar smile pulled up on her lips, and he turned his head so fast that he would’ve snapped his neck. He knew better than anyone at that time what it meant to be held down by the weight of someone’s stare. He also knew at that time that he had to make sure. He must make sure that his feelings are final.