“Because I met him on a dating app.”
“Are you scared he’s not real?” I lurch back, gasping, “Please tell me you’ve seen his face, like on a video call or something?”
“Of course! I’m not stupid.”
“So, what’s the issue?”
“Several,” she sighs.
“Like what?”
“He’s American and lives in Montana.”
“But you guys have met?” She says nothing. “Anaya!”
“People can get close without meeting in person, Arya,” she argues. “That’s literally the foundation of online apps. It’s not like we’ll never meet. Our schedules aren’t aligning. He has a nine-to-five job. You know how corporate jobs are.”
“So, it’s not casual?”
She stares pointedly. “Do you think I’d waste three months on something casual?”
“Wow.” I’m stunned. My commitment-phobe best friend has fallen for a guy. I see it in her eyes that she’s smitten. “What’s his name?”
“Jack.” Her voice is dreamy. “He’s funny, smart, and so handsome. I am dying to meet him. I think I’ll fly to the US and surprise him.”
“Hold your horses, miss.” I raise my palm. “I would like to meet him virtually first. I want to know the man who made my best friend stop leaving a string of broken hearts along the way.”
She laughs before peering at me brightly. “I would like that, Aru. I’m going to need you in my corner when I tell my parents about him.”
“Stop! You’ll give me a heart attack.”
“Oh Shush!”
“Jack must really be special.”
“He is.” Brushing her palms on her pants, she says, “Enough about him. Let’s turn you into a seductress.”
***
“Didn’t I tell you to wear a sari, Arya?” hisses my mother in my ear after tugging me into a corner by my elbow as soon as I arrive.
My father is nowhere to be seen, for which I’m grateful. I can’t handle his glares of disappointment.
My mother’s long nails dig into my skin harshly, but she’s oblivious. “I don’t feel comfortable in them, Ma. Besides, hardly anyone is wearing a sari.”
Traditional attire isn’t my style either, unless it’s festival season. A melancholy feeling rises in my gut as I remember Bianca dragging me to the mall all week long before the festival so we could shop together.
Little did I know that when we went shopping for her wedding reception after she eloped with Dash that it’ll be the last time. Or that she had forced herself into a marriage of convenience because of me. As well as our traditional parents, who wouldn’t allow my marriage unless my elder sister settled down first.
Bianca sacrificed her future for mine.
The guilt of it still eats me alive. The only consolation I have is that her fake marriage turned into a real one. Dash worships the ground she walks on.
“This is our first outing as a family since the humiliating disaster. You look like a hussy, Arya,” scolds my mother. “No one’s going to allow their son to marry you dressed like that. Have you not embarrassed us enough?”
My throat closes up as I swallow the hiccup while tears sting my eyes.
With a scathing glare, she releases my arm and walks away.
