To save face, she’d forced a smile and lied. “Of course, Seth. We’ll always be friends.”
Surprisingly, their friendship and writing partnership continued. Seth still called or emailed every week. He sent lyrics and voice memos of his songs, and she sent him pieces of the play she had started in college and was still working on. No matter what she was going through, Seth was always willing to listen, to hear her out, to encourage her, or to distract her by making her laugh.
But despite all their conversations, they somehow never ended up talking about their months of dating in college. He never brought it up, and she was too scared to mention it. She still had so many questions. Did he regret ending things? Did he ever think about that time? Had he ever felt anything for her at all?
Meghna swallowed hard, setting the invitation facedown on the counter and pushing all thoughts of Seth out of her mind.
Her mother was still talking to her over the phone. “And before you say anything, let me just tell you about him,” her mother said. “His name is Karthik. He comes from a good family. Well educated. Very tall.Andhe’s an engineer.”
Meghna’s prediction about her mother’s speech had been completely wrong. This wasn’t a talk about it not being too late for Meghna to become an engineer. This was a brand-new speech. One titled, “Meghna, It’s Not Too Late for You toMarryan Engineer.”
“You don’t have to promise anything,” her mother said. “Just meet him. Once. That’s all.”
Meghna blinked, completely stunned. She’d never agreed to anything like this before. In fact, it was rare that her parents ever brought up the topic of arranged marriage. They’d found love on their own and expected that she’d do the same. But after she’d turned twenty-eight earlier this year, they’d begun to dial up the pressure. Making comments about her dating life that they probably thought were subtle, but were just hurtful reminders that even though she wanted to find the right person, she hadn’t managed it yet. But those small comments and hints were usually as far as her parents went. They had never seriously brought a rishta, a potential marriage proposal, to her.
And they’d never really talked with her about what the arranged marriage process looked like, though Ankita, her closest friend from childhood, had gone through it and had recently gotten engaged to someone her parents had introduced to her. She’d said the initial introduction was awkward, but that it felt like normal dating after that. “Think of it like Tinder,” she’d said. “Except your parents are the algorithm, and they’re only showing you people they’ve already swiped right on.” She’d thought for a moment, then added, “And both parties are looking for a lifelong commitment. Not just, you know, a one-night stand.”
Meghna had laughed, but hadn’t thought about it any further. She certainly hadn’t thought about going through the process herself. She didn’t have anything against it, but it all sounded pretty…inorganic. Unromantic. She wanted to meet someone who would sweep her off her feet. Someone who could rival those initial butterflies and swoon-inducing moments she’d experienced with Seth. And she found it hard to believe that she would meet that person through her parents.
But she did want to get married one day. And when she thought about it, she’d tried everything else: blind dates, dating apps, physically bumping into cute strangers at bars. Maybe, in the back of her mind, she’d thought that Seth was out there. That one day, he’d wonder why they hadn’t worked out, and they could just try to pick up where they’d left off.
Clearly, that wasn’t a possibility anymore.
The back of Meghna’s neck warmed, and her hands involuntarily clenched into fists. If Seth could let go of their past and move on, so could she. Maybe getting back out there would help.
“Okay,” she told her mom.
The line went quiet. Her mother’s stunned silence was somehow louder than anything she could have said.
“Mom, did you hear me? I said ‘okay.’ ”
“Oh. Great, beta. Good. That’s good. Leave it to me. I’ll arrange everything.” She paused, then continued, a faint panic in her voice. “Not your marriage. When I said ‘everything,’ I didn’t mean your marriage. It’s just a meeting. An introduction. That I’m arranging. That’s it.”
Meghna smothered a laugh.
“So, I’ll let you know. About the meeting. Soon. But I have to go now. Okay. So. Bye.” The call beeped, signaling that her mother had hung up.
Meghna shook her head. She knew her mom had ended the call on purpose, likely fearing that Meghna would change her mind or try to back out, but she had no intention of getting out of this. After all, what did she have to lose?
In life and in engineering, Karthik Murthy found that keeping and following a clear set of principles made everything a lot easier. The rules of engineering had come to him naturally. They were sharp and sure. Specific and defined. Life, however, tended to be more complicated. The real world presented too many variables. Too many outcomes he couldn’t predict. And unfortunately, he was once again stuck in a situation with no clear path forward.
He stood outside a modest, two-story redbrick home in suburban Dallas. A home that his mother believed was the home of his future bride. Of course, she had thought that about the last seven homes they had visited over the past month. But this time, she said, she was absolutely sure they were about to meet her soon-to-be daughter-in-law. Guilt singed his conscience, but he just nodded and rang the doorbell. There was no way this woman, or any woman, would ever become her daughter-in-law, but he couldn’t say that. He had no choice but to play along and hope this would all be over as quickly as possible.
He pasted on a smile as the door unlocked with a mechanicalclick.An older woman in a cotton mint-green kurti and jeans waved them inside.
“Welcome, welcome. I’m Radhika.”
She hugged his mother, shook his hand, and led them straight to the living room, where several cups of tea and an assortment of snacks waited for them on the coffee table. He scanned the food quickly, pleased to see that the samosas were smaller than normal, the way he preferred. It meant a better fried-pastry-to-vegetable-stuffing ratio than the larger ones he’d had at yesterday’s meeting.
He was wondering how many he could take while still being polite, when an amused snort broke his train of thought.
“You hungry?”
Karthik flushed. “Sorry, I—” He looked up at the woman standing in front of him, and whatever he’d been about to say left his mind.
She was stunning. With her long, curly hair and big brown eyes, he thought her objectively beautiful, but it was her wide, uninhibited smile that made him pause. She was vibrant. Brilliant. He felt dull by comparison.
“No, it’s fine,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “I was just joking. Go ahead and start.”
