"Please tell me you have alcohol in that bag" vivek snatched the bag from me.

"Why do you think i decided to travel in the train for 5 days , when i could have flown here in a day?"

I pulled out 6 bottles of vodka buried underneath my clothes.

"YAAAAAAAS!!!" He squeeled in delight and grabbed all the bottles.

"No no no. Only two for now." Tara said.

I gave her a secret smile.

We were all gathered near the pond in our backyard. It was almost like a pond had a sitting area. Several steps laced with green moss served as redcarpet to whomever came to the pond. By all i mean all of my cousins. There were almost 17 of us.

Ajith one of my cousins from Tara's moms side rushed in with plastic shot glasses.

"We need to quiet ammumma will come by this side for her bath now." He hushed.

"She already bathed sometime ago. I made sure of that" it was swathy who answered.

It was kind of a bachelorette party for tara. Tonight will be the last night she will sleep as a single women. From tommorow there will a ring on her finger which will scream 'taken'!.

The only person who wasnt going to drink was dhriti. She was sitting by the entrance of the pond , keeping watch. She had a huge bottle of diet coke and a shot glass just so she wasnt left out.

"Do you remember the last time we did this was the night before your wedding?" I asked varun.

"Ughh!!! Dont remind me." Varun groaned.

"Why?? What happened?" Pooja asked.

An echoed chuckle rose from the group. It was mahima who answered.

"He was hammered. He started reciting these poems from school and started rambling about the different type of nuts or something?"

We all laughed. "Nuts??" Pooja asked fighting a giggle.

I used my nails to tap on the vodka bottle which was almost empty now.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me the displeasure of acknowledging the fact that tara is getting engaged and we should torture her about the deadly slopes of marriage".

"Oh yeah. You're screwed" the couple answered.

I raised a toast and everyone joined.

"Tara. You are a terrible cook. God bless Arjun's stomach. You are a crazy organiser, and you snuggle like a koala bear."

Laughs rose from the crowd " but you will be one hell of a wife. And that guy whomever he is, Is lucky to have you. And no matter how good a guy he might be hes not good enough for you. No one ever will be in my eyes because you deserve the utmost best."

Tears welled up in my eyes when i finished.

Tara jumped up and hugged me.

Quite a few speeches followed. Old memories were revisited and a lot of ghost stories and another bottle of vodka later we all scrambled towards our room.

My head was pounding and i was almost dragging my feet while walking. Yup im drunk. We should got out room and sleep it out.

But me and tara drifted towards the kitchen.

The engagement was tomorrow evening, but to not be rushed our caterers had already prepared the welcome drink aka orange flavoured rasna in a huge quantity and stocked in an icebox.

There were 2 portions of the drink. One was stored in a huge steel container and sealed with plastic wrap. Another portion was also in a huge steel container but was covered with a steel lid. That was our target.

We slid open the lid and dumped 2 bottles of vodka into it. We stirred it using a big spoon and tasted it. We could hardly taste the vodka but the bitter sting was there. So we dumped another bottle in there. And now it waas in perfect proportion.

The engagement party will be soooo fun tomorrow.

_____________________________

I wish she'd stayed. I wished she'd listened. I would have told her everything even if it meant jeopardising everything ive been trying to keep secret. I dont know if she's believe me but i did have to try.

Thoughts swarmed in my head as i thought about her retreating figure. I rang the doorbell and was greated by a very enthuastic greeshma. Our family friend.

She was a lean short girl with long brown hair braided into somekind of crown on her head.She was 4 years younger and was always like a little sister to me. Im not sure she feels the same way too.

She treated me a like brother iniatially but as we grow her feelings towards me changed. She never said anything about it but its not really hard to figure that out.

"Adhiii you are soo late. Everybody is here already and the grooms brother still hasnt made appearance." She had her hands on her hips and pout on her lips.

She's trying to act cute but pathetically failing.

"Sorry madam. Grown ups have to work. Unlike you i cant waste away sitting in my room watching serieses and obsessing over korean guys." I pushed past her but she wrapped her hands around me from behind.

"Why?? Jealous??" She asked from over my shoulder.

I scoffed "why would i be jealous? Obsess over anyone greeshu i dont care." I pushed at her hands and released it.

She dropped her arms. "You will care just wait and see" she walked past me rubbing her shoulder deliberately on ny chest.

"Jeez" i walked behind and cut into my the hall through another entrance.

I saw my family gathered there all of them in travel attire. Ready to leave.

"Adhii" i heard my moms voice.

We werent exactly on speaking terms. We talk but only if necessary. The mother son bond thing withered away the minute she married ajay malhotra.

Yup. I had a step dad now. Who was lounging on the couch one leg over the other as if he owned the place.

After marriage ajay sold our house we were staying and moved us to another house. With jeeth.

Arjun wasnt even that down to earth. He immediately declared that neither him or me will ever step foot in that house he bought us.

Me and arjun used to stay in a rented apartment. Now we have our own. He stopped working in the workshop when mom got married. He studied hard for the entrance and now hes a design engineer at suzuki.

For me. I finished law. Im practising as a legal advisor in a firm. But the reason for which i studied law became nullified.

Who was i fighting against anymore?

Against the dad who left us or the mom who didnt even think about us getting hurt before jumping into another man's bed.

Speaking of "Where have you been? We've been calling you all afternoon." Mom voice neared my ears from behind me.

"Train got delayed" i replied drly.

That was it. End of conversation. She wont ask more. Even if she does she wont answers.

People called relatives who only show up during any functions doing no favours but to mooch off of us were filled in our house.

The people who abandoned us on the verege of suicide. The people who came back when a millionare became my step dad. Bastards and bitches for all i care.

The only people arjun wanted to be there at the engagement was me, him, mom and a few of his and my friends. But Nope. The the whole cavalry was invited.

I stepped into Arjun's room and saw him packing his and my clothes into a huge bag.

"Wassup mr.groom? I slapped his back and sat near the luggage.

"Dude where were you? You were supposed to be here this morning." He scowled.

"I was. But then i had this situation which made me get down 5 station later."

"What? You got down 5 stations later? You dont even sleep in trains." Arjun eyes were wide.

"No i dont. But that wasnt the reason." I let out a deep sigh and fell to the bed.

"I saw her man. I saw Maya."

__________________________________

Vodka is a bitch. Gives us One hell of a hangover which makes regret even thinking about drinking.

I slowly blinked my eyes open. The sunlight peering in through the widows was blinding me and making my head feel like hulk was doing salsa inside.

I groaned and reached for the blanket but what i got was big furry leg. I tried to sit up but could thats when i understood that i was trapped under the bulldozer. Vivek.

"Dude get off." I threw the leg off and vivek mumbled something turned and went back to sleep.

Me, tara, vivek and dhriti were piled up in the bed like kittens after birth.

"Tara... get up" i said and barely recognised my voice. My throat felt like sandpaper.

I sat up and saw that i was lying on top of tara. I shook her up. " wakeup bitch"

Tara groaned "Coffee".She slowly reached for her phone and without any reminder i was thrown off the bed. I hung on the bed frame for support.

"Its 11 am. Ohh god i have so much to do. The makeup artist will be here at 2. I nearly dont have enough time to complete my routine. " tara started rambling.

I tried to pull up to stand and vivek looked down was staying upon in elbows and smirked

"Scar...Brother.. help me.." i wiggled my hands.

He smirked.

"Long live the king" he punched on my both my hands and i fell down.

"Aaaaaaahh!!!!" I fake screamed

I heard a loud laugh from the bed and a smile pulled on my face too.

I have no idea how we got back here. I remember drinking by the pond. I remember mahima saying something about nuts. Then we left and i remember going to the kitchen.

Why did i go to the kitchen? And i think tara was with me too.

Stupid vodka. I looked around and saw vivek and dhriti cuddling.

Awwwww. My babies. I clicked a picture of them on my phone and walked towards the bathroom.

When i opened the bathroom door i saw a frantic tara scrubbing her face with various creams and rambling how she doesnt have enough time.

Uffff!! Bridezilla indeed.

I checked my phone and saw a message from dr.mehta that our session was scheduled for 11am today.

Well perfect timing. I dialled dr.mehtas office number and she answered on the second ring.

"You're 3 minutes late maya" dr.mehtas voice chirped.

"And hello to you too." I sighed rubbing at my head. "Im sorry.Bachelorette party hangover"

A chuckle. "Been there. So wanna talk about how everyone thinks you drank for the party but not for the real reason?"

My voice was quiet "yes"

________________________________

Talking to arjun about maya was a routine for me. It started the day i betrayed her. Betrayed myself.

And it continued all these years. Especially during my drunk nights. Those times arjun was more of a therapist for me.

Now sitting in the traveller bus with 60 of my family members and driving towards the brides house i had nothing else to do but think.

The bride Tara's house was almost 6 hours from here. So we had to leave now to reach the engagement at evening. Everyone was dressed in casuals and would change when we got there.

Well the men would.

The women were all set in their expensive sarees and makeups and half a ton of jasmine flowers.

I hate jasmine. The smell drives me nuts.

Now.. arjun will get married soon. He'll have a wife and will start his family soon after.

I'll be left alone. Again.

******************************

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