Chapter Text
“Rhea? Hello?”
“I can hear you, Dev.”
“We won the match, Rhea!”
“Oh, was that today? I’m sorry Dev, I was so busy with the contract negotiations, it slipped my mind.”
“Well, it was only the biggest match of my career.”
“I’m sorry, Dev. I’m so proud of you, I knew you would win it!”
“Thanks. Did you get the contract?”
“Yes! I just signed it. Your wife is about to shoot for the stars.”
“I’ll be right there with you.”
“Wait, you got yours too?”
“Offered to me the moment I stepped of the field.”
“Time for a celebration, then. I already bought a cake.”
“You were that sure you’d get it?”
“No I wasn’t, but I definitely was sure that it’s our anniversary today.”
Shit.
Dev Saran was the perfect man. Self-made, successful, married to a powerful woman on her own right. Football icon and international sweetheart, there was nothing he could possibly lack. Or so he thought.
Life is strange. It gives you everything, shows you a glimpse of perfection, and takes but a second to snatch it all away.
He was supposed to be on his way home for his anniversary but he had been tasked to pick his mother up from a wedding first. It was of a family he was vaguely aware of, given the tight nature of the Indian immigrant community in New York City but he’d never bothered socialising with them, he just wasn’t made for much for than football.
“Ma, how long will you take?” He asked, his voice dripping with impatience.
“Just an hour or so, the groom is almost here.”
Not interested in witnessing the ceremony, Dev stepped out on to the plush lawns outside the mansion where the wedding was taking place. Given the size of their houses, few families in the community needed to hire a hall for this sort of thing.
Playing with the chewing gum in his mouth, he was just about to throw it onto the pristine grass where he thought no one would ever notice it, given the sheer vastness of it, when a voice stopped him.
“Please don’t, I just finished cleaning here.”
Dev turned to see someone who clearly looked like a groom, given the cream wedding garments he wore, covered in rich embroidery and beading.
“You cleaned this entire lawn yourself?” Dev asked, amused.
“Just,” he said, clearly exasperated. “Throw your gum elsewhere.”
Grinning, Dev held his hands up in surrender. “Shouldn’t you be inside? Or are you a gardener who stole the groom’s clothes?” He sat himself down on the bench next to the man and hummed casually.
“Did you have to sit here?”
“Should I lie down, then? How else would we talk?”
“We’re talking?” The groom asked, seeming simultaneously frustrated and intrigued.
Dev turned to the man with a cheeky smile, “So, why keep the bride waiting?”
“Bride? Do you even know whose wedding you’re here for?”
“No?” Dev said, confused. “Just that I need to drive my mom home and I can’t do that till you go inside and get married.”
“Well there’s no bride. The groom’s procession is on it’s way.”
A moment of silence passed between the two men as Dev processed the whole situation. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t know.”
The groom chuckled, “No worries, I don’t expect you’d have gone to many gay weddings in the community.”
“Not a wedding kinda guy anyways, so nope.”
“Not even your own?” The groom asked, pointing to the ring on Dev’s left hand.
“You got me there,” he said, using his other hand to play with the band.
Another moment passed between them before the groom asked, “What did you think before getting married?”
“Who thinks before getting married?” Dev quipped instantly. “Rhea and I were friends from college, and we thought, why not give our friendship a new meaning? Anyways, what’s better than spending the rest of your life with your best friend?”
“Friendship is a precious thing, but it can sometimes take up the space meant for love in our hearts. Then you wouldn’t be able to accommodate love even if it broke your door down.”
Dev let himself look at the groom properly for once. He could see the confusion and fear welling in the man’s eyes. “Do you love him?”
“I—,” the groom started before pausing.
“You know you can’t take that long,” Dev teased. “Oh, is he a gora by any chance?”
“Are you out of your mind? You think these Indian parents would let me marry a white guy?” They both shared a quiet laugh. “Rishi and I were childhood best friends. After my parents passed away, his father took me in. They’re family to me.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. Do you love him?”
“I do,” he said, “Just not the way I should.”
“How? The way it’s in good books and bad films?”
“No, the way love is supposed to be.”
Dev let out a questioning sound at that, “Does love like that even exist anymore? I was once told, “The time of everlasting love has long passed, now we make do with small romances.””
“Does that mean you don’t love your wife?”
“I—” it was now Dev’s turn to pause.
“You know you can’t take that long.”
“We’re happy,” he said. “We have our own little world.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Well what matters here is not my answer but what you do with your life,” Dev said. “You’re at a crossroads. One path takes you to happiness, the other to an endless wait for a love that may never come.”
“What if I find that love after marriage?”
Dev pushed the groom by his shoulder, “Well you’re definitely not finding it here talking to a stranger outside your own wedding. Go inside, get married!”
The groom laughed as he stood up. He turned around to extend his hand, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“Well I’d rather be playing football but I’d say it was nice meeting you too, sir.”
“Mayank.”
“Dev.” Their handshake lingered for a moment longer than it should have. “Now go, your groom is waiting and I need to get home! Goodbye!”
“Wait,” Mayank said. “Never say goodbye, it kills the hope of ever meeting again. Maybe someday our paths may cross like this?”
He smiled one last time before starting towards the mansion. Dev found the path that led out of the estate, hoping to enjoy the pleasant weather while he waited for his mother. But as he drew each step farther and farther away from that bench, an urge bubbled in him to turn back, so he did. There he was, Mayank, walking away to his new life. He muttered a small prayer under his breath, a wish for happiness for a stranger.
Dev stepped out of the estate gates and turned around once more, thinking of throwing the gum onto the lawn through the fence just out of spite. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see the car speeding down the road, he only felt the impact.