Page 11 of 5000 Nights of Obsession

Past-Milan’sWedding

* * *

Piya

“Shedid this on purpose,”Milanseethed, face twisting in anger.

“It’sokay,Beta.Don’tlet her spoil your day,”Momconsoled, simultaneously looking down her nose at me.

Papamumbled something, refusing to outright get in the middle.

AfterJay’sarrival, my day started to look up.Hehelped me clean up, then invited me to play a game of cornhole.WhenMilanprotested,Jayeasily dissuaded my difficult brother.Mypast relationships had left me jaded, and after being discarded so many times,I’dsettle for a nice man like him who stood up for me.Jaywas thirty-eight and only looking to date women he saw a future with.Ididn’t know if he saw it with a twenty-one-year-old, butIhad an inkling he might be interested.Betweenlaughter and easy conversations, the time spent withJaywas alluring.Somuch so it made me consider the listIhad initiated afterDadi, my grandmother, passed away.

AlthoughIwas the black sheep of the family,Dadialways saw the best in me.IthoughtIhad successfully hidden my debauchery, but her cunning eyes saw through the bullshit and badly wanted me to move on from the douchebagsIdated.Shewas from a different generation and had an arranged marriage at twenty-one.Overtime, she fell in love with my grandfather.Theybuilt trust, respect, a life.Shewanted the same for me.Stability.Love.Aman deserving of me.Unfortunately,Iwas an adrenaline junkie and engaged in shameless behavior thatDadiwouldn’t be proud of.

Therecent passing of my dear oldDadi, along with my ex-boyfriend stealing from me, changed everything.Mybiggest regret was thatDadinever saw me outgrow this awful phase.Mydetermination to change myself strengthened upon discovering thatDadileft me with her remaining life savings.Ina final letter to me, she asked me to use the money to live it up and get everything out of my system before settling down with someone worthy.

Inother words,Daditold me to go ham on a bachelorette party for one, then grow the fuck up.AsGodwas my witness,I’ddo exactly that.

Afterspending the day withJay,Iwondered if it was time to throw myself the aforementioned party, then askJayout on a date.Milanmellowed out followingJay’sarrival.Surprisedby the attentionIreceived from the reserved mogul, he took his cues fromJayand treated me like a human being.Myparents also simmered down, bewildered by the interest their version of royalty had taken in me.Throughoutthe day,Ifelt optimistic about a brighter future and improving the deteriorating relationship with my family.

Thehope had since dwindled.Jaywas called back to the city due to a work emergency, and my family was back to hating me.

Milanand his soon-to-be wife,Dahlia, were born inAmericabut were ofSouthAsiandescent.Theyincorporated our roots with anIndianceremony.Thetheme wasEastmeetsWest,Easternclothes for the ceremony, andWesternclothes for the reception.However,Ifucked up on the order of attire.Thewedding planners were seating the guests for the ceremony.Thebridal party was instructed to arrive only ten minutes early to be lined up so we wouldn’t run into the guests and ruin the grand reveal pre-ceremony.Therewasn’t enough time for me to fix the mistake.

“Justlook at her,Mom,”Milanspat, cutting me with a look so deadlyInearly crawled out of my skin. “Sheis not going to match with the rest of the bridesmaids.It’lltotally screw up the pictures.”

Allelation from the day crumbled underMilan’snarrowed eyes.Mom’sscowl was equally intimidating.Papatook off his glasses and wiped the lenses.Itwas a nervous tick.Aman of medicine,Papawas far more interested in cutting people open and rearranging their body parts than partaking in family matters.Hewanted to diffuse the situation from escalating with as minimal effort as possible.

“Theinstructions were so simple even a monkey could’ve done it.”Milanhit his palm with four vertical fingers to list the order. “Bridesmaidswear sky blueLehengasto the ceremony with rose goldJimmyChooheels, gold jewelry, hair up in a bun, and red lipstick.Thenthey change into baby blueA-line dresses for the reception with silver close-toedLouboutinheels, silver jewelry, hair down, and nude lipstick.What’sso difficult to remember?”

Myhead hurt whileMilanrecounted the instructions.Hewas far too involved in fashion and was extremely materialistic.Ihad tried to keep up.WhileIremembered to wearEasternclothes to the ceremony—a beautiful sky blue lehenga—Ifucked up on the order of accessories and hair.

Iwore silver close-toedLouboutinheels with the silver jewelry meant for the reception.Astylist was hired to do our hair and makeup.Everyonehad scattered by the timeIreturned after spending the day withJay.Ithought we were wearing our hair down for the ceremony and had asked for my shoulder-length chocolate hair to be styled in big beachy waves—another blunder.

Milannearly had an aneurism when he spotted me on the way toDahlia’sbridal suite to meet the rest of the bridesmaids.Myparents were nearby, along with some of his groomsmen.Milandidn’t care about securing privacy for this conversation, ripping into me in front of everyone.Noneof his groomsmen stepped in, fearing the wrath of a stressed-outMilan.Theyaverted their eyes and pretended this awkward family exchange wasn’t happening.

Publichumiliation was part of my punishment.Thisuncalled-for resentment stemmed from what my ex,Sean, had done to the family.Theanger was justified, and so was my parents’ lack of support to overturnMilan’sire.

“Youcould’ve paid a little more attention before running out of the house,Piya,”Momsnapped.

Iheld in an eye roll.Milanwas the ultimate groomzilla.Thenumber of details that went into the wedding attire was exhausting.

Nevertheless, it was his big day.

“I’msorry,”Ioffered diplomatically. “Iscrewed up.Canwe push the ceremony back by like twenty minutes?Ican run to the house, change and be right back.”

Wewere staying at the house on the other side of the grounds.Itwas only accessible through a narrow woven pathway and was a brisk fifteen-minute walk, ten ifImade a run for it.Icould grab the stuffImissed, throw my hair up, then run back.Therewere still five minutes to the ceremony, and surely all weddings started late.

NotMilan’swedding.

Milanhit the roof at the mere suggestion. “Youwant me to push my wedding back foryou?” he thundered. “Ifit were up to me, you wouldn’t even be in it.Dahliainsisted on it, and only becauseIdidn’t want to stress her out by telling her yourboyfriendrobbed us.”

Iflushed, looking down.Papacoughed uncomfortably.Thetopic of boyfriends was somethingIswept under the rug in front ofPapawhileMomandMilanwere privy to my dating life.Therewas no sugarcoating this matter, however.Thebastard,Sean, hadn’t only stolen from me but robbed my family as well.Papadecided to look the other way.MomandMilanhadn’t gotten over it, understandably so.

“Justgo inside and sit with the rest of the guests,”Milanhissed. “Youdon’t need to be a part of the wedding party if you can’t be bothered with simple instructions.”

Mychest throbbed with pain.Iwas ecstatic whenDahliaasked me to be a bridesmaid.Ididn’t have any sisters, nor hadIbeen a bridesmaid before.Despiteour differences,Milanwas my only brother.Howcould he not want me to be a part of his wedding or the photos that would last forever?Thiswas beyond hurtful.

---