The One Who Got Away

How did I wind up here? It’s in my nature to avoid weddings – especially those of distant relatives, but here I am. My eyes wandered around aimlessly.

There were stalls of food arranged on either side of the lawn. Drinks too and several groups scattered here and there.

I walked over to the only group I could recognise there - a few of my distant cousins. I had mastered smalltalk to the point where I could blend in a group without speaking a word. A smile would do as I leaned into listen to them.

“Look at the bungalow? castle! really! Their family is filthy rich!”

“They’re politicians-what do you expect?”

“She definitely got lucky, haha”

Their conversation faded into the background as my eyes landed on someone in the crowd.

She wore a red lehenga, vibrant but still outshone by her round face and sharp eyes. Her wavy hair fell in strands that glistened on the left side of her face. She had a smile like no other, captivating and mysterious.

Our eyes met, and she held my gaze, I smiled awkwardly and she walked toward me senting shivers through my body.

“Have you all eaten?”

She asked us courteously, I stayed silent while a soft “no..” erupted from our tiny crowd. As I followed them to the dining table, I could still feel her eyes on me, glancing back as I sat down.

Usually, I would have left right after dinner, but my eyes kept searching for her and there she was - at the edge of the garden near the lily pond, staring out to the night sky, almost as if she’s having a conversation with the moon.

I gathered my twenty seconds of insane courage to strike up a conversation. “The moon’s stunning tonight, isn’t it?” I said, slightly embarrassed by how cheesy it sounded.

Her anxious face bloomed into a smile as she turned toward me, the wine glass glowing red in the moonlight.

“It is. Lucky are the ones who stargaze every night.”

it felt like I’ve always known her, the conversation sailed along, with more wine and some gin. We talked about everything from here to the moon and beyond. An hour felt like few minutes.

A cousin dragged me to the stage for the family picture as I managed to tell her that I’d be back in minutes.

She wasn’t there when I returned. I couldn’t find her. All that talk and didn’t even ask her name - how stupid of me?

I looked for her in all the places, from kitchen to bedroom. In the rush, I ended up walking to a room, where I found the bride and the groom’s father talking. - I had to apologize and leave quickly. It was a bit weird to find them there on the wedding eve. “Rich family things”, I thought to myself.

I gave up eventually and decided to leave, only to find a notification on my phone. It was in one of the apps I was working on at the time with anonymous feedback and chat. She probably remembered my username when I was discussing about modern dating and the app with her.

“Do you miss me already?”

She replied. Our texts were engaging, just the same intensity as we were in person. More teasing and flirting here and there. When it started crossing boundaries, I told her that I’m good at holding my horses back, controlling myself and not letting go. She said she had to test that.

She came down to meet again, talk and more drinks, until the stalls closed. We were tipsy and out of our minds.

“I know a place we should go right now”

She said it with lust in her eyes and I knew exactly what she meant, as much as I wanted to - I didn’t want it to be like this - drunk and fooling around. The sober part of brain knew what I truly wanted - a future where we stargaze every night.

I hesitated and she sensed it..

“Are you sure you don’t want to?” She asked me.

“You know I really want to, but not like this”

She looked at me in despair and walked back, “I have to go to the washroom, I’ll be back soon.”

That was the last I saw of her, I waited for minutes, almost half an hour. My texts went ignored. Until I got one at last.

“You have a good heart, but it shouldn’t have stopped you. If you knew it will never happen again.”

My heart sank into the floor. I had to find her, I asked my cousins, explained to them everything, they had seen me with her but no one knew who she was. There was only one way to find her. One person we can ask. The bride.

I walked into the house to find the bride, groom and his father in the same room again,. Weird, but I ignored.

The alcohol gave me enough confidence to ask..

“Shana, this is important. Who was that girl I was with earlier? You saw us—she wore a red dress and a small necklace…“

Before she was mouthing “Ra..”, she stopped herself and looked at the groom and the father. Both of them staring at me, confused and angry.

“Why do you want to know?” The groom asked me,.

“I just want to know. It’s important”

“Get out” his father’s voice raised.

I didn’t flinch. I looked at the bride again, waiting for an answer.

She, in a begging expression uttered

“Don’t do this, don’t go behind her, she’s married… “

She nodded her face in denial as she looked at the groom.

Then everything clicked in my head. Like a molten metal hardening. There were already an audience behind us, few servants and close guests wondering what’s going on.

“She…“

“She is his first wife?”

I stood there in disbelief, shattered.. the guy walked towards me as his father searched the shelf for a gun he couldn’t find.

The bride fell to her knees crying and helpless. I turned around and walked out of there, out of the house.

As I stepped out to the moonlight, I realised that all she wanted was an escape.

My phone chimed with a new message

“thank you and goodbye” I stood there processing everything. What a night!

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed from the floor above, ripping through the eerie silence.