Mésalliance (Completed)

Chapter 6

"Was he hot?" Ankitha winked and extended her wrist like a lion's paw. "Did you guys kiss?"
"What the fuck?" Madhu rolled on her stomach and gaped at her friend. "We had just met and you are racing your imagination. Buckle up!"
"Aww! How can I stay dormant in your marriage?" Ankitha widened her eyes. "I know that you aren't happy but I am waiting to see you as a bride. You will be the first one to marry and have kids!"
"Shut up!" Madhu protested, closing her ears. "Your mouth is loquaciously trashy."
Her insults didn't stop her friend who went on to discuss bridal dress and makeup. Madhu fumed about Vikram's attitude and Ankitha added fuel.
Madhu threw a pillow on daydreaming Ankitha to shut her up. The bride complained to her friend that Vikram needed to be in an asylum instead of a house.
She added, "He snapped like a matchstick when I inquired about his family."
Ankitha scratched her right pinna, "Maybe he isn't cordial with them. Lots of testosterone in men might help in bed...," That sentence cringed Madhu. And Ankitha continued, "But it causes anger issues too."
"His friend warned me," Madhu remarked. "I don't know what I am up to!"
"Enjoy till he doesn't disturb you," Ankitha advised her, stretching her limbs. "When is the shopping? You said the wedding is in the pipeline."
"It's going to be a registered marriage, hun," Madhu threw stones at the excitement. "Even formals would be more than enough!"
Her mobile rang with a new contact. She picked up the phone with a conflicted face, "Hello?"
"Vikram," he replied from the other side making her shake for a moment. She didn't know where her rage escaped, hearing his deep tone.
She pondered over his way of initiating the conversation and walked to the balcony. "Madhu," she replied to him.
"Yes, hello," he greeted her later. "Let's meet in Lalbagh Park at five p.m."
"Huh?" Madhu narrowed her eyes and tried to understand his words. Before she responded, he disconnected the call.
"Hey? Are you there? Vikram!"
Her ear met with a series of beep sounds.
"Stupid!" She slapped her phone on her free hand and turned to meet Ankitha at the balcony door.
"Who was that?" Ankitha eyed her suspiciously. Madhu snorted, "That dumbhead fiance of mine."
"You exchanged numbers?" Ankitha shouted in awe and shook her friend by the shoulders, "You bitch! Why didn't you tell me?"
Madhu pushed her hands, "I didn't give him my contact," and sat on her bed, "This guy is rude, mysterious and a bigot."
Ankitha contracted her eye sockets, "You learnt too much about him within a few hours. Are you interested in him?"
Madhu looked visibly pissed at that comment. "I learnt his sex life but not his family!" Her high-pitched voice echoed inside the room.
Ankitha closed her throbbing ears, "Sex life? What are you up to?"
Madhu brayed at her, "He is nobody. He is free to discuss these shits instead of important issues. I don't know what to do with that guy."
"Why did he call you now?" Ankitha questioned. Madhu bubbled with curiosity, "He ordered me to meet him at Lalbagh and cut the call."
"Oh my god!" Ankitha pinched Madhu on her cheeks, "Is it a date?"
"Shit," Madhu scowled, "I don't think he will be respectful."
Ankitha thought for a while, "He might be having tough terms with his family as you said he lives away."
Madhu nodded, "He should have told me about them," and questioned Ankitha, "What should I do?"
"Girl! Show up in the sexiest outfit possible," her friend advised, "Let him have a glimpse of who you are." She began rambling Madhu's closet and showed a blingy, maroon dress.
Madhu frowned at the dress that she had hidden some years before, "Eww! Ankitha. It showcases my cleavage and breasts."
"That's how you should present yourself to him," Ankitha said with a naughty tone. "It will be easy for him to see what he will see. Present yourself like a sexy bombshell."
Madhu threw the dress from her hand, "We are not going to the club. I know how to wear a dress, you get out."
"Once a man entered your life, you forgot me," Ankitha pouted. Madhu slapped her forehead at the drama. Her friend roared out of the room and bumped into Madhav at the doorway.
He apologised with flushed cheeks and failed to look Ankitha in the eye. She stormed off, deaf to his words. He bent his head and walked towards Madhu, "Did you fight with her?"
"Yes. Will you kill me for that?" Madhu yelled at him and flumped on the couch. Madhav pondered for a minute and asked her, "Did you synchronise your periods this month?"
"Go fuck yourself," Madhu threw cushions on him. She was conflicted to go out with Vikram but wanted to know the motive of the meeting. She feared that he might avenge her if she ignored his invitation.
"You surely have a problem," Madhav commented. "Don't lash out at Ankitha and me."
"Why are you so concerned for her?" Madhu arched her brow and rooted her eyes on him. He smiled sheepishly, "She is a nice girl."
Madhu understood his smile and commented on her bitchy friend, "She has a boyfriend, Madhav."
"I know. Don't validate," he cut off her, "She is going to break up. I follow their tracks from time to time."
"Cheap stalker," she called him out. "My problem is that Vikram."
"What did he do?" Madhav demanded. He looked forward to his elder brother's duties towards her.
"He needs to meet me," she replied simply. "In Lalbagh, at five."
"Go," he suggested to her. "There is nothing wrong with meeting him. If he misbehaves, show your karate chops."
Madhu laughed, "I will fracture his pole below the hips," and decided to meet Vikram.
*******

The sun was about to settle below the horizon and the sky had some beautiful violet shades when Madhu reached the park.  ten minutes late and found Vikram at the entrance. She mumbled a sorry but he wasn't convinced.
"You shouldn't waste time on makeup," he commented. She gave a fake smile, "Thanks. But that's my skin."
"The concealed skin with makeup. Your real face would be a  flawed one," he said as a matter of fact. She found his words immature, "Why would I waste time ?"
"To impress me, obviously," Vikram accused her nonchalantly. "As I wasn't pleased with you at our first meeting, you are trying to redeem."
"Oh, Highness! The world might revolve around you. Don't think I will be alike," Madhu stated straight facts to him. "I despise you completely. Don't build air castles." 
Vikram changed the topic, "I came here to discuss our marriage." He noted that he won't win arguments against her.
"What is there to discuss?" She questioned him. She was thrown inside a lion's den in the name of marriage and that's the end point.
"I don't want a real marriage," he said, "neither do you. I got a plan to divorce..."
Madhu was about to debate with him about the rules but Vikram stopped her, "I know it is forbidden. Trust my idea once..."
Madhu nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"Let's enter a pre-nuptial agreement," Vikram eluded his plan. "Both of us can initiate the divorce after a year."
Madhu introspected his plan. As both of them initiated the divorce, they both get fifty per cent of the share easily.
"It's a win-win situation," he commented about his plan. Madhu felt odd at the narcissist before her, "Okay. Is that all? I have to leave."
"Can't you spend five minutes?" Vikram questioned her, "I travelled for thirty minutes to reach here. You arrived late and are sprinting to leave now."
"Psycho killers are free anytime, any place and in any dress," she replied and eyed him from top to bottom. "I am trying to save my precious life."
Vikram was taken aback but recoiled, "You have to live alone in Mumbai under my roof. Think twice before you speak with me."
Madhu ignored his warning to the face but trembled inside.
"We will act like an ideal couple in front of my grand mom and parents," Vikram explained his plan. "We will divorce after a year."
He said that he knew an advocate in Mumbai who might be helpful. He planned to relocate to another country after the mess.
"Do whatever you want to do before our marriage. I don't want this plan to fumble," she bossed around him. "I am eager to divorce you before marriage."
Vikram rolled his eyes, "I don't want a real marriage. Don't meddle in my business again."
"Oh!" Madhu understood his words, "I asked about you because your grand mom might conduct a viva. She will know our acting."
Vikram found her reason valid. "Fine. I have a dad and a sister. My mom is dead."
Madhu pitied him.
"She was a sweet person," he managed to speak, "a doctor."
"Okay," she replied, not persuading him to discuss such a depressing issue. "I don't care if you live with your family or not. Just give me privacy and divorce."
"I will be glad," he shrugged. "We can maintain this fake marriage for a year."
She agreed with him.
"I won't be problematic. Just a knot with that nuptial chain and a signature on the legal documents. We are done for good," he explained. He made sure not to seek a real relationship with Madhu.
"We are both in the same boat," she commented to him. "I would like to work with you for now."
"Okay," he agreed to her, "I will save your salary for a year and give it back."
Madhu planned not to study because her education might take around two years. She would return to Bangalore and study after a year of their marriage.
"I won't be a hurdle to you," she said to him. "Bring girls, booze, drugs... whatever... I don't care." She signed the document for her father. She won't adjust after his betterment.
"Are you an adult?" He questioned her with utmost doubt. "I can't be tagged a paedophile."
She laughed at his question. He looked at the way her earrings chimed along with her head. Her teeth weren't bleached white but their arrangement was proper to show her beauty.
"I am an adult," she said in between her laughter. He enjoyed her face for some seconds, then withdrew before falling too far, "You can leave now."
She immediately stopped her glee self, "What?!"
He retreated towards the exit without another word.
"Asshole!" She shouted in his direction which made him turn at her, "What did you say?"
"I addressed you as an asshole," She opposed his angry face, "that name suits you better."
He walked towards her one foot at a time.
She expressed her thoughts, "You order, warn and thrash me. You are savage. What else should I call you?" Though she feared being alone in that situation, she talked with a gut feeling.
"I love to order my slave," he said with a serious face. "This is my attitude after marriage. Make up your mind."
Madhu inched towards him, "You think of me as a slave. I will show you who I am," she took the pepper spray from her bag and gushed it empty onto his face.
He shouted wildly at the burning sensation on his entire face.
"Call me a slave again to face death," she warned him.
"You whore!" He shouted and extended his hands in the air to catch her. But she moved behind, feeling happy about her punishment.