My Best Friend’s Wedding ( Last Part)

(Hi Guys, I guess it’s climax time. Happy reading folks and please do post you comments. They motivate story writers a lot!! :) )
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What do Arun and Mridula do from here? Does Vinoth support them? Do they finally end up together?
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“OOTY??”, exclaimed a excited voice.

I quickly turned around to see Mridula grinning from ear to ear. However, Arun’s reaction was quite the opposite.

This was in sharp contrast to her earlier reactions in the day, when her eyes were like a over-flowing dam threatening to burst out at even the smallest mention of her family. Whether it was fear or sadness of missing everybody, God only knew though I strongly suspected the former.

“Why are we going to Ooty?”, Arun spoke in a low voice to me, not wanting to disturb his darling’s mini-celebrations.

I placed my arm around him and spoke “Coz when I went to the ticket-counter and the earliest train ticket I could get was to Ooty”.

Giving a sharp chilly look, Arun shrugged off my hands around his shoulder. He was perhaps feeling quite the opposite of what he was feeling yesterday morning when I told him I would accompany him to the end of world.

I knew that it was not a time to joke in a tensed up scenario. Before I could tell him the real reason of why we were all heading for Ooty, a sharp whistle from the TTR pierced our ears and we could see that it was a signal, requesting all passengers to board the train, which had only a few minutes left for the start of its journey. The three of us loaded our bags into the train and dragged ourselves into the carriage.

Mridula quickly took the window seat. Are we going on a Picnic? Perhaps a eloping away from her home was not so bad for her, but I could see that Arun was not quite happy.

“Dude, one my very close friend’s brother lives in Ooty. That’s why we are going there”. These words pacified him so much that he came over to my place and hugged me. Not a good option in front of your girlfriend!!

And so we eloped on a fairy tale journey expecting the best from our future but little did we know the lows of our eventual downslide journey was just about to unfold!!

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“What the heck?? Have we reached Ooty so early?” hissed a sleepy Mridula.

I was wide awake by the time the train halted in Ooty. The absolutely freezing winter chill was starting to show its effect.

5:37 AM.. I checked my watch and also closely spied on for any policemen around. I didn’t want the next day news paper to carry the story of an eloping couple with a lone friend. Quietly we made our way to the bus stand.

“Macha, Mridula has never travelled in a private bus da” spoke Arun quietly. Mridula who was lazily walking behind us did not hear that.

These girls want to travel on clouds always!!

I hired a nearby Taxi and dragged the entire luggage into the trunk. Where is Arun and why is he not helping me? I titled my head over the metal cover of the trunk to find him consoling Mridula. Damn.. she has started off again.. Cry babies.

I slid myself in the front seat and Arun cajoled his princes into the back seat. The cold air blowing outside was freezing our bones. The chilling reminder that the search for us would have started in our homes rang another chill through my spine.

“Anna.. Kollimalai poganum?” I spoke to the taxi driver.

The taxi driver was in his late fifties and eyed us suspiciously. “Sari thambi” came a swift reply and the next thing we knew we were heading towards our new home.

As we all dragged our luggage out from the taxi, Arun and Mridula proceeded to sit on the small porch in front of a beautiful looking home.

“Evlov Anna?”

“Three Hundred and Fifty” came a reply that chilled my spine. Oh my god!! I might end up spending all that was suttufied from my home today itself.

I quietly paid the taxi driver and strode angrily past Arun and went up to thefront door and knocked.

“Hey Vinoth.. Come on in” spoke a gentle voice of a very good friend of mine. Raghu was not only my friend’s brother, but also my very good friend and advisor.

Seeing Arun and Mridula stand at the entrance, Raghu invited them into his home and provided all of us with hot tea.

“Well guys, this is my wife Reema. We both eloped like you guys” he chuckled, much to the dismay of his wife who looked quite stern.

“We unfortunately don’t have much space, so you guys have to adjust in that small room till you want to move to a new home”

Move to a new home!! Mridula and Arun shot quizzing glances at me. I turned away to ask Raghu where our room was.

We sat down exhausted after the long taxi journey. Mridula quietly slipped into Arun’s lap.

“Macha, how much did the Taxi cost?”

“Three Fifty bucks dude” I replied scornfully. We had a long journey in front of us with no means of earning any money.

“Why didn’t we come in a bus then?” quizzed Mridula as she got up. Her right eyes had swollen quite big. I shot an angry glance at Arun. Stupid Fella!!

Arun quietly took a soft kerchief out of his pocket and started blowing hot air and puffing it up on Mridula’s eye.

“She got hurt while coming out of station and that’s why we were not able to help you load the bags into the taxi” spoke Arun softly.

They both had noticed me staring angrily at them and it was my turn to feel a little ashamed.

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“Macha.. we are running out of money dude..” spoke Arun alarmingly. I knew we would face this situation but never expected that Mridula swollen eyes would eat all the money we brought from home. Raghu’s wife was also pissed off with her guests as our only job was to eat and watch TV. Mridula was also feeling quite bored and pissed off as her eyes itched on continuously.

“I will speak with Raghu and get us a job. We will also have to move out soon from this home”

“Move out??” Arun’s eyes quizzed me. “Where will we go in this freezing weather with Mridula’s injury”

“Dude, Mridula’s bruise is a small one and then we also have to earn” I explained slowly.

After a few minutes of discussion, I came back quite dejectedly. I didn’t know things would go south soon.

“What macha?” Arun placed a hand on my shoulder.

“It seems Raghu has got transferred to Chennai and that we have to move into a small home beside this one tomorrow.”

“How small?” Arun questioned.

“Well.. “ I dragged not wanting to give them the bad news. “It’s a.. a hut actually”

“Hut??” Arun eyes boiled dramatically. “I get to bring my princess here and we are taking her to a hut?”

“Dude.. chill macha..Its for a short time. Once we get some job we will move a bigger home and also there is a problem getting a home for lovers dude. Think about it man”

Arun silently got up, shook his head, shook his fists, slightly banged his head into the wall.

MONEY was what we wanted.. desperately!!

“Would this much be enough for us to survive for next three months?” came a soft voice from the corner of the room.

Shit!! I thought she was sleeping..

“We cannot take any money from you dear” spoke Arun.

“Its our money” replied the soft voice humbling me like never before. She was indeed a princess.. at heart.

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Once you leave the safety of your protected environment called home, life is a MESS!!

The initial few days were absolutely pathetic where we would all sleep without having anything to eat. I and Arun, would somehow manage to scrap the last few rupees to get something to eat for Mridula and she being the gem of a girl would always make sure that we shared our food. The first two months saw struggling for everything. Clothes, home, job, freezing winter and of course the most important part of life, food.

As time went by Arun became more and more restless, but Mridula became the composed person among the three of us. Not only did she adjust through the entire journey of the two months but she was earning more than us as an unofficial primary school teacher in an unrecognized school while we worked as daily wage laborers in a nearby vegetable market.

Pathetic as it sound, but we were getting along well until one day, tragedy struck.

Arun had left the day a little early as he was not feeling well and as I didn’t want to disturb the love birds, I stayed on a few more hours late that day at work.

As finished up with my work and neared my home, I saw a huge posse of policemen around my home. My heart skipped a beat!! Have they found us? Are we going to be arrested? Has something happened to Mridula or Arun?

“Vinoth Nagarajan?” spoke the police inspector reading out from the piece of paper.

“Yes sir” I replied.

“Sir, we have caught both the guys” radioed the inspector to his higher authority. The inspector nodded his head and then pushed both of us into the police jeep.

“Where is Mridula?” I whispered to Arun.

“I don’t know dude” he spoke wiping the perspiration off his forehead.

We got off the vehicle and entered the police station. Nothing could prepare us for what we were about to see there!!

Arun’s parents were standing along with my parents in the corner of the police staying hissing angrily at both of us.

Mridula, who was sitting on small wooden bench, stood up and ran up to Arun and held his hands. As Arun father stepped forward to cause some damage to Arun, the police inspector intercepted him and shook his head.

Suddenly a higher ranking official entered the police station and all the policeman stood up and saluted.

“I am South Indian operations head of CBI” spoke a voice commandingly. Behind him was Mridula’s best friend, Niveditha. Everthing was clear now.

“Appa” whispered Mridula softly.

WHAT THE HECK?? I stared around at Arun. We were plunging fast into a huge black hole. “Dude, is he not working in ONGC?” I hissed at him.

“I didn’t know that also dude” he whispered back strongly.

“Sshh” the inspector silenced us. “Sir, what section do you want me to book these kids. IPC 154,177, 198 and …?”

My legs trembled at the barrage of numbers rolling out. Arun stood numb while Mridula tightly held onto Arun’s hands with tears streaming from her eyes.

“Mridula, come here” ordered a stern voice.

“Appa, I wont leave Arun alone” she cried.

“Mridula, I am giving you a last chance to redeem yourself. Leave them and come here”

“No pa” spoke Mridula cladding her fists tightly around Arun’s hands.

“Sir..” I tried interrupting the situation.

“Don’t speak unless you want to spend the rest of you life in jail” came the sharp poison laden words.

“Whatever you say I have to speak sir” I spoke gathering all my courage. “I have never seen two people love each other so much”. I had perhaps lied a little. Mridula’s love was more strong and truthful than Arun’s.

“Please give them a chance” I begged.

“She will die rather than loving this coward who kidnapped my daughter” spoke Mridula’s dad.

“Sir, I didn’t kidnap your daughter. I love her!!” declared our hero who had closed his mouth for ages now.

“Mridula??” came a more stern voice.

“We both will die if you separate us” threatened Mridula. I stood shocked and stunned at the girl’s courage. She was standing for us against her father. That statement had even shocked Mr. Nagarajan as he stood helplessly watching his own daughter turn against him.

Suddenly a thin tall bald man walked into the room and stared at all the people who had converged in the room.

“You kids should really die”, came a sharp reply from the bald man. Now it was our turn to be stunned into silence. The silence in the room was magnified by the creaking sound of the overhead fan.

“What is the use of three kids who can add no more name, money, pride and good name to the family? I don’t know if you can see that you are ruining the input of your father and mother who have poured all their hard earned money into growing you guys up.”

The silence between the sentences echoed louder and hit us hard.

“Love is not a crime, but it certainly is at your age, if you cannot support and keep the other person whom you love happy”.

The bald man moved towards Arun and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “How many times have you felt that you could have kept Mridula more happy with more money?”. Tears started flowing from Arun’s eyes on hearing the truth.

“I am not against love or love marriage. Nobody in this room is. All that we want is for you kids to be successful in your life. Then you can do whatever you want…”

He then went near Mridula who was loosening her grip on Arun’s hands.

“Chellam, we have brought you up like a princess. We cannot see you suffering” spoke a very gentle voice.

“Mama..” her voice choked.

“If your love is true, study hard, earn big and then get married ten years later”. Well some words change the way of life and last few words were one amongst them.

Arun desperately shook his head and clutched onto Mridula’s loosening hand. He wasn’t a person to let go of things.

“Macha, the words of uncle should be thought off carefully”, I spoke trying to make Arun understand that leaving Mridula was the only way life would be normal again. We were no match to the might of a CBI head.

“Let go of her dude.. You will surely stay in heart forever. Let goooo”.

Tears that were absent for many years, flowed rapidly out of my eyes and all those who had gathered in the small police station.

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Arun did let go, not only of Mridula, but his smoking, laziness, carelessness and just went on to finish as the top scorer in our board exams and as a gold medalist in our college. He just went to finish his MS and PhD in MIT and just won the scholarship for developing a hand held googling device which just sold around $10 billion in its first year of launch. On the other hand I lead a brilliant life of an extraordinary programmer in a not so distinct Software company along with hoards of other smart looking young professionals. But as much as I tried to be with Arun, fate cruelly had separated both of us and also Mridula from Arun. Arun never spoke about her in the last ten years.

I started choking with the marriage homam smoke entering my wind pipe. I needed fresh air. With no sign of the bride coming onto the stage and with no sign of the marriage happening soon, a thought of a quick fag entered my mind. I quickly walked out the marriage hall and as I was about to leave the hall I noticed the thermacoal board.

CHINMAYI Weds ARUN

The words drove a dagger through my heart. All our past pains and thoughts came rushing back to me. Everything we had suffered had been a waste!!

I took few deep breaths…

10 years was a long time. People break up in a week’s relationship. It was too much to ask for from my best friend and his ex-girlfriend to stay together. But Mridula was one gem of a girl I had seen in my life. Trustworthy, patient and very much accommodative. Arun will miss her for the rest of his life!!

I finished my fag quickly and returned to the hall. The visibility was quite low and the smoke from the homam engulfed the entire hall.

I hope the marriage is not over yet.. I blindly dashed upto the manamedai.

“Mangalayam thantunanaena..” voice and the getti melam sound pierced through my ears. As I struggled to see through the smoke, two people placed hands on my shoulder. As I turned back to my left to see who it was, a few drops of some liquid dripped on my feet. Stopping my half turn behind, I quickly turned my head down to see her touch my feet.

I FROZE!!

Mridula in a maroon colored silk sari had bent down to touch my feet. I felt nearly choked to death.

“Won’t you bless me anna?” she spoke without bending up. The entire crowd of people was watching this dramatic spectacle.

I gently lifted her and spoke “May you always be happy and have a prosperous married life”.

“These are the first words you have spoken to me” she quipped. I turned around to receive a big hug from Arun who was standing nearby. Mridula father and mama who were standing behind me also hugged me. A look at Niveditha explained everything of who had re-joined the couple.

I turned around to see the board behind the marriage hall. Chinmayi (Mridula) Venkatesan Weds Arun Vasudevan!!

I was the MOST HAPPIEST person in the world!!