Enchanted pen

TOO LATE.

ANAYA

There are mistakes.

Then there are situations.

And then—

there are situations that become public.

Mine became public at 8:17 AM.

The rush of emotions thinking through the current situation was baffling.

Veer Malhotra had the audacity to reject me.

Get it together Anaya, he didn’t reject you, you created a mess.

I was halfway through my coffee when Rhea called.

Not texted.

Called.

Which was usually a sign of either:

Death.

Gossip.

Gossip involving death.

RHEA

“Please tell me you’ve seen it.”

ANAYA

I frowned.

ANAYA

“Seen what?”

A pause.

Then—

RHEA

“Oh, this is so much worse than I thought.”

ANAYA

That wasn’t reassuring.

I sat up immediately.

The coffee suddenly felt useful.

ANAYA

“What happened?”

Rhea didn’t answer.

Instead my phone buzzed.

Screenshot.

Instagram.

My mother’s account.

I stared at it for a second.

Then another.

And another.

The photograph had been taken at the engagement party.

Nothing unusual.

Nothing suspicious.

Just family.

Smiling.

Standing together.

Existing.

The problem was the caption.

Excited to finally meet him properly next week.

My heart stopped.

Then restarted out of pure irritation.

The comments were worse.

Congratulations.

About time.

We want pictures.

Such wonderful news.

Someone had even added heart emojis.

Multiple.

Aggressive ones.

Interesting.

Apparently my fake engagement now had better publicity than my actual life.

I closed my eyes.

I opened them.

I looked again.

The post was still there.

Tragic.

RHEA

“You see the problem?”

ANAYA

“I see several.”

RHEA

“This has left the family.”

ANAYA

I hated when she was right.

Because she usually enjoyed it.

ANAYA

“Delete it.”

RHEA

“Tell your mother.”

ANAYA

“You’re my best friend.”

RHEA

“Exactly.”

ANAYA

Traitor.

I ended the call before she could laugh again.

Three seconds later my mother’s messages arrived.

Did you see the post?

Everyone is so happy.

Call me.

What does Veer like to eat?

That one almost killed me.

I dropped my phone onto the sofa.

The lie had escaped.

And once something escaped into South Delhi—

it developed relatives.

——

By eleven o’clock I had created a plan.

Not a good plan.

Not even a smart plan.

Just a plan.

I was going to end it.

Simple.

Clean.

A breakup.

People dated.

People broke up.

People moved on.

That happened all the time.

The problem was that my family had skipped the dating part entirely and gone straight to engagement.

Minor inconvenience.

——

VEER

There’s an irony in my current life situation.

I don’t believe in karma but it’s coming to bite me back in the form of Anaya Kapoor.

She was sweet when I met her but right now my life is annoying because of her.

The first call came at 8:32.

The second at 8:37.

The third at 8:41.

By the fourth—

I stopped answering.

The phone vibrated again against the desk.

Persistent.

Annoying.

Predictable.

I looked at the screen.

Mother.

Again.

Interesting.

Apparently I was engaged.

Nobody had consulted me.

A bold strategy.

I answered.

VEER

“What?”

VEER’S MOM

“No hello?”

VEER

“No.”

A pause.

She ignored that.

Naturally.

VEER’S MOM

“Who is Anaya Kapoor?”

VEER

There it was.

Straight to the problem.

I leaned back in my chair.

Navy shirt.

Sleeves folded once.

Laptop open.

Coffee untouched.

A perfectly normal morning ruined by other people’s decisions.

VEER

“Why are you asking?”

VEER’S MOM

“Veer.”

VEER

Dangerous tone.

Maternal.

Investigative.

Unavoidable.

I closed my eyes briefly.

VEER

“Mother.”

VEER’S MOM

“No, I’m serious.”

VEER

That was the problem.

So was she.

VEER’S MOM

“Everyone is talking about it.”

VEER

Of course they were.

South Delhi treated information like a public service.

VEER’S MOM

“You know her?”

VEER

I looked out the window.

The city moved below.

Busy.

Loud.

Uninterested.

Lucky.

VEER

“Yes.”

A pause.

VEER’S MOM

“How well?”

VEER

Not well enough to be engaged.

Too well to forget.

Unfortunately.

VEER

“I’ve met her.”

VEER’S MOM

“Hmm.”

VEER

I hated that sound.

That sound meant conclusions were already being formed.

And none of them involved me.

After the call ended I opened Instagram.

One photograph.

One caption.

One disaster.

Then—

I saw her name.

Anaya Kapoor.

A memory surfaced before I could stop it.

Two years ago.

A charity event.

Too many people.

Too much networking.

Not enough exits.

She had been arguing with someone.

Not loudly.

Confidently.

Like she genuinely believed she was right.

Which was irritating.

Because she was.

I remembered that.

Odd.

Most people become forgettable five minutes after meeting them.

Anaya Kapoor has always been unusually difficult to forget.

The thought lingered longer than it should have.

I closed the app.

The sensible thing would have been to ignore it.

Instead—

I picked up my phone.

And called her.

——

ANAYA

I stared at the number.

Unknown.

Which usually meant spam.

Or consequences.

I answered.

ANAYA

“What?”

A pause.

Then—

VEER

“Congratulations.”

ANAYA

I froze.

That voice.

Calm.

Controlled.

Annoyingly familiar.

Veer.

Of course.

VEER

“Apparently we’re engaged.”

ANAYA

I closed my eyes.

Wonderful.

ANAYA

“We need to talk.”

VEER

“We really do.”

ANAYA

“I can explain.”

VEER

“I’m looking forward to that.”

ANAYA

I hated how entertained he sounded.

ANAYA

“This is temporary.”

VEER

“Good.”

ANAYA

I blinked.

ANAYA

“Good?”

VEER

“Good.”

A pause.

Too easy.

That worried me.

ANAYA

“What does that mean?”

VEER

“It means you have exactly one hour.”

ANAYA

I sat up straighter.

ANAYA

“For what?”

VEER

“To explain why my mother thinks we’re in love.”

ANAYA

Silence.

Then the call ended.

Just like that.

I stared at the screen.

One hour.

Interesting.

Yesterday I accidentally got engaged.

Today—

I apparently had a deadline.