My Perfect Life

ALIA's POV I was in a peaceful slumber, sound asleep on my warm and cozy bed with a smile playing on my lips, dreaming of my prince charming. At that very moment, someone came and shook my sleeping form.   "What, mom?" I grumbled.   "It’s 9 in the morning, when are you going to wake up? Just because its Sunday you don't have to be a lazy ass," my mother shot back with a glare. "You realize I was this close to seeing my prince charming? But again, you woke me up," I told my mom.   “Get ready. You and your stupid dreams about your prince charming have begun to get into my head. You are 22 years old and getting married, Try to behave like a mature woman." My mother answered with the same old lecture and left the room.   Oh yes, I was getting married. I had met my future husband, Raj Oberoi only once in person, when he came to see me for the marriage. That is because after our first meeting, he had to fly to New York as he was establishing another branch, which will be his main branch there and, of course, my shy nature, god can you please kill me? (Not in a literal sense, I love you, God Ji.) I belong to a proper Indian family who love their culture and always make it their first priority. They never allowed me to have a boyfriend. Therefore, I have no idea how to talk to boys affectionately, hence my shyness. I still loved reading romance novels, though. I guess that’s where my desire for my Prince Charming came from.   However, we talked on the phone and Skype and Facetime sometimes. He seemed very sweet and caring. I think I began falling for him. It’s good to fall for your future husband, right? I guess it’s good. And today he's coming back. I'm thrilled. I guess I’ve found my Prince Charming after all.   I was busy daydreaming about my future husband and, with a bit of luck, my Prince Charming, when a voice startled me.   “Alia, if you don’t come downstairs in 15 minutes you won’t be getting any chocolates for a week!” came my mom’s angry voice. My mom, Mrs. Anjali Mehra, can be sweet when she wants to, but when it comes to punctuality, she can become like Hitler. She is very strict and sometimes very bossy, but I still love her.   “Oh shoot!” I whispered. “No chocolates for one week, I’d die without my chocolates!” Chocolates were my first love. I went to my bathroom and did my morning business and got into the bath. After 15 minutes, I stood in front of my closet trying to decide what to wear.   “Wait a second, Raj is coming today and I have to go and receive him from the airport, so I have to look my best for him,” I whispered to myself.   Whenever I become nervous about something, I start speaking to myself. I believe the only person who can come up with the best advice is you and no one else. You should always follow your heart, so if it gives you the wrong advice, then you don’t have to blame others.   Back to the topic, what to wear? I think I should put on the same dress which I wore when we first met. Yes, that would be amazing because Raj said I looked beautiful and pretty in that dress.   So, I wore a red-coloured Anarkali suit that was made from net and is plain without a design, and from the back, it had two dories to hold on the dress and a chain. I kept my hair down, which came up to my waist like a pure black waterfall. Then I wore some bangles on my right hand and a watch on my left. After that, I wore earrings and then I sat on my dressing table for my makeup. I don’t usually do make-up and keep my face natural, but since today was such an important day I decided to do a little. My makeup consisted of kajal, pink lip gloss, a little bit of foundation and a little bindi (red dot on the forehead) and I was ready to go.   After getting ready, I headed downstairs where my sweet mother was waiting for me. (Note the sarcasm.)   “How much time do you take to get ready Alia?” she exclaimed in an indignant voice, an exasperated look on her face. “Now it’s decided; no chocolates for a week.” Oh, no! God Ji, please help me.   “Mom, I was getting ready properly because I have to go to the airport to receive Raj and I wanted to look my best in the front of him,” I stated to my mom, giving my best puppy face. “And you told me to act like a mature lady,” I added.   At that time, Dad came into the living room where we were standing. “Let her take her time, she is a little girl, she will realize the importance of time when she gets older,” my dad jumped into my defence. He always attempts to save me from mom. I'm a complete daddy’s girl. He always treats me like a little girl. His princess.   “Little girl? She is not a little girl anymore. She is an adult woman now and getting married in a month. Stop treating her like a kid now, Arvind,” my mom retorted, looking like her anger had reached its peak.   “Sorry mommy, I will try to behave like a mature girl, no, mature woman from this second,” I said to my mom, head hung down like a little girl who got caught stealing chocolates from the cabinet.   Hearing this, Dad attempted to cover his snort of laughter by coughing and my mother left shaking her head and muttering, I’ll never change. When she left, my dad and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.   “Why has she been so angry since morning? What have you done?” I asked Dad.   “Nothing, she wanted to go on a date and I refused because I had an important meeting. That’s the reason she is roaming like a ticking bomb that will go off if you say something idiotic,” he replied, shaking his head. He looked quite worried, for himself, I presume.   My dad and mom also had a proper arranged marriage in which they did not see each other before the marriage. But after marriage, they fell in love in no time. After 26 years of marriage, they still go on romantic dates and behave like a newly-wed couple when they thought no one could see them.   I too want love and affection from my partner. I know Raj will love me as I do.   I became lost in my thoughts when Mom again came into the living room. “Go wake your brother up and then we will have breakfast together. At what time do you have to go to receive Raj?” Mom asked me.   “His flight will land at 12:30 pm. I will head for the airport at 10:30 am because it will take me 2 hours to reach there,” I answered my mom.   “Listen, don’t spend much time with each other. It does not look good spending too much time with your future husband before marriage and I don’t want anyone to say anything about you or our family,” mom said in a worried but a slightly strict tone.   “Mom, everyone spends time with their future husband! It makes their bond strong and no one believes in bad omens nowadays,” I told mom.   My mom comes from a very traditional family who believe meeting before marriage is still a bad omen. How can I make my sweet mom understand it’s not true? It’s the 21st century, meeting before marriage helps the couple strengthen their bond and helps in understanding each other. Raj’s parents also come from an orthodox and conservative family. That’s why mom is worried about what my future in-laws will think of me. But Raj is modern and doesn’t believe in all these rituals, so that we can’t meet each other before marriage. At our first meeting, we talked about this. He even promised me that he would wait for me to get comfortable with him physically as well as emotionally. Therefore, whenever we talked on phone calls he never flirted and never talked to me intimately to make me uncomfortable. This is the reason I think Raj is my Prince Charming and I started falling in love with him. Who else would want to wait for his bride to get comfortable with him when it was a traditional marriage where the newly-wed bride had to get pregnant within a year and give an heir to their family?    “I don’t want to listen to anything. What I say, you have to do it,” came my mom’s angry reply. “Now go and wake your brother.”   “OK Mom,” I answered.   I went to my brother’s room to wake him up, because I knew arguing with Mom would get me nowhere, she would do whatever she wanted to do. My brother was 25 years old and 6 feet tall. In comparison, I was only 5 feet 5 inches. Sometimes I wished I should have drunk Horlicks instead of Bourn-vita in my childhood, but bourn-vita is my love, so forget it. He can be a pain in the ass sometimes due to his over-protectiveness, but I nevertheless loved him.   Now coming back to the task of waking my brother. You could compare my brother to Kumbh-Karan, because once he sleeps, he won’t wake up, even if there is an earthquake. But I also know how to wake him up.   I tiptoed to the side of the bed he was sleeping in. On second thoughts, he slept like a pig. His one leg and one hand were hanging from the bed and he was sleeping on his stomach and, oh God his snore, I couldn’t bear it.   When I neared his ear, I shouted “Fire, fire, fire!” at the top of my lungs. He jumped up and started screaming like a little girl. I couldn’t stop laughing.   “What the hell, Aloo? You could have woken me up nicely. There was no need to shout in my ears and damage them.” I couldn’t stop laughing at looking at his face.   “Oh God, your face was priceless!” I could barely speak through my laughter. “And for your kind information, it was for revenge. You ate my chocolate cake last night,” I accused him, putting my hands on my waist.   “Of course, I ate it. It was delicious,” he teased me. “By the way, where are you going looking like a ghost?” he asked.   “You did not just say that! Take it back Bhai. You can’t say that to your beautiful sister!”   “Oh, beautiful sister, where are you? I can’t see her here. Can you?” he mocked me, looking here and there. I am going to kill him now.   “Take that back or help me God Ji I will tell Dad about your late-night parties,” I raised an eyebrow, trying to act nonchalant even though I was fuming inside.   “Fine, fine, I have a beautiful sister and you look very pretty,” he said, scared. I knew blackmailing always worked.   “I won’t tell anyone about this little secret,” I told him, smiling smugly.   “Now tell me. Where are you going?” he asked, getting up from bed and going to the washroom.   “I am going to the airport to receive Raj,” I replied to him, walking out of the room and shouting “Come fast, I don’t want to be late!” I didn’t wait for his reply and went out of the room and headed towards the dining table where mom and dad were waiting for us. I went there and sat on my chair.   “Where is Aarav?” Mom asked me, arranging the food on the table.   “Taking a shower,” I replied briefly and started putting food on my plate.   Today, mom made aloo paratha with curd and pickle. Yum. I was a big-time foodie and, thank god, whatever food I eat I don’t weigh too much. I mean I’m a little curvy, but overall, I look good.   By the time I filled my plate, my brother came downstairs and sat on his chair. In our house, it’s a rule to always eat together at least once a day. The rule was made by my grandmother. She passed away when I was 12 years old. And my grandfather passed away when Bhai was a year or two old.   “So, you are going to receive jiju from the airport,” my Bhai asked me while eating his food.   “Yeah,” I replied, dipping my paratha in the curd, and eating it. I moaned, it tasted so good.   “Don’t go anywhere without telling me and come home ASAP,” he ordered me, giving me a stern look. See no one trusts me with boys, not even with my future husband. Everyone is possessive about me. Because no one wants me getting hurt. I loved my family.   “I will, bhai, don’t worry and stop doubting your future jiju. You are all the one who selected him for me. So, relax.” I got up from my seat to go to my room and grabbed my bag, leaving for the airport. I went to say bye to my family.   “I am leaving, bye guys!” I told them while walking towards the door.   “Call me once you get there.” “Call me if he tries anything funny.” “Don’t go anywhere too far.”   I rolled my eyes once. I was sure they couldn’t see me. I headed to the main road before calling for a cab. I forgot to call the cab early. If I had told this in the house, they wouldn’t have let me leave and I would have been late. I quickly booked the cab and told the driver my address, which was where I was standing. After 5 minutes, the cab came and I climbed in, headed towards the airport.