The Wedding Invite

Ruchir ran his hand over the invite. It had come to him via a premium courier service, two weeks ahead of the mega-event. He knew it as soon as he noticed the satin white pop out of the neglected letter box, one of the many, home to many spiders, in the revered space under the stairs. For company, the letterboxes had one rundown cycle, as ancient as its owner. He ran back from his room on the seventh floor, after managing to finally find the rusty little key. As he opened, he felt his nerves give away. Miss Sengupta had such delightfully taught them in the CAT classes, 'Nerves can be tempered. Made into steel, they melt like butter.'

 

Once back, the extravagance of the event only found more prominence. The invite was at least a kilogram and opened as a book into the main invite. The sides were dusty golden in colour, as were the top embellished. "A&M" was inscribed in the same dust-gold, and came out in a dimension of the entire façade. It was stinking of big money. He opened it.

 

 

By the blessings of Lord Ganesha,

we are delighted to announce

the holy union of

Anamika,

D/O Mrs & Mr Adhiraj Kumar Kashyap

with

Manish,

S/O Mrs & Mr Santosh Siktia

 

You are cordially invited to the Cocktails & Sangeet, Wedding and Reception.

Date and Venue details are attached.

Your presence and wishes in place of gifts, please.

 

 

The bitch. She craved gifts. Ruchir flipped the page to open a hollow which held a silver key-chain and a gold coin. The events would take place in a Taj, a Hyatt and one in an ITC. Ruchir could not believe the truth of what Anamika had said when she broke up with him. "Come and live with me, Ruchir, or live without." So you did land up with the golden hen, err, cock. He laughed to himself thinking of how intense their relationship was, how meaty, how steamy. It was an intellectual investment he was unwilling to let go. He could not decide if it was love or not, but it was a nice living. And one day, just like that she had cut it short. Unmindful, and no more revengeful, as he picked up the silver key-chain and gold coin, he fingered the hollow to come across an unusual lump.

 

He ripped it open to find a beige envelop addressed, 'R.' Curiously he opened it to find a transparent vial containing a liquid and on its body a stick-on saying, 'Have Me'. At around the same time, he received a text on his phone from an unknown number. "Cops on their way to arrest you for attempted murder. I knew about Pooja all along. Enjoy." That bitch! Ruchir did not know what to do. Anamika was known to be someone who knew her mind well. No one messed with her. He knew he had no way out. Wedding invite in hand, he awaited his fate, unsure of which was more tragic.