One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

I looked at him, surprised.
‘I am sorry. I can understand you are upset,’ I said after a pause.
‘You understand? That’s it? My entire extended family is here. They have celebrated with us
for a week. The morning of the wedding what do I tell them? The bride says no? She has cold feet?’
‘It’s all my fault. I accept that.’
‘Everyone is here, Radhika. Everyone.’
‘I know.’
The waiter arrived with Brijesh’s dosa and coffee. Brijesh left them untouched.
‘Can I ask why?’ Brijesh said, his voice under control again.
Tears rolled down my cheeks in response.
‘Why, Radhika?’
‘Those guys who you saw leave. They are my past. My exes.’
He looked back at the restaurant exit.
‘It’s okay. They are gone,’ I said.
‘You invited them?’
I shook my head. In brief, I told him what had happened to me all of last week in Goa. He
listened with full interest, and had a shocked expression at the end of it.
‘That is some story,’ he said as what I had told him sank in.
‘Yeah, that’s my week.’
‘What did you decide finally?’
‘I told them to leave. Get out. Out of Goa and my life, forever.’
‘Good. Then what’s the issue? Your past is gone.’
‘But I am not in the present either. I am nowhere, really. I need to find myself.’
‘Find yourself?’ he said, a bit of sarcasm in his voice. ‘You have told me you had two
relationships. As long as they are in the past, I don’t care.’
‘No, Brijesh. This wedding stands cancelled. I am sorry,’ I said and stood up.
He looked at me. He could see from my expression that I offered no scope for negotiation. He
remained silent. I turned around and left the coffee shop.