The Wedding Pact

The Wedding Pact -- By Neelam Chohan-Jagait

Chapter 1: The Dinner Party

A warm drop of sweat trickled down Samira’s spine as she poured herself a generous glass of chilled Californian white. She took a long gulp, steadying her nerves, one hand gripping the stairwell ledge as she made her way back up to the dinner party.

It was the kind of evening where everyone was in their element. The men had gathered in one corner, admiring the recently renovated wine cellar Sahil had spent thousands on—his pride and joy. Most of the women had drifted into the nursery, where Samira had been showing them the latest additions to the baby closet.

Samira and Sahil had been trying to get pregnant for over a year and it was no secret amongst their closest friends. “Any day now” squealed Nicky, Samira’s closest friend as they all giggled in excitement. Samira was over the moon. A beautiful home, a devoted husband and hopefully soon, a baby.

Or so they all thought.

By the time Samira reached the kitchen, the guests had begun to gather there, glasses refilled, voices louder now. The moment was coming. Her palms were slick, her chest tightening with each breath.

She glanced at Sahil.

He stood at the center of it all, holding an old fashioned, flashing his new watch as he laughed—effortless, charming. He had never looked better.

Samira took another sip of wine. Then another.

Before he could stop himself, Sahil reached for a spoon and tapped it lightly against his glass. The sharp clink cut through the room.

“Everyone, may I have your attention for a moment?”

Sahil turned, then smiled as he stepped forward. He slipped an arm around Samira’s waist and pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her collarbone.

Samira flinched.

“As you all know,” Sahil began, “I’ve worked incredibly hard on this house, and I’m so pleased to have you here tonight. Please—enjoy, there’s plenty more wine.”

A ripple of polite laughter. Glasses lifted.

“You said I, honey,” Samira chimed in, her fingers tightening around his arm. “I think you meant we.”

A flicker crossed Sahil’s face.

“Yes—of course. We,” he corrected quickly. “We’ve worked hard on this. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Samira smiled.

“But you have been doing quite a lot without me, haven’t you?”

The room shifted—subtle, but unmistakable.

Sahil’s grip on her waist tightened. “Darling,” he said under his breath, “let’s start dinner. I’m sure everyone’s starving.”

“Dinner can wait.” A beat. “It was actually my idea to have everyone over tonight,” Samira said, turning to face the room. A few guests exchanged glances, uncertain now.

Sahil leaned closer. “What are you doing?” he whispered. Samira stepped out of his hold.

“Whose idea was it to renovate the cellar?” she asked, her voice calm. “Oh—I’ll tell you. It wasn’t mine.” She tilted her head slightly. “It wasn’t yours either, was it?”

Silence crept in.

“It was Jessica’s.”

No one spoke.

Sahil moved toward her, reaching for her arm, but she pulled away.

“Baby, please,” he mouthed.

Samira didn’t look at him.

“The truth is,” she said, her voice steady now, “Sahil renovated the cellar because his girlfriend Jessica told him to.”

A glass clinked somewhere in the room. A loud gasp cut through.

“In fact, they’ve been planning all kinds of renovations to our home,” she continued. “Apparently, she’s moving in, and I’m moving out.”

She lifted her glass, her hand no longer shaking.

“They just didn’t tell me.” She smirked, her eyes wide and bloodshot. “I should’ve known, I felt so close to you, planing our life, trying for a baby this whole time and YOU, you’ve gone and placed an entire ocean named Jessica between us. You need to pack your shit and leave. Right NOW” Her voice escalated.

The silence was piercing and the room felt still. Samira took another gulp and held her stare directly in Sahil’s eyes. She was trying to read his face and decipher if he was more ashamed she had outed him in front of his pals or genuinely hurt knowing how much pain he had caused by his selfish and childish needs.

Before anyone could respond she screamed “OUT! NOW!” The guests shuddered, one of their friends Liz covered her ears with her jaw wide open. Whispers in the corner of the room and gasping cut through the air.

Sahil slowly edged toward the door, uncertain and defeated, he looked back at the remnants of the dinner party. He turned around and whispered “I don’t understand” His shoulders hanging low. You said you would forgive me, you said we could move past it, why did you do this?” Samira almost felt sorry for him.

“I changed my mind. Tell Jessica I said hi”.

****

Chapter 2: Lies, Lies, Lies

It felt like no time had passed at all, yet so much had taken place in just 3 short years. A nasty divorce, a relocation package for Samira through work and a baby. Samira did manage to get pregnant and was determined to raise the baby by herself. Shahil had Oliver at the weekends and though they saw each other frequently, Sahil felt like a total stranger. Samira still had the urge to shoot Sahil a quick text whenever something silly happened at the office, or the time when she fell between the train platform and the train and didn’t quite ‘mind the gap’ getting off the tube. She even reached out to her phone and typed out ‘ugh, you won’t guess who just fell off the train ledge like the loser I am?!’ but as the grief hit her, she deleted the message just as quickly as it took for Jessica to swoop in and shit all over their perfect world.

And now she was standing looking gormless at the wedding of their mutual friends Jacob and Nicky. Jacob, Nicky, Sahil and Samira had all studied together in London, and they met during their first proper outing at Freshers Week. Their friendship blossomed at a rapid rate and they swore they would always be in each others lives. “Ugh, bullshit” mumbled Samira, under her breath as she scanned the wedding venue. She admired the candle lit tables and pastel decor, the wedding favors neatly placed on each piece of wedding china but stuck her nose up to it all now. Samira no longer believed in the whole til death do us part, she swore she would never marry again. Her priority was Oliver and getting over Sahil.

“I thought it looked rather good, but what do I know?”. A tall and strikingly handsome man stared at Samira with the widest Cheshire cat grin she had ever seen. He joined Samira, rubbing his shoulder onto hers so they were both facing the wedding hall now.

“Sure, pastels and candles… very original” Samira chewed the olive from her dirty martini, which was going down a treat. She couldn’t help but stare at him through one corner of her eye, why did he approach her? Why is he giving her any time at all? He was the kind of handsome that made any woman look bad stood next to him.

Samira started moving away from him as she lifted a second martini from the tall, delicate martini tower. “And that right there, that’s just tacky” Samira pointed to the stack of neatly placed glasses, but as she turned, her bag must have swung unexpectedly and knocked over the dozens of glasses with their expensive champagne and martinis. There was an out pour of drinks combined with screams. “Oh fuck, fuck fuck, nooooo!” She said, grinding her teeth as if it would reverse the last couple of seconds. She covered her face and peeked through one eye.

She looked over at the guests who were beginning to walk into the hall and get seated and noticed him. Sahil. With her. Oh crap, he saw the whole thing, she thought.

“Oh my God, I’m going to die” Samira said mortified by her actions, she could feel her whole chest tighten and knew it was red raw and on fire.

“No, no you are not going to die” the handsome man said as he reached for a radio that was clipped to his back pocket. “I need a team to clean up the martini tower, discreetly please, the guests are all entering now, and loads of fresh glasses needed, urgently please, over” He was assertive, yet friendly and calm.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, you work here, I’m so sorry the place looks beautiful, it truly does. Can I help with the cleaning?” Samira said as she scanned over looking for Sahil and his not so new bitch girlfriend.

The young handsome man laughed, he seemed so easy breezy, like nothing could get him mad. He put his hand forward and shook hers, I’m Jamie, I own this venue. And the bullshit decor company. He smirked.

Samira instantly forgot everything he just said, she was too focused on Sahil’s whereabouts. She had a feeling he would attend, but wasn’t certain. She rented a very expensive, sexy backless burgandy dress. She remembers that he loved her wearing anything burgundy and she had her hair up, in a flower burgundy claw clip, with several loose stands framing her face. She didn’t think Jessica would be with him, in fact she didn’t even know if they were still together and even though it had been 3 years already, the pain she felt when she saw him with her was undeniable. She had never felt so small and disposable in her entire life.

“Samira” she heard Sahil’s soft, velvety voice behind her. She paused for a brief moment, closing her eyes to gather herself before she turned around.

“Sahil, fancy seeing you here”, she said casually but fighting the demon of a frog that was lodged in her throat, ushering it to stay put.

“You look… incredible” Sahil was fully checking Samira out. He scanned her entire body, face, hair, lips, chest, stomach, hips, legs and even noticed her shoes. Also rented for this precise moment.

All she wanted to do was fall into his arms and embrace in a long, much overdue kiss and right before she could even respond or thank Sahil for the compliment, Jessica was stood by his hip. She wore a red dress with high heels, and her breasts were exploding out of the tight garment. Surely her dress isn’t rented, Samira thought. Bitch.

“Samira, hi, it’s nice to see you” Jessica said apologetically as pity ran through her face.

Samira for once was speechless, she had never been face to face with Jessica. She had only agonized over her and their Facebook pictures and often wondered what kind of woman she was. Can’t be a very nice one if she knowingly involved herself with a married man. It was easier for Samira to presume that Jessica wasn’t a very nice person. She’d much rather feel anger than sadness. Samira stared at Jessica and knew it was making her uncomfortable but she couldn’t help it. Jessica was much taller than Samira, she looked like a surfer girl, blonde, slim with green eyes. Despite all the effort Samira put into her look for the wedding, she felt small and worthless stood next to them. She so wished she had a plus 1 for moral support.

“Sweetie, sorry to keep you waiting” Jamie stood by Samira, he must have been the tallest guy in the room, Samira had to look up at him when he talked — he slipped his soft hands around her waist and kissed her on her forehead. Samira felt like she was going to pass out. The drinks falling just moments ago, Jessica and Sahil groping her through their pitiful eyes and now Jamie, a beautiful tall sexy man with icy blue eyes had his arms wrapped around her. What the heck is he doing? She thought.

“Ummm” is all Samira could manage.

“Oh, apologies, I’m Jamie, Samira’s boyfriend.” He said reaching out to shake Sahil’s hand, while the other hand playfully stroked Samira’s back, sending chills down her entire body. Sahil had his jaw open and Samira could almost see the fillings in his back teeth.

Brilliant. Samira thought. Absolutely genius.

Jamie was hands down the most handsome man in the entire wedding. He could’ve easily passed off as the groom, he wore light trousers with navy braces over his light blue shirt and a relaxed blazer. Effortless and chic. Samira stared at him as he continued to tell Sahil and Jessica how they met in a coffee shop and how it was love at first sight. Lies. It was all lies, but somehow Jamie knew exactly what she needed in that moment. A boyfriend — even if it was for pretend, it’s exactly what she needed to help her ego repair itself as they stood there, huddled up as a party of 4. No longer did it feel unbearable. Jamie caressed her back and for a moment she wasn’t listening, she wanted his hands there, and didn’t care about Sahil breaking her heart, or the pair of boobs staring back at her. She was focused on Sahil’s face, it was pink and puzzled. He was jealous.

Somehow, organically, Samira and Jamie had entered this wedding pact — a lie to pretend they were here together, a couple. A real couple. Samira had Jamie. And for the rest of the wedding, he was all hers. Revenge had never tasted so sweet.

(2259 words).