Marrying my Opposite

7- A fake act

Raghav's POV:

We all hurried after mom and entered into an empty room.

"Who do you have in mind? Who will help Tanya?" Trisha asked hurriedly as soon as we closed the door.

"Raghav", Mom answered and I felt the ground slipping under my feet.

"Mom, you can't be serious", I spoke in a loud volume but one look from dad was enough for me to realize my error.

"Sorry", I apologized and continued in a normal tone.

"Seriously Mom, why is it that always I am put under the bus? Why am I always supposed to adjust or in this case make a sacrifice?"

Instead of Mom's reply, I got to hear Rishi's obnoxious answer.

"First of all, you are not always chosen. It's your bad luck that you always lose in the game of Stone-Paper-Scissor. And secondly, you are the only one who is single right now. Mom cannot choose us as I am not straight and already engaged. Same goes for Nikhil, while Trisha and Samar are married. So, it is obvious that you are selected", Rishi said in a matter of fact tone.

I rubbed my forehead in distress.

"Listen, this is not right. What is the difference between the marriage she is having now and the marriage she would have with me? Both marriages would be out of convenience and not love. The only difference is our age and nothing else", I tried to explain again.

"There is", Trisha spoke up.

"Hmm?" I looked at her in confusion. I was hoping that atleast she would deny this marriage.

"Listen, I am not going to force you to marry her. That's just wrong. I am just answering your question", she clarified before speaking again.

"That man, no one knows about him. What if he takes away Tanya somewhere where we cannot find her? What if he abuses her? What if he doesn't fulfill his promise? That's the major difference. If it's you, we all can trust that Tanya would be safe with our closed eyes and for him, we cannot trust him at all.

"That being said, forcing you to marry her would be wrong. Not only to you but to Tanya as well. She is my best friend and you are my brother. I would have loved if you both got united but not like this, not when you despise each other", Trisha completed, looking at the floor sadly.

"Listen guys––", Mom started speaking but was interrupted by Rishi who jumped in between.

"I think you should marry her". He dropped the bomb.

"Atleast here me out first", he said,  showing his palm, to stop me from punching him.

"Look, you had already decided to not marry anyone as you still had Naina in your heart. You didn't want to spoil another girl's life by marrying her while you loved someone else. There is no hope that Naina would come back. Mom and Dad were so upset when they heard your decision.

"Now if you marry Tanya, Mom and Dad would be happy. Plus, Tanya knows that you despise her and she too doesn't like you. So, it's not like she would be hoping for a real relationship. She wouldn't be expecting anything other than financial support for her family and will not get hurt even if you cannot ever forget Naina".

Rishi let out a huge breath after finishing the lecture. I stood there quietly, barely managing to stay upright after Naina's name was mentioned. It was a sore subject for me. I prayed for someone to take the conversation away from her before I lost my control.

"I think what Rishi is saying would be a practical decision but we shouldn't be making the decision for Raghav and Tanya. Let them decide", Samar spoke up, making me sigh in relief.

"No one is deciding anything. This is not a play. We are talking about two lives. We cannot destroy their future. We can think of arranged marriage. Even if there's no love today, they need to work on their relation with their partner to build a happy future. But like this, for money. Nope, not at all. I won't let this happen to my son", Mom bursted out in anger.

"Yes! We want Raghav to get married but do you really think that we can find happiness in something that is forced upon our son. Nothing is more important than our children's happiness for us", Mom said, looking hurt that we could even imagine such thing.

"But you were the one who gave this idea", Rishi and I muttered simultaneously.

"Can you guys stop speaking in unison? Everyone knows that you are twins. There's no need to prove it again and again", Trisha grumbled.

"Trisha, not the right time", Samar whispered, politely asking her to shut up.

Mom cleared her throat, "You should have heard what I was saying fully before making assumptions", she sighed before resuming to talk, "Tanya's Dad won't stop this wedding even if we provide him money. If we say that Raghav will marry her then we can buy some time.

"Because of this, he would cancel the wedding now and we will get time until the date we decide for Raghav and Tanya's marriage, to think of another way to convince him. I am not asking Raghav to marry Tanya. We just need to tell them that Raghav will marry her".

"You mean...this marriage...we are just faking it, right?" I asked just to confirm and let a huge sigh of relief after receiving an affirmative nod.

"Will that be okay? Can I use your name?" Mom asked in a hopeful tone.

"Sure, use my name wherever you want", I answered in an energetic tone.