Page 3 of Someone I Chose

“Aren’t you scared?” Neha asked.

“Scared? No. It’s annoying, though.” Jay handed her the phone. They walked back in silence. Soon the lights of the ballroom guided them toward the hotel.

Neha let out a grunting laugh when she had a weird idea. “We should get married!” She pointed at Jay. “That way we’d have closed that chapter. No one could push fiancés our way, and we’d have chosen for ourselves.”

There was a peculiar look on Jay. His dark eyes had become even darker until Neha couldn’t tell where the pupil ended, or the iris began. He tilted his head and gazed at her intently. Finally, he said, “Let’s.”

Neha jerked a little. “You’re serious?”

“Weren’t you?”

Nathan exploded with laughter. “I know exactly whom to ask about an impromptu wedding.”

And so the first thing the following morning, Neha and Jay had an early breakfast in the tearoom of Nathan’s brother and signed a basic prenup that Neha insisted on.

CHAPTER TWO

ALMOST THREE WEEKS LATER

It had taken Neha days to collect all the information on her biggest case yet. She was representing the CEO of one of the biggest companies in Atlanta in her divorce. Neha felt she had been under much more scrutiny than usual and was excited about it. This meant the higher-ups were evaluating her, making sure she was ready for partnership. She was set on showing them just how good a choice she would be. As her immediate boss was old-fashioned in his workflow and refused to work with digital files, Neha stood next to the printer and waited for yet another lengthy document to be finished.

Divorces almost always are a sad business, but some are more so than others. This one was heartbreaking. Both spouses wanted the mansion in Buckhead, and neither wanted the child. Whenever Neha thought of that miserable seven-year-old, she wondered what might possess a parent to give up on their child. Even after she married a stranger, her parents had not forsaken her. Granted, that dinner when she told them had been terrible. Her mother had cried, and her father had been stunned into silence. The only thing he had said was, “We’ll see about that.”

That night was almost three weeks ago now, and Neha had met with her parents several times since. No one mentioned the marriage or any potential fiancés, and Neha was quite content with the outcome. If it wasn’t for the fight with her roommate, who saw no fault of hers in letting Neha’s parents go through her drawers, she would be happy even. And, of course, there were Jay’s doe eyes that kept haunting her. When they parted at the airport in Atlanta and he went to the gate of his connecting flight, he looked hurt, lost even. Neha had not understood and still didn’t. He had not meant for them to actually be married. Or did he? He was not her type. Neha wasn’t sure what her type was or whether she even had one, but Jay it was not. He was of average height and chubby. And quite boring, too. She was glad he was her husband on paper only—living with him would be drab. Someone working odd hours out in the mountains at that. It did not sound appealing.

“Are you still blocking the printer?” Stacey was a middle-aged lawyer who had not made partner. Somehow that made her cling to her seniority and bully young lawyers. Neha always ignored her attempts to vex her and simply said, “Almost done.”

Stacey looked at the pages that lay on the printer’s tray. “Who do you think will take that case once you’re gone?”

Now that was a blunt attempt to make Neha lose her countenance. She made sure not to show the tiniest sliver of emotion. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Umm, you are too. Friday is your last day. They have asked me to plan a farewell party. With lots of Indian decoration, as you are going to Delhi and such.”

“Are you making this up? I’m not going to Delhi, nor anywhere else, for that matter.”

Stacey seemed genuinely puzzled. She stared at Neha. “But you’ve quit.”

“I’ve what?” Neha laughed. “You’d think I’d know about that, wouldn’t you?”

Stacey bit her lip and walked away briskly. Neha gathered her document from the printer and went towards her office. Changing her mind, she walked the other way to a colleague who was known to be a gossip. “Hey, Gordon. Have you heard about me leaving?”

“Oh, yeah.” He beamed at her. “We were not supposed to talk to you about it. Thanks for bringing it up yourself. We will miss you.”

“Right.” Neha nodded. Something coiled in her tummy into a hard, fiery ball. She turned around and strutted into her boss’ office.

“What is this about me having quit?” she demanded to know.

“Well, you did, didn’t you?” He shot her a disapproving look over the rim of his glasses. “You didn’t even have the decency to talk to us yourself.”

“How come you think that I’ve quit if I haven’t talked to anyone about it?”

“You handed in your resignation,” he said, scathingly. “That is, you sent it by mail, didn’t even give it to me in person.”

“I did no such thing.”

Her boss huffed. “Changed your mind? We’re not having you back. Please, would you leave my office now?” He pointed at his door.

“We’ll talk.” Neha left the room. As she tried to close the door, her stack of papers slid from her hands and spilled onto the floor. Silently groaning, she crouched to pick them up. When she heard her boss’ voice, she realized the door had not closed entirely.