Meera Ramanathan had built her life around perfection. In Chennai’s elite wedding circuit, her name carried weight like a designer label. She could transform a beachside resort in Goa into a royal Rajasthani palace overnight, negotiate impossible demands from industrialist families, and calm hysterical brides while balancing a phone between her shoulder and ear. At thirty-two, she was the woman people trusted with their most expensive dreams. She understood flowers, lighting, timing, family politics, and the exact shade of gold that looked regal instead of gaudy. What she did not understand anymore was herself.

The irony of planning her own wedding was not lost on her. Every detail had been selected months in advance. The invitations embossed in deep maroon foil. The silk sarees handwoven in Kanchipuram. The sangeet choreography rehearsed by cousins who barely liked each other but smiled for her anyway. Her fiancé, Arjun Menon, approved every decision with the same detached politeness he used while discussing stock markets or traffic. They had been together for almost three years, introduced through family friends who considered them a “perfect match.” He was stable, successful, soft-spoken, and dependable. Her parents adored him because he never raised his voice and always arrived on time. Meera appreciated him because he made life easy.

Easy had started to feel dangerously close to empty.

The wedding venue was a restored Chettinad mansion on the outskirts of Pondicherry, booked nearly a year in advance. Meera had chosen it because it reflected elegance without trying too hard. The courtyard glowed under strings of jasmine and brass lamps during the rehearsal dinner, and guests moved around complimenting her taste while waiters balanced trays of filter coffee and mini idlis.

Then the rain started.

At first it was only a drizzle. Within minutes, the sky cracked open with monsoon fury. Electric wires shorted. Half the floral arrangements collapsed under the water. The stage backdrop tilted dangerously as workers scrambled across slippery tiles. Guests rushed indoors while relatives panicked over ruined decorations and delayed schedules.

Meera stood frozen in the courtyard, rain soaking through her carefully draped linen saree, staring at months of planning dissolve into muddy water. Her assistant was crying on the phone because the replacement generator was stuck somewhere on East Coast Road. Her mother was demanding answers. Arjun had disappeared inside with his father to discuss accommodation issues. Nobody looked at Meera as a person in distress. They looked at her like a professional expected to fix everything.

“Move away from the center beam,” a voice shouted over the rain.

She turned to see a man running toward her, sleeves rolled to his elbows, carrying ropes and shouting instructions to workers. He moved with calm authority, not panic. Within seconds, he redirected staff, secured the stage supports, and ordered guests into the inner hall. He stopped in front of her only briefly.

“If that frame falls, it’ll take the lights with it,” he said. “Either help me or go inside.”

Meera blinked at him in disbelief. Nobody spoke to her like that.

An hour later, the disaster was under control. The lights were restored. The musicians shifted indoors. The guests returned to laughing and eating as though nothing had happened. Meera sat alone near the back corridor, exhausted and shivering slightly from damp clothes.

The same man appeared carrying two steel tumblers of hot tea.

“You looked like you needed this more than another apology from your vendors,” he said.

His name was Kabir Sheikh, the venue manager. He was not polished like the businessmen she usually met. His Hindi carried traces of Mumbai streets, his white shirt was permanently wrinkled, and he smiled like someone who had long stopped pretending life was controllable. He spoke to workers by name and carried chairs himself when necessary. Watching him unsettled her because he seemed entirely comfortable in chaos.

Over the next few days, Meera found herself looking for reasons to speak with him. At first it was practical. Adjusting schedules. Coordinating guest rooms. Revising outdoor setups in case of more rain. But conversations drifted elsewhere.

Kabir asked questions nobody else did.

“When did you last attend a wedding and actually enjoy it?”

“Do you even like these huge ceremonies?”

“Why do rich families spend crores feeding people they secretly hate?”

She laughed more around him than she had in months.

One evening, while reviewing décor changes, Kabir glanced at the massive crystal mandap design on her laptop and asked, “What would happen if you just canceled half of this?”

Meera looked horrified. “People would think I failed.”

“And if they did?”

The simplicity of the question irritated her because she had no answer.

Arjun arrived every weekend from Bengaluru, always courteous, always occupied. Their conversations revolved around logistics. Guest lists. Apartment interiors. Honeymoon visas. He kissed her forehead distractedly while replying to emails. When she tried telling him how overwhelmed she felt, he suggested she take a spa day after the wedding.

“You’re stressed because you care too much about details,” he said.

But it wasn’t the details suffocating her.

One night, Meera and Kabir sat on the mansion terrace after a vendor meeting ran late. The power had gone again briefly, and the property glowed under candlelight. Somewhere nearby, someone played old Ilaiyaraaja songs softly through a speaker.

Kabir leaned back against the parapet wall. “You know what I’ve learned from weddings?”

“That people are impossible?”

“That nobody remembers centerpieces. They remember whether they felt loved.”

The words landed heavily inside her.

Meera realized she could not remember the last meaningful conversation she had with Arjun. She knew his investment habits, his gym timings, and his mother’s blood pressure medication schedule. But she didn’t know what scared him. What made him cry. Whether he had ever loved recklessly.

And perhaps worse—he did not know her either.

As the wedding drew closer, the performances of happiness became exhausting. Relatives praised their compatibility while Meera felt like an actress trapped inside an expensive production she herself had directed. Every ritual felt choreographed instead of sacred.

During the mehendi ceremony, her cousin teased her about becoming “Mrs. Menon,” and for a terrifying second, Meera imagined her entire future unfolding in muted shades of predictability. Comfortable dinners. Social obligations. Smiles in photographs. Children raised efficiently. Years passing politely.

That night she called Arjun to talk honestly for the first time.

“Are you excited to marry me?” she asked quietly.

There was silence before he answered carefully. “Of course I am.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Another pause.

“I think we’ll have a good life together, Meera.”

Good life.

Not love. Not joy. Not certainty.

Good.

She ended the call feeling strangely hollow.

The next morning, she found Kabir supervising workers arranging marigolds along the entrance staircase. Without looking at her, he said, “You look like someone attending her own funeral.”

She should have laughed. Instead, tears arrived unexpectedly.

Kabir did not comfort her immediately. He simply stood beside her while she cried in embarrassing, uneven breaths.

“I don’t know if I’m making a mistake,” she whispered.

He nodded slowly, as though he had been waiting for her to admit it.

“Then why are you still walking toward it?”

“Because everyone expects me to.”

“That’s not a reason to marry someone.”

Meera stared at the courtyard where workers prepared for another celebration event. For the first time in years, she saw herself clearly—not as the successful planner, dutiful daughter, or composed bride everyone admired, but as a woman terrified of disappointing people. She had chosen Arjun because he was safe. Predictable. Approved. He asked for nothing complicated from her.

But love, she realized, was supposed to complicate you a little.

The wedding morning arrived wrapped in heavy humidity and restless silence. Guests filled the mansion in silk and diamonds. Priests arranged coconuts and garlands near the sacred fire. Her makeup artist fussed over eyeliner while relatives rushed in and out with instructions.

Meera looked at herself in the mirror wearing the red Kanchipuram saree she had dreamed about since childhood.

She looked beautiful.

She had never felt more dishonest.

When Arjun entered the bridal room before the ceremony, his expression softened slightly at seeing her dressed as a bride.

“You look perfect,” he said.

The word broke something inside her.

Perfect.

Not happy. Not radiant. Perfect.

Meera took a shaky breath. “Arjun… do you love me?”

He looked startled by the question.

“I care about you deeply.”

Again, careful words. Safe words.

She realized then that he was afraid too. Afraid of conflict. Afraid of disappointing families. Afraid to admit they had mistaken compatibility for connection.

“I don’t think we should do this,” she whispered.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, unexpectedly, Arjun sat down beside her and exhaled heavily, like a man finally putting down unbearable weight.

“I was hoping you’d say it first.”

Outside, wedding music continued playing while two families waited for a future that quietly dissolved behind closed doors.

The aftermath was ugly. Relatives shouted. Her mother cried from humiliation. Rumors spread through WhatsApp groups before sunset. Some blamed Meera’s ambition. Others blamed modern relationships. A few blamed astrology.

But beneath the chaos, Meera felt an unfamiliar sensation blooming slowly inside her chest.

Relief.

Weeks later, she returned to the Chettinad mansion to collect some belongings left behind after the canceled wedding. The monsoon had ended. Sunlight spilled warmly across the courtyard where workers prepared for another couple’s celebration.

Kabir stood near the entrance arguing with a florist about orchids.

When he noticed her, he smiled lightly. “So… no more perfect weddings?”

Meera looked around at the half-finished decorations, the ladders, the loose flowers, the ordinary imperfections of preparation.

“Maybe perfect was overrated,” she said.

For the first time in her life, she did not know exactly what came next.

And strangely, that felt beautiful.

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