Bombay Mixx (21 page)

Yatin emerged from the bedroom and with the nose of a Blood Hound; he managed to find his way to the seductive smelling breakfast and was able to hold an hour long conversation before needing to spend some quality time with his head in the toilet.

‘Baby, we’re going now. I will call you later. Call me if you need me,’ I shouted to a groaning Yatin and with that the three of us left to see what the exceptionally sunny day had in store for us.

Going back to my parent’s house for a much needed afternoon nap, I was glad to see my room was exactly how I left it and had not been converted into a gym or ‘Carlos’ spare room when my mother was going through her ‘over dad’ stage.

Gabrielle roped mum into helping her look at venues for the engagement party.  I was happy it wasn’t me as mum came back looking stressed, frazzled and headed straight to the alcohol cabinet!

After five missed calls from Renesh, I realised it must be serious and arranged to meet him for dinner in the evening but not before heading back to the flat, which now looked like a wedding war zone!

Dresses, shoes, half eaten take away boxes, wedding magazines sprawled across all available surfaces and empty bottles of wine in the most random places.

‘Oh hey Neets, you just caught me in the middle of tidying up,’ Amelia announced as she sat on the sofa wearing rubber gloves, reading one of the many wedding magazines in the room and watching TV (this was her idea of cleaning!).

As I looked at the disaster zone, I decided if I couldn’t beat them, I would join them so I decided to catch up with Amelia before I went to meet Renesh.

Pretending to clean the apartment, whilst really gossiping and watching TV, it was apparent that:

1. Neither one of us would look good in a ruffled wedding gown;
   

1. Dancing to ‘I will Survive’ with wet hands and trying to wash glasses does not work (as we realised after the 4
   th
   glass smashed to the ground!);
   

1. Trying to put Geron in a good light with Amelia would end in the conversation being cut dead and her giving you death stares. So I just came to the conclusion that eventually he will get the message and leave her alone or she would admit her true feelings and let herself be ‘vulnerable’ enough to let him show her how sorry he is…obviously I would never tell her this though! I like my ear drums to stay functional!
   

Two hours of putting the world to rights with Amelia was exhausting and the hangover was creeping up on me again so to shock the energy back into my body, a cold shower was needed and a hair of the dog was required to prepare me for whatever bad news Renesh had.

He was sat in the back of a busy, very chic, ultra modern restaurant; my purse was already screaming, ‘back away from the entrance.
If it smells looks and the air taste
’s
expensive then…it’s going to be expensive!
’
Stupidly, I ignored the warning signs and approached his table.

The eager waiter barely gave me enough time to sit down before he was handing me the menu. ‘Thank you,’ I muttered.

Renesh looked tired and visibly upset.

He hadn’t shaved for a week it seemed, and although he still had the rugged, manly look, it wasn’t the intended appearance he was going for.

After ordering starters and a bottle of white wine from the increasingly annoying and overbearing waiter, I didn’t hold back.

‘Bro, no offence but you look like you haven’t slept for days. What’s going on? Did mum tell you, her and dad are back together thanks to me and Yatin? Just call us the uber cool Cupids of North London!’ I chuckled as I tried to make light of the tense situation.

However, he didn’t laugh and I knew it was serious.

Waiting for me to savour the three perfectly positioned prawns on the largest plate I had ever seen, Renesh announced, ‘Shilpa has moved out.’

Unfortunately, a piece of bread I was mopping up the sauce with, got stuck in my throat due to this revelation and I began to choke.

Renesh looked embarrassed as my coughing grew louder and stronger, which attracted the attention of all the staff (and fellow diners), who came running over with water and a new, overly enthusiastic chef (possibly fearing a law suit) tried to perform the Heimlich Maneuver but instead managed to make the situation worse by putting me in a position that left me forgetting the choking law suit and thinking of filing a sexual harassment suit!

‘I’m ok,’ I gasped as my natural colour came back and I feebly explained I had just choked on a piece of bread.

Once they heard that the choking was not the fault of the restaurant, all the staff dispersed quickly and with a few more looks of annoyance from the older, snobbier customers, all went back to normal and I vowed to leave the bread alone!

Taking a few more gulps of water, I started my investigation. ‘What do you mean she moved out? I thought you were sorting things out?’ I was confused as I thought he was determined to make things work with her.

Making sure I was no longer eating or drinking anything, Renesh replied, with a deep sigh, ‘I explained about Manisha and she said she would give me another chance but it’s not that simple. The trust had gone and she couldn’t cut down her hours so it was exactly the same but now she doesn’t believe anything I say. If I said I was going to the gym she would doubt me. If I said I was going out with the boys, we would argue. It just wasn’t working.’

Showing I was visibly annoyed at his need to play the victim, I retorted, ‘she could argue with you for the rest of your life and you couldn’t blame her as you made her feel like this due to your actions.’

The waiter obviously felt the tension at the table and placed the main courses down quickly and left without speaking.

Taking a large mouthful of the disappearing wine, Renesh continued, ‘I know it’s all my fault but I really wanted to work it out with her, Neets. I was prepared to do anything but then a week ago Manisha called and asked me to meet her as she had something important to tell me and I had to go. She was hysterical and crying on the phone, I didn’t know what she was going to do. The only problem was Shilpa heard the call and followed me to the coffee shop.’

The anger was brewing inside me and I was overwhelmed with disappointment as I couldn’t believe my brother was turning out to be this kind of man.

Fearing he was going onto the ‘Angus List’ of despicable, cheating men, I growled, ‘you went to meet Manisha, when you were supposed to be saving your marriage? If you called me here to hear me say I am on your side then you are sadly mistaken,’ and with that, I placed £40 on the table for my share of the meal and got up to walk away.

He pleaded with me to wait and sit back down but I was too angry.

I pushed the chair and stepped away from the table; he got up grabbed my arm and announced, ‘she’s pregnant with my baby, Neets and so is Shilpa!’ to which he dissolved into tears and all I could do was hold him.

Chapter
Six
–
The Best Gift to bring to the Engagement Party?

The following weeks consisted of trying to be a counsellor to Renesh and making sure my mother didn’t end up in prison for ‘murdering’ him. And trying not to end up in the cell next to her myself for killing Gabrielle for her endless demands, and screams, when she came to the conclusion that she could not delegate any tasks to her bridesmaids as they were all ‘dimwits’. Needless to say there were many occasions I had to escort Anya out of the room before she had Gabrielle’s blood on her new Louis V’s!

‘Neets, I need your help,’ Gabrielle screamed from her bedroom as we all started to get ready for the engagement party.

The sun was blazing and there was a nice breeze in the air. With clear, blue sky, all bridesmaid’s were still sober (surprisingly, especially with the stress of the bride-to-be becoming increasingly unbearable) and mum and dad were working through their issues successfully, it was like icing on the cake when Shilpa rang.

‘Hey Neets, it’s Shilpa. Just checking to make sure it’s still ok for me to come today?’ she asked with pain in her voice. I wanted to put my hands down the phone and give her a big hug as over the past few weeks, after seeing my brother’s deteriorating mood, I have been calling her non-stop begging her to come to the party. ‘Of course it is hun. You know you are still part of this family and we all want you there. Call me when you set off and I will come outside to meet you,’ and with that the nerves and anticipation began.

Maybe it was all the stress of trying to be a mediator, counsellor or maybe it was the increasing workload but I had been feeling horrid, so when Gabrielle screamed at me to hurry up through the bathroom door, I couldn’t be calm anymore. ‘Fuck off, I’m being sick, so I’m sorry I can’t rush,’ obviously Gabrielle wasn’t the only one behind the door. ‘Babe, I need to speak to you. Can I come in?’ Amelia said softly, to which I obliged.

I loved Amelia so much, as no matter what she had going on in her own life she was always thinking of others and never had a bad word to say (unless you angered her) or selfish bone in her body, so when she wanted to talk to me, or offered her opinion, I always welcomed her with open arms.

‘What’s up chick?’ I asked slowly getting up from the toilet and examining my green complexion in the mirror.

She was wearing a beautiful deep red Oriental inspired mini dress, with her hair perfectly styled with two chop sticks with elegant gold and red tassels hanging down…trust Amelia to bring the real style to the party!

From her equally chic gold clutch bag, she pulled out a white paper bag. ‘Babe, there’s no time to have a quick snort,’ I chuckled as she raised an eyebrow at my terrible humour. She pulled the bag back, which revealed a box.

‘Hun, I have been hearing you talk about how sick you’ve been feeling for the past few mornings now and unless you have been going to the worst take away, which needs to be shut down ASAP, you do not have food poisoning, nor do you have the flu,’ to which she put the box under my nose to reveal her true thoughts.

I examined the pregnancy kit as though it was alien to me.

I couldn’t be pregnant, could I?

Ok, so my clothes have been feeling a bit tight recently but I haven’t been saying no to the odd late night burger or doughnut. My periods are not regular, so it’s not a big deal that I haven’t had one for a while but I have only been with Yatin for just over 3 months, what is he going to think? He’s going to run for the hills when he hears this!

That last thought had me losing breath and I began to gasp. ‘Babe, it might not be this but it’s just to rule it out and I’ll always be here for you, so don’t worry so much. You don’t have to do it now,’ Amelia stuttered as the concern and worry at my cracking appearance began to frighten her.

After a long hug and words of encouragement, I decided to quickly do it.

Three minutes feels like a life time, when in one spilt moment the result could change your life forever (also Anya and Gabrielle banging on the door every second to see what was going on was piling on the pressure).

‘She is just overwhelmed about the wedding so just give us a few minutes,’ Amelia shouted, which bought us a bit more time.

The time had come and the results were as clear as the sky…POSITIVE!

Unfortunately, my vision had become less clear as I showed an opened mouth Amelia the evidence and felt my knees buckle beneath me.

I passed out!

As I came round, I heard the rustling of paper (which I realised later was Amelia hiding the evidence as she opened the door to get help) and the screams of Gabrielle and Anya telling her to shut up and to go get water. ‘Guys, I’m ok. I just haven’t eaten,’ I managed to reassure them as I found the energy to sit up and gratefully accept the water from a shaking Gabrielle.

After avoiding the many questions the girls had, Amelia reminded everyone of the time and the drama was forgotten for the moment.