Bu spent the rest of the night in her room. She refused to come down for dinner. She didn’t answer when her mother knocked on the door, so her mother opened the door and walked in with a tray of food.
Bu turned her back on her mother, who said, “Nahi, Bu. You can turn your back on me, but you cannot turn your back on this. I know you are infatuated with Lai right now-“
“Infatuated?” Bu’s head whipped around to look at her mother. “Mama, I love him! I will always love him!”
“I know you think that now. Young love is so strong, but it does not last. Someday your love for each other will dry up and then what will you do? It’s better to start fresh when you marry someone. It lasts longer.”
“I will not marry him.”
Her mother’s tone went from cajoling to stony in an instant. “You will. And you will eat your dinner.” She stormed out of the room, leaving the tray of food on the bed.
Bu did not go to meet Lai the next night or the night after, but some days later, she was wandering aimlessly and found herself near their meeting place. She stopped when she realized where she was. For a moment she stood like a statue, staring into space as the tears welled up in her eyes. When they finally overflowed, she fell to her knees and sobbed into the earth.
“Bu?”
Bu stood bolt upright and wiped at her tears, hoping whoever it was hadn’t seen her crying. When she turned, she saw Lai, his dark eyes wide and soft as he regarded her.
They ran into each other’s arms without a word.
Eventually Bu whispered, “I’m to marry Fuji Lakshmi,” into his ear, still clinging to him.
“I know,” he said, stroking her hair. “He told me. I’m to be one of his groomsman.”
Somehow that made everything so much worse. The thought of Lai standing by while she married another man made Bu squeeze her eyes shut against another flow of tears.
Some time later they lay together on the grass. Bu’s head was resting on Lai’s arm and Lai was fiddling with a strand of her long, black hair. They were both looking up at the clouds passing overhead.
“He’ll make you a good husband,” said Lai. “He’ll take good care of you.”
Bu snorted. “Let him make someone else a good husband. I want you.” She took his hand and wrapped his arm around her her shoulders, as though to ward off her impending wedding.
Lai smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I have to admit, I’m surprised your parents agreed to the match.”
“They said his parents made the best offer. My father claims he’s only looking out for my best interests, but what does he know?”
“I’m sure his parents made a good offer. They would have had to in order to compensate for his epilepsy.”
Bu pulled away and raised herself up on one elbow to look Lai in the face. “Epilepsy?”
“Yes. You didn’t know?”
“No. I looked at the contract myself. There was no mention of it.”
Lai’s brows furrowed. “They didn’t reveal that? They must have. What if he has an episode before the wedding? Your parents could call off the whole thing. It’s such a risk for them not to disclose that.”
Bu’s eyes widened. “What if we made sure he had an episode?”
“How would we do that?”
“I don’t know, but it would be have to be close to the wedding day. Very close. If it’s too far from the day, my parents could just renegotiate the contract.”
“What are you thinking?”
Bu looked at him, practically feverish. “You’re going to be one of his groomsman. What if we arranged it so I could just marry you instead?”
“How?”
“We’d have to plan it very carefully. You’d have to make sure I didn’t find out about the episode until the day of the wedding. Then I could pretend to be so angry at the fact they concealed his illness that I pick you out and marry you instead.”
Lai smiled. “What? Make it look random?”
“It would have to.”
“Your parents would know it wasn’t random.”
“Sure, but by then it would be too late. No one else knows about us. They don’t have to know. Not until after we’re married.”
“You really think we can get away with this?”
“We have to. I can’t marry him.”
“Hey! He’s not that bad. He’s my friend, and I meant it when I said he’d take good care of you.”
“I don’t care. He’s not you.”
They looked at each other for a long moment before Lai said, “All right. What do I have to do?”
To be continued …