A marriage proposal

A few years ago, me and my friend Kaya (pseudonym) were going through same phase - our parents were looking for suitable men for our marriage. Kaya had a terrifying experience.

Kaya had met a man. The initial meeting went well. She liked the guy too. The only drawback was that the guy's mother had died when he was a kid. While they awaited the second meet, Kaya's parents had started a general verification about the family. The information they got from the verification was scary. When she heard that, she had called me.

My phone buzzed at 11:30 pm. I saw her name on the screen and immediately knew something was wrong. I took a deep breath and answered her call.

"My dad knew someone who also knew the guy's family. The information that I have received is disturbing," Kaya was whispring as if someone would hear us and she would be in trouble.

"Disturbing as in did he have a girlfriend or boyfriend? Or was his previous engagement was called off?" These were the only questions I was able to come up with.

"Those would have been the least of my worries. This is terrifying and unsettling. Now just hear me out," she said, little louder this time but still almost whispering.

"Go on, I am listening," I said.

"I told you that the guy's mother died when he was very young. Now we got to know that his mother's death was not a natural death," there was a strong sense of fear in Kaya's voice.

"Unnatural as in did she have an accident?" I asked her.

"No it was not accident, far worse. It was the other thing - you know what I mean. She died under suspicious circumstances. There was an investigation. The investigation provided the cause of death which was an unnatural type. His father was accused but he was politically connected so no action could have been taken against him. He never got punished. He is a criminal and he roams freely," her voice was shaking.

My mouth went dry. I was completely frozen with what I have just heard. I was unable to speak because of the shock. Neither Kaya nor I were speaking. The silence was definitely disturbing. Finally I spoke and ended the silence, "are you sure that you have received the authentic information? People often tell lies and spread rumours".

"Yes I am absolutely sure. The person told us this is dad's good friend. He knows us for many years. He will definitely not lie to us. Whatever he would do or say would be for the welfare of my family. Besides I would trust someone familiar over the unfamiliar one," Kaya said, she sounded confident this time. She went on further, "this is so unnerving. I still cannot believe that we opened our doors to a criminal. It is so disturbing to think that I was planning to marry a criminal's son. Our society is really scary. More offer this system of arrange marriage is frightening".

" I completely agree with you. Thank God your dad's friend was there to save you from this nightmare. Buddy, you have dodged a bullet," I said while still thinking about horror of arrange marriage systems.