An unwelcome invited guest

It was a grand wedding, held in a five-star hotel close to Diyawanna. The bride was the daughter of a white-collar bigwig holding very high secretarial status in the yahapalanaya administrative nerve-centre. In fact, he held high secretarial status under the previous regime as well.

The Yahapalanaya Number One and the Diyawanna Council Chair were present to do the honours as the witnesses. 

The former strongman was among the VIPs invited, but he was conspicuous by his absence.  His sibling who once helmed the country’s defense establishment too had been invited to the wedding by the groom’s side. 

The bride’s father had gone into a fluster when he heard that that the former defense boss was expected to be present at the wedding as a distinguished guest from the groom’s side. And he wanted to prevent his attendance at any cost. So he decided to make an appeal to the unwanted guest himself. 

“…I just wanted to ask you, Sir, whether you wouldn’t mind skipping our wedding…I am so sorry to have to make this appeal,” the top secretarial one told the former defense boss.

Taken aback by this unusual appeal, the former defense boss asked the bride’s father why he was making this request.

“If you attend the wedding, the newspapers will surely make a big song and dance about your presence at the wedding with pictures and all that which might create many unnecessary problems. So I wanted to kindly ask you to skip the wedding and attend the homecoming…”

The former defense boss replied: “It was not you who invited me to the wedding, but the groom’s side. Anyway, if my presence is going to create any trouble for you, I would surely keep away from the wedding and the homecoming too!”

“Oh! No…” the bride’s father had tried to make an apologetic comment, but the former defense boss had already dropped the call.  This secretarial one had caused a similar affront to another one-time close colleague of his from the days of the former strongman, they say.