Rajveer
I woke up with a sinking feeling in my stomach, dreading what lay ahead. The day I had been dreading for weeks had finally arrived, and I couldn't escape it any longer. It was my worst nightmare come true.
As I got out of bed, I tried to shake off the overwhelming sense of anxiety that had settled over me. I knew I had to face the day Headon, no matter how much I wanted to run away and hide. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that I was stronger than the anxiety that had taken over my body.
A knock on the door broke me out of my trance.
"Raj." mum sauntered into my room "I'm so proud of you son."she said.
"Thanks." I replied tersely. For getting me married to Roshni.
"When Roshni comes into this house as your wife, I want you to treat her well and love her, she's a kind person at heart." she remarked.
"Alright mum, I will try my best in treating her well." I paused "but I can't promise you, I would be able to love her." I finished, truthfully. I didn't want her to have a lot of expectations from me.
"You will, son, I trust you will in the near future. Now go get ready, we will be going to the bride's house in two hours." She said and I excused herself out of the room.
Yash and Pintu arrived shortly after.
"Yash, Pintu" I greeted them with a handshake.
"Hey groom, I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend your engagement." Yash apologized.
"It's alright dude, I told you it's not important." I waved the topic aside.
"I'm so happy for you Raj." Pintu smiled.
"I can't say the same for myself." I smiled sadly.
"Don't worry Raj, you never can tell, you might fall in love with her sooner than you think." Yash winked.
"I don't think so." I scoffed. "where is Daniel?" I inquired.
"He is on his way coming here." Pintu replied.
After an hour or so, I got dressed in my wedding attire. Here I was, sitting in my well decorated vehicle with my friends, heading to her house.
Arriving at our destination, I took a moment to gather my thoughts and summon the courage within me. I knew I couldn't let my worst nightmare consume me. I had to face it head-on, no matter how terrifying it seemed.
The drive to the house was shorter than I had anticipated, with the guys bickering nonstop. We alighted from the car and I stopped to observe the house for it looked very different now. The building was decorated with flowers, balloons and colorful lights.
The exterior was eye catching, they really did an amazing job decorating the building. It looked perfect.
Stepping into the living room, I observed the interior was even more beautiful than the exterior decoration. They were prepared for my downfall - I huffed.
"Hello. Welcome everyone, come in and make yourselves comfortable before the ceremony starts fully." Roshni's mum ushered us in.
"Where is my beautiful daughter in law?" I heard mum asked from behind me.
"She's getting ready, she will be here soon." her mum answered.
Why is she taking so long, does she think we will wait for her for eternity!
I'm sure she's just in there, applying makeup and stuff."Here she comes." a woman I haven't seen before whispered to me.
I looked at her wearily. "Finally she's here. I just want to get this over and done with." I muttered.
"Wow! My daughter in law is looking so charming" mum complimented and some other women started talking about how beautiful she was, how lucky I was to have her and bla bla bla...
Why is everyone so mesmerized by her.
I finally looked up and saw her, she was indeed looking beautiful but that didn't change the fact that she is unreasonable, after all I told her on our engagement ceremony, she still didn't back out.
"She chose this life for herself and I should not be blamed for the consequence." I muttered underneath my breath.
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Roshni
While I was stepping down from the stairs, I sighted Rajveer and his family waiting for me to get started with the wedding. All eyes were on me except Rajveer's, he was looking down. He didn't even spare a moment to look at me and that simple act of his, broke my heart, tremendously.
"Relax, Rosh, you look beautiful." Vid said into my ear.
Why isn't he at least looking at me, do I disgust him that much? - I wanted to ask him at the top of my voice. All grooms are always so eager to see their brides on their wedding day, but mine was the opposite. He was disgusted by me instead. He loathed me already - I could tell. I couldn't blame him though, he told me he didn't love me and was just pressured into getting married to me. He was honest with his feelings towards me and I respected him for that. I brought this upon myself by still going ahead and getting married to him. The fault is all mine and not his. I would have to face the consequence of my decision now. I hoped he would soften with time.
When he finally looked up at me, I expected him to at least give a little smile, even if it was fake, it would have given me a little hope that we may get along in future, but instead he furrowed his brows and looked elsewhere. I felt like crying at that moment, but I managed to maintain myself.
I greeted my in-laws and some guests and they all showered me with blessings and congratulations. Soon the ceremony began and all the wedding rites were performed, ending with Raj applying the vermilion on my forehead and securing the wedding necklace over my neck.
"Congratulations! You two are now married." The priest announced and everyone began to cheer.
"I am married?" I muttered. It sounded so unreal even to my ears.
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RAJVEER
I was married to her now and I would have to live with her under the same roof as a couple. In my room.
"Congratulations to both of you, I'm so happy." mum said, tearfully.
"Please make use of the advise your dad and I gave you." I heard her mum say to her on the verge of tears.
"I will mum and don't worry, I'm not going away from home permanently, I will always visit." she wiped her tears.
Why didn't she just stay behind if she didn't want to leave that much - I scoffed.
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Few minutes later, the celebration was in full swing. The lights of the building dimmed as dancers came on stage and started their performance.
"Let's go continue the wedding rituals." mum said to me.
What wedding ritual was she talking about?
"I am already married mum. What wedding ritual do I need to do again?" I asked, exasperated.
"It's in form of a game, come on." mom led me towards where Roshni and some women were seated.
"There is a ring in this bowl filled with milk, both of you need to put your hand in the bowl and search for the ring. The first person to get a hold of the ring would surely be the dominate one in this relationship." a woman explained cheerfully.
"This is so childish." I muttered to nobody's hearing.
We both put our hands into the bowl and began the search for the ring.
Few minutes later, Roshni found the ring and the women started laughing."Our Roshni will surely be the one making all decisions in this marriage" a weird woman said and bursted into laughter, followed by the other women too.
"This is embarrassing." I muttered again. "Where is Sam?" I suddenly asked. I just noticed I haven't seen her around for a while now.
"When we left home, she was complaining of headache but promised to attend the wedding when it subsides." mum explained.
"Was it bad?" I asked, concerned.
"I doubt she was even telling the truth about not feeling fine, she's just making excuses not to be present here." mom voiced out.
I suddenly recalled Sam telling me how much she hated Roshni. Mum was probably right.
"The groom and the bride should dance." a woman suggested.
What! Dance?
"No. I'm sorry I don't dance." I shook my head in disgust.
"But you will have to dance today, it's your wedding day." another woman said, annoying me further.
"I really can't and won't." I said with finality.
"Please do it for me son." mum pleaded
Oh no!
"Alright." I answered, reluctantly.
I took her hand and led us to the dance floor. She placed her hands on my shoulder and I had to reluctantly place mine around her waist as we danced slowly, following the rhyme of the cool music.
We danced for what seemed like ten hours before the music finally went off and the crowd started applauding our performance. Honestly, I found nothing interesting in the dance. I just wanted it to be over and I was glad it was.
"You did great, Roshni." Mum praised. "and you too dear."
"Thanks mum" I faked a smile.
"I thought you said you don't know how to dance." a woman stated.
"His lovely wife must have taught him." another answered.
When will all this be over! it's already getting late and I need to sleep.
The celebration went on for few more hours and it was finally time to go back to our home.
Finally.
But unfortunately for me, Roshni had to come home with us. The crying session soon began. Roshni's family, especially her mom were crying as if they were sending their daughter to her grave. Roshni on the other hand was also crying uncontrollably.
Such a drama queen!. She would have been able to avoid all these if she had declined to get married to me, but she didn't and now, she was shedding fake tears.
Dad, mum and daughter hugged each other repeatedly.
"We will take very good care of roshni." mum assured.
"Take care of my daughter son, she's all I have, I can say this proudly, you're very lucky to have her. Please take special care of our jewel." Her dad said to me.
"Take care of her son." Her mom addrd tearfully as she hugged me.
"Alright mum." I replied and got into my car quickly. Few minutes later, she also got into the car. The driver put the key in the ignition and gave life to the car. Throughout the drive home, she kept on crying silently.
Her eyes were all red and puffy from all the tears she shredded that evening."Stop crying," I sighed. She chose to ignore me and continued crying, maybe even more than she was before I spoke. My words seemed to have ignited something in her. I shook my head and let out a sigh. At least I tried to pacify her.
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RajveerWe finally arrived home to celebration still going on at our own home. I was very exhausted and decided to just go up to my room and sleep. I didn't have the energy to participate in any more wedding rituals."You two must be tired, go to your room and rest. Show Roshni to your room." mum appeared from nowhere and said."Goodnight Mum" I said and started walking towards my room."Goodnight." I heard Roshni said as she trailed behind me.I opened the door to my room and was surprised to see the decorations that were made in my room. The bed was also decorated with flowers. "Come in" I beckoned to Roshni, who was still standing outside the room like a lost puppy. "You can sleep on the bed, I will take the cushion." I took a pillow from the bed.As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but think about the events of the day. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions for me, from nonchalance to nervousness to exhaustion."I'm sorry." she suddenly apologized, making me open my eyes. I won
RajveerYou were too harsh on her, did she really deserve the way you treated her? My conscience asked. yes, she deserves all that she got for agreeing to married me another part of me answered. I decided to go to Yash's house to get away from seeing Roshni for a while."Hey! Raj, what are you doing here so early in the morning? Yash asked immediately he opened the door and I came in view. He was acting like he didn't want me in his house "did your wife throw you out of your house?" He asked, stupidly.I narrowed my eyes at him. "No.""There must be a problem, you've never visited me this early before. Now, tell me, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly."Won't you even allow me in, before you start interrogating me on what's wrong?" I asked, irritatedly"Oh! I'm sorry about that, I just got carried away seeing you here so early. Come in." he smiled sheepishly, I went in, followed by him. "now tell me, what's wrong?" He asked again"Nothing. I just came over here to relax, I can't do that
RoshniI took a look at the time – it was 2:37pm. I was still bored and decided to call my friend, Vid. I missed her so much as well and all I wanted was to just call her and tell her everything that was troubling me, but I knew better than to do that, I didn't want her to worry about me. I dialed her number two times but she didn't pick up. I guessed she was not close to her phone. I was very bored and there was nothing fun I could do. Nobody to talk to at all, but I was wrong when someone knocked at my door twice before coming in. Raj's mom"Mom." I called and beckoned her in smiling. She came in and sat on the couch. I was nervous to speak to her because I wasn't used to her and I know for a fact that she's stern. I had not done anything wrong to her, so she had no reason to be strict with me, but come to think of it, I didn't do anything to Sam as well and she hated me already. I wouldn't be surprise if Raj's mum would also follow her children's lead. "How are you doing dear?" Sh
Rajveer "Hello, mum." I said immediately received her call. What was wrong now?"Where are you son?" She asked, angrily. By her tone alone, I could tell there was a problem."I...am at—" I didn't get to finish my statement because I was interrupted by her. She had a habit of doing that whenever she was mad."Come back home, I have something to discuss with you." she stated. I hoped Roshni had not complained about me, because if she did, I knew mum would be very disappointed at me and it might affect her health."But mum..." I trailed off "I am busy right now. Is there a problem?" I asked. I hoped not because I couldn't deal with an angry mum."Just come home and see me first." she said and hung up before I could comprehend.When I got home, I went straight to mum's room. I met her seated on her bed patiently waiting for me."Where were you?" She asked without looking up at me. She was mad, I could tell."I was at work." I lied. I knew better than to tell her the truth."But that was
RajveerAs they drew nearer, I could feel a mix of curiosity and apprehension building within me. Their footsteps were deliberate, each one echoing in the silence that surrounded us. The air seemed to grow heavier, as if the weight of their presence was pressing down on me.As they closed the distance between us, I could sense a palpable tension in the air. It was as if the world had momentarily frozen, and all that remained was the anticipation of their arrival. My heart raced, and my mind raced with questions. What was he doing with my wife? Who was he? "Hey!" the strange man extended his hand for a handshake and I reluctantly shook hands with him."See you in school tomorrow." he said to Roshni. Didn't mum warn her about this? I didn't care about what she did, all I cared about was her disrespecting my mother. She got into the car and I drove off before Roshni could give the man a reply."That was Nick. We have been friends ever since we were kids." she introduced. Did I ask her
RoshniI went straight to the balcony after Raj asked me to leave the room. I felt really sad that we didn't go on a date because Raj didn't want to, but a part of me was thankful to have got the chance to spend almost the whole day together, even though it wasn't an actual date.I felt grateful for the opportunity to spend quality time with Raj, even if it wasn't in a romantic context. We had shared genuine moments, and those were worth cherishing. Perhaps this experience was a stepping stone towards something more, or maybe it was simply a lesson in appreciating the present moment.With a renewed sense of gratitude, I let go of the disappointment and embraced the memories we had created. The day may not have turned out as I had hoped, but it was still a day well spent. And who knows what the future holds?Memory of how Raj asked for the glass of water suddenly came to me and I smiled remembering the expression he had on. It was really funny. I knew he was thirsty but his ego wouldn'
RajveerWhat was Roshni talking about with Nick and why did she mention I was with her? Perhaps he was flirting with her and she wanted him to stop because I was around and will know what is going on between them. I knew it, Roshni is not to be trusted. She's sly. But why am I even bothered about this? I don't care what they do, but they shouldn't try to show affection in my presence. It disgusts me.RoshniAfter lectures, I met up with Nick. I missed him so much. We have been friends since childhood."Tell me how things are with you these days." he took a sip of his juice. We were at the school's cafeteria."I am happily married. I love my husband and he loves me too, so everything is perfect." I faked a smile, hoping he wouldn't be able to see through it. "Wow! That's just great, I am really sorry I wasn't able to attend your wedding, you know why." he apologized. He lost his grandmother who lived overseas and went over there for her burial. It was the reason he was absent at my we
Roshni"You love him, don't you?" He asked out of the blue.How dare he ask me that!"What kind of a question is that, Raj?" I asked, angrily. I couldn't believe my ears. "You didn't answer my question." he pointed out, pissing me off completely."Why do you even care if I love him or not. You did tell me that I am free to love anyone I like, didn't you? You shouldn't care if I love Nick and to answer your question, YES I Do. I love him so much." I said angrily as tears began to fall from my eyes. I answered him in a fit of rage and that was why I lied to him about Nick. I could never love him the way Raj thought. He provoked me into lying to him. He was the only one I had feelings for. I believed he knew but he was asking me that to provoke me. We didn't talk for the rest of the ride. A frown was plastered on Raj's face throughout. I was equally as angry as he was. Why was he even angry? Shouldn't I be the only one mad? He didn't have any right at all to be angry in this situation.