Author's pov
The scent of burning camphor and crushed marigolds hung thick in the air, wrapping the mandap in a golden, suffocating warmth. Shivika sat in her bridal lengha. Beside her sat Rudraksh, straight-backed and stoic in his ivory sherwani, his jaw set as if enduring a formal transaction rather than entering a lifelong union.
The fragrant smoke of camphor and sandalwood swirled thick around them, mingling with the resonant, rhythmic drone of the Pandit ji's Sanskrit mantras. With every verse chanted, the weight on Shivika's chest grew heavier. She stared down at her lap, her trembling fingers nervously twisting the edge of her embroidered dupatta.
Behind the veil of her lowered lashes, a lone, stubborn tear threatened to spill over. She was still remembering her talk with her father which was happened few minutes ago.
Flashback
The door of shivika room creaked open. The elders stepped inside, their faces grim and devoid of warmth, carved out of cold, unyielding pride. Alok walked forward, his footsteps heavy, until he stood right in front of his daughter. He reached down, taking her hand into a firm, unyielding grip.
She looked up, her bloodshot eyes pleading for mercy, for news, for anything that made sense.
"Wipe your tears and get ready," he commanded, his voice cold and resolute. "You are getting married."
A flicker of relief washed through her tear-streaked face.
"What?"
She stumbled to her feet, her heavy bridal lehenga weighing her down as she searched her father's stony expression.
"Did Yash come back? Papa, where is he?"
He didn't answer her. Instead, he turned his sharp gaze toward the doorway. "Leave us. I need to speak to my daughter alone."
The elders left, Rudraksh hesitated for a fraction of a second before retreating, shutting the door behind him with a definitive thud. Alok guided Shivika toward the edge of the bed, gently but forcefully pressing her down onto the mattress.
"Papa, please," She choked out, her hands trembling violently. "Tell me where Yash is?"
He took her freezing hands into his own, his expression tightening. "Yash hasn't come back, beta."
"What?" The breath hitched in her throat, confusion clouding her red-rimmed eyes. "But you just said..."
"The wedding will happen today, at the auspicious hour. But not with Yash. You are marrying Rudraksh."
Shivika's eyes widened in sheer disbelief and she instantly yanked her hands away from his grasp and sprang to her feet
"Are you out of your mind, Papa?!" she cried, her voice trembling with disbelief and outrage. "Rudraksh is my childhood friend! He is a friend, nothing more! How could you even think of putting him in Yash's place? I don't love him. I love Yash, and I will only ever marry Yash!"
He rose to his full height, his composure snapping as his eyes flashed with cold desperation. "And that boy you claim to love has run away like a coward! He abandoned you at the altar, and because of his betrayal, our family's honor is hanging by a thread!"
A broken sob tore from her throat, her hands flying to her face as the brutal truth settled in.
Alok's voice softened, but the weight behind his words remained suffocating as he stepped closer. "Beta, in all these years, I have never demanded anything from you. But today, I am begging you. Marry Rudraksh. Save this family from utter ruin, or the society will tear our dignity to shreds."
She let out a bitter, humorless laugh, fresh tears spilling over her flushed cheeks. "Oh, wow, Papa. You care so much about your reputation but you don't care about your own daughter at all."
"I do care about you, Shivi. That is the only reason I agreed to that wedding in the first place! But look what happened. Look at the humiliation we've been dragged through." He stepped closer, "It is better for everyone if you marry Rudraksh now. Besides, you know him-he's your friend."
"Exactly, Papa! He is my friend-only my friend!" Her voice cracked under the weight of sheer exhaustion. "I am not going marry him."
She spun on her heel, desperate to escape the suffocating room, but Alok's voice cut through the air like a blade.
"You will marry him, Shivika," he said, his tone turning dangerously cold. "Otherwise...forget that you ever had a father."
The words struck her like a physical blow. She froze, her breath hitching in her throat as she slowly turned back, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief. The man standing before her didn't feel like the father who had raised her.
"Papa, how could you?" she whispered, clutching the fabric of her bridal lehenga as her voice trembled. "In the worst, most broken phase of my life, you should have held me. You should have handled me with love and patience. But instead, you are throwing me into another fire just to protect your so-called reputation?"
He turned his head away, refusing to meet the raw agony in her gaze. His jaw remained set, unyielding. "It was your choice to trust that boy, and look where it brought this family. Shame and ruin. So now, it's better for you to live by my choice."
A hollow, devastating silence settled between them. The fight drained out of her, leaving behind a cold, numbing void where her heart used to be. Staring at him through a fresh veil of bitter tears, she let out a broken, humorless breath.
"Theek hai," she whispered, her voice deadened with defeat. "Agar aap yahi chahte hain... toh main taiyaar hoon is shaadi ke liye."
Flashback ends
"Vivah sampann hua. Aaj se aap dono pati-patni hue."
The pandit's resonant chant shattered the haze in Shivika's mind, pulling her abruptly back from the storm of her thoughts. The finality of the sacred fire crackling before them felt like an iron gate slamming shut on her freedom. A solitary, burning tear escaped her lash line, tracing a path down her cheek.
Beside her, Rudraksh rose to his feet with quiet, towering authority. Straightening his sherwani, he extended an open hand toward her.
She stared at his palm for a lingering, hesitant beat. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she placed her trembling, henna-stained fingers into his firm grip. His skin was warm, his posture steady, an anchor in a sea of chaos she never asked to drown in.
He gently closed his hand around hers, effortlessly pulling her up onto her feet. Together, their wedding knots trailing behind them, they moved across the mandap to seek the elders blessings. But the fragile composure Shivika maintained snapped the moment they stepped before Alok.
He bowed respectfully, touching his father-in-law's feet. Shivika, however, remained frozen. Her spine went rigid, her gaze cutting into her father like tempered glass. He shifted uncomfortably, avoiding the raw betrayal burning in his daughter's eyes.
"You must be happy now, Papa," She whispered, her voice laced with venom and heartbreak that made the nearby chatter die down. "Your so-called reputation is saved. I hope the price of my life was worth it.
Without waiting for him to stammer a defense, she turned on her heel. Rudraksh maintained his silence, his blue eyes observing the quiet carnage between father and daughter, before guiding her through the courtyard and toward the sleek black car waiting to take them to the Rathore Palace.
The hum of the engine was the only sound slicing through the suffocating tension in the backseat. Shivika pressed her face toward the window, her breath fogging the cold glass as tears quietly spilled over, one after another, tracing silent misery down her neck.
Suddenly, a handkerchief entered her blurred line of sight. Startled, she turned to find Rudraksh looking at her, his expression unreadable, yet his outstretched hand entirely patient.
"Take it," he said softly, his deep voice carrying a calm that felt almost foreign in the storm she was enduring.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, took the handkerchief from his hand, and pressed the soft fabric against her cheeks.
❤️
Meanwhile, The door clicked shut, but the suffocating silence inside the room offered Alok no refuge. His shoulders trembled violently as he pressed his palms against his face, desperately trying to wipe away the tears that burned his skin. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw only Shivika, her trembling hands, her veil hiding her tears, and the quiet devastation in her eyes.
"Ab rokar kya fayda, Alok?"
Dipti's voice cut through the air, cold and trembling with fury. She marched in front of him, her eyes bloodshot and blazing.
"Sharam aani chahiye aapko! Sirf do family ki izzat bachane ke liye aapne hamari phool jaisi bacchi ki shaadi kardi jisse woh pyaar bhi nahi karti."
(You should be ashamed of yourself! Just to save the reputation of two families, you married off our delicate, innocent daughter to someone she doesn't even love.)
He clenched his jaw, refusing to meet her gaze, and turned on his heel to walk away.
"Nahi! Aap aise bhaag nahi sakte!"
(No! You cannot run away like this!)
She stepped squarely into his path, "Aaj aapko mere har sawaal ka jawab dena hoga. Bataiye mujhe...kyun kiya aapne aisa? Kyun?
(Today, you will have to answer every single question of mine. Tell me... why did you do this? Why?)
"Mere kehne par."
(Because I told him to.)
The deep, guilt-laden voice sliced through the tension. Both Alok and Dipti snapped their heads toward the doorway.
Standing in the frame was Mahesh, flanked by Surya, Mamta, Vijay, and Vedika.
"Kya?"
(What?)
"Haan Dipti ji, mere kehne par," Mahesh said quietly, stepping inside alongside the rest of his family. Vijay immediately stepped forward, his hands trembling as he brought them together.
(Yes, Dipti ji, because I asked him to.)
"Hum behad sharminda hain." Vijay choked out, his voice thick with remorse.
(We are deeply ashamed.)
"Aaj jo kuch bhi hua, humne sapne mein bhi nahi socha tha ki Yash aise mandap chhod kar bhaag jayega. Hum sab uski taraf se aapse haath jod kar maafi maangte hain."
(After everything that happened today, we never could have imagined, even in our wildest dreams, that Yash would run away from the mandap like this. On his behalf, we fold our hands and beg for your forgiveness.)
She let out a broken, hollow laugh as fresh tears spilled over her cheeks. "Ab haath jodne se kya milega? Yash ne toh tamasha bana diya, par uski sazaa meri beti kyu bhugte? Meri Shivi ki poori zindagi barbaad ho gayi!"
(What is the point of begging for forgiveness now? Yash created a complete scene, but why should my daughter suffer the punishment for it? My Shivi's entire life has been ruined!)
Uski zindagi barbaad hone se bachane ke liye hi maine Rudraksh ka haath uske haath mein diya, Dipti!" Alok said. "Agar aaj yeh shaadi na hoti toh hamari beti ki Kitni badnaami hoti."
("I placed her hand in Rudraksh's hand only to save her life from being ruined, Dipti!" Alok said. "If this wedding hadn't taken place today, imagine the sheer disgrace our daughter would have faced.")
"Sahi kah Alok ne." Mahesh stepped closer. "Bharosa rakhiye hum par...Shivika uss ghar ki bahu nahi beti banakar rahegi...Surbhi ki tarah hi uska khayal rakha jayega."
("Alok is right." Mahesh stepped closer. "Have faith in us...Shivika won't live in that house as a daughter-in-law, but as our own daughter...She will be taken care just like Surbhi.")
Mamta stepped forward, taking Dipti's trembling hands into hers. "Dipti ji, aapne Rudraksh ko bachpan se dekha hai. Uska gussa zaroor sakht hai, lekin uska dil saaf hai. Woh Shivika ko kabhi koi aanch nahi aane dega, yeh mera vachan hai."
(Dipti ji, you have seen Rudraksh grow up since childhood. His temper may be fierce, but his heart is pure. He will never let any harm come to Shivika, that is my promise to you.)
She snatched her hands back, wiping her face with the pallu of her saree, her motherly anguish hardening into stone.
"Aaj jo hua hai, uske baad mere liye aapke kissi bhi baat par yakeen karna mushkil hai. Bas itna yaad rakhna sab...agar meri beti ki aankh se ek boond aansu bhi gira na, toh main aap sab mein se kisi ko nahi chhodungi."
(After what happened today, it is difficult for me to believe a single word you say. Just remember one thing, all of you...if even a single tear falls from my daughter's eyes, I will not spare any of you.)
❤️
The sleek black car rolled smoothly to a halt in front of the grand gates of Rathore Palace. Golden exterior lights bathed the courtyard, illuminating the Rathore family standing eagerly at the main entrance. Rudraksh stepped out first, adjusting the stiff collar of his sherwani before circling around to the other side.
Inside, Shivika sat motionless, her fingers clutching the heavy silk of her bridal lehenga. When the door swung open, Rudraksh stood there, silently extending an open palm towards her.
She looked up, her gaze shifting from his intense gaze to his open palm. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, her jaw tightening, before deliberately looking away. Gathering her heavy skirts, she stepped down on her own without taking his hand. He quietly pulled his hand back curling his fingers into an empty fist.
"Let's go," he murmured quietly, stepping beside her.
As they walked toward the grand entryway, the soft chime of brass bells filled the night air. Mamta's face softened with a welcoming smile as she held up the glowing brass aarti thali. She circled the flame before them, applying the vermilion tilak to their foreheads, before placing a small brass kalash filled with raw rice at the threshold.
"Beta, apne daayein pair se kalash ko gira kar andar aao," Mamta instructed gently.
(Dear, gently tip over the kalash with your right foot and step inside.)
Shivika drew a deep breath, extended her right foot, and nudged the vessel forward, watching the bright grains scatter across the entryway. Immediately, Aditya placed a large silver thal filled with vibrant red alta into place.
"Step into the thal, Shivika," Mamta said softly, "And walk forward."
She submerged her bare feet into the cool, crimson liquid and took her first steps inside, leaving vivid red footprints behind her.
"You must be exhausted, child," Mamta said, cupping her cheek. "We will do the rest of the rituals tomorrow. Surbhi, take your bhabhi upstairs to rest."
"Ji, Maa! Let's go, Bhabhi," Surbhi chirped eagerly, stepping in and gently taking Shivika's arm to guide her up the sweeping staircase.
Mahesh stepped beside Rudraksh, placing a heavy, weathered hand on his grandson's shoulder.
"I know the circumstances under which this marriage took place," he said, his voice thick with unspoken weight. "But promise me, Rudraksh...you will take care of Shivika. Promise me you will never break her heart."
He met his grandfather's searching gaze without flinching. "I promise, Dadaji. I will protect her and I won't let anything hurt her."
Mahesh patted his shoulder with a quiet nod of approval before turning toward his quarters. One by one, the family dispersed, leaving the grand hall quiet. Standing alone in the stillness, Rudraksh looked toward the staircase, his heart heavy with the weight of his new reality, before slowly walking up toward his room. Their room.
______________________________________
TO BE CONTINUED-
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