It's finally the day of Hema's death anniversary and everyone is dressed in white as they prepare for the arrival of the brahmanas.Suhasini, Manohar, Manish, Saraswati, Vikram, Rohan and their wives as well as Priyanka and Akhil are all in attendance.
Aniket and Surjeet bring in the brahmanas and the house is set for the Shraddha.
Hema's picture is decorated with a garland and a fire is placed in front of it. Swamini, Chetan, Ria and Tanya ensure that the brahmanas are well fed.
Asha then provides the balls of rice for the offering.
Rachna takes in the activities with sighs as she continuously calls RK but gets no response. Shalini calls her over to join the rest where the prayer is taking place.
Everyone takes their places and Shagird makes Shalini sit next to Vedant, Rachna looks on disoriented at the sitting arrangement but soon regains her composure.
The priest then asks Aniket to throw some rice balls into the fire to end the prayers when Ria asks the priest to let Shalini and Vedant take part in the offering.
The priest reluctantly agrees and asks them to come forward after Aniket. He gives them the rice balls and starts a chant then tells them to throw the rice balls into the fire.
Shalini clasps her hands and mutterly prays for Hema to approve of her alliance with Vedant.
As they stand, Raj comes in and requests that they let him pay homage to Hema's departed soul.
He takes the rice balls from the priest without any permission and pours it into the fire and it suddenly flares up in response.
Raj shakes his head and let's out a deep breath before standing up.
Shalini then starts washing a brahman's feet when a priest asks her if she has eaten.
When she shakes her head, the priest smiles and comments "Child you still keep fasting since the past three years? Your grandmother will be so proud of you and your husband too."
"How do you know that priest?" Shalini asks in doubt.
" Before I came here, she appeared to me in a dream and she told me that she likes Vedant, everything will work out this time." he says and asks her to have faith.
"How dare you come here especially on this day." Aniket facesRaj as his hands clench and unclench.
"I just couldn't help myself uncle, it's granny Hema's remembrance day. I've missed the ones of the last years but I couldn't help myself this year. I wanted to be here." Raj replies trying his best to provoke Aniket.
Aniket is about to punch him when Ria runs into the room and stops him.
"No brother please don't do this, not on this day at least for mother's sake." She starts with teary eyes and turns to Raj with a straight face. "Stay but make sure you leave as soon as you can." she warns and walks away taking Aniket along with her.
Shalini gives the towels to Shekhar who is to continue washing the brahman's feet before she walks towards the kitchen to break her fast when she bumps into Raj.
"Don't tell me that your surprised too."
"Get away from me."
"I really loved granny a lot, it was a sad day, wasn't it? Try to recall it at least or should I remind you?" Raj moves closer to Shalini.
"Raj." Shw calls his name in warning and it's a loud enough to alarm someone outside.
"What's going on?" Rachna interrupts them as she darts inside.
Shalini looks behind Raj and answers "I'm glad that your here Rachna, meet Raj and... Raj meet Rachana. You two talk, I have to go somewhere." She runs off eager to escape being around Raj.
Saraswati huffs as she sees Raj lounging around and hisses "You should have thrown this boy out a long time ago."
Ria tells her the reason why she chose not to throw him out and is sure that he won't try anything stupid.
She insults Raj a lot that even Tanya stands up for him.
"If you insult him so much what will become of his mother, it's too much Saraswati."
"Curse that Khushi Harish for giving birth to a sin like him, he's put our dear Shalini through a lot." Saraswati answers in pain.
"But all that has changed, our Shalini has Vedant and Raj can't do anything about that. He is here to stay." Tanya smiles with pride.
"Has he said anything to Shalini? What if he's torturing her secretly and you don't know?" Saraswati goes on.
Ria confidently replies "He won't do that else he'll have to answer to us. I expect him to be wise around us."
Asha walks around the hall looking for Shalini with a plate in her hand when Shagird jumps out of a corner to scare her.
She hits her leg on a stool but still manages to hold the plate up. She balances herself on only one leg and cries out in pain.
"Oh wow, you've got some daliyas and you didn't bother to call me." Shagird whines and reaches out for the food when Asha smacks his hand away causing him to withdraw it.
"Can't you see that I'm in pain and it's all because of you." Asha shoots back and continues "Besides the daliyas are not for you, it's for my sister. She's fasting today and I know she hasn't eaten yet."
Ruchi and Indira walk by and inquire what had happened. Asha tells them everything they need to know and Indira takes the plate from Asha before telling Shagird to carry her which she protests to no avail.
"This is what you wanted, what did you think they would do?" Shagird replies in annoyance looking her in the eye.
Vedant also comes to the scene and Ruchi asks him to give Shalini her food because she hasn't eaten while she and Indira attend to Asha.
He agrees with no resistance and starts looking for Shalini. When he finds her, she's on the floor in a confused state.
He rushes to her side and talks to her asking of the problem is but she doesn't answer because of how weak she is and he remembers that she hasn't eaten all day.
He holds her up and patiently starts feeding her before scolding her once she's conscious to look after her health.
When she looks much better he apologizes for scolding her but tells her he acted on his panicked state, Shalini forgives him anyway and he helps her into the house.
Support me by clicking the star in the corner.
😊
YOU ARE READING
My arranged wedding
RomanceVedant and Shalini's marriage is fixed by their parents after Vedant goes through a terrific heartbreak and Shalini has been repeatedly rejected by all her suitors and their families. What makes this match different from any other?