How to Wed A Devil

Chapter 23

Ananya Prasad

I am seeing red. No matter how much I try to calm myself I can't. I just want to beat him to death. What did he think of me?

How dare he try to behave as if I am his wife?

Ewww.

I am repulsed by that thought. He is my sister's fiancé. They both love each other. It's not even been one day; he is trying to exercise his rights as my husband. How dare he move on from my sister? Did he even love her?

When I got down from the cab I saw that his car too entered the gates. I ignored him and called Kavya to open the door. By the time he parked the car and came to me Kavya opened the door and I walked in.

"Ananya, wait. It's not what you think" he came after me.

"Kavya, I will be sleeping in your room", I ran immediately to her room and closed the door.

I sat on her bed and tears started flowing. Why is this happening to me?

She knocked after five minutes, "Pinky, open the door. I am alone"

"Don't call me Pinky and I need to borrow your pajamas" I told her when I opened the door.

"Left cupboard", she pointed.

When I came after a shower she nodded at her bed. I went and laid on her bed without saying a word.

"My brother is a fool. He is not good at communicating. I am sure what he said and what he meant are totally different. He is a socially awkward person" she told me softly.

"Do you know what he said?" I asked her.

"I don't know what he said. But, I know him. And I am on your side. If I were in your place, I would have run away. I won't tell anyone a thing about your fight. Sleep. You have to do pooja tomorrow"

When I woke up the next day, Kavya brought my luggage from his room. I took a shower and came to see Lakshmi aunty in the room. She gave me a saree and some jewelry.

"After the vrat, you need to cook something sweet Pinky. With that, all rituals will be completed"

"Okay aunty"

"Mom" she replied. I looked at her confused.

"Call me Mom", she told me softly caressing my cheek.

"Oh... and wear Mangalsutra" she left saying that.

Someone knocked on the door as soon as she left. I opened it to see him.

"May I come in? I need to talk to you" He is wearing a white kurta holding the same box as of yesterday. His gaze traveled to the mangalsutra on me and lingered there before meeting my eyes.

I don't want to create a scene in his house. So I gave him the way to enter the room. He closed the room and turned to me.

"Listen Ananya, last night I did not mean to insult you. I am just telling you about me. I am sorry if you are offended. I am not asking you to be my wife. But, let's not fight at least. We need to work together too. Let's not make this difficult for both of us by fighting. This gift does not mean that I am asking you to start a life with me. It is just a ritual that I need to gift you. Don't put too much meaning into it. I am doing it for the sake of my family. As you said yesterday, we just need to be polite with each other to not hurt our families further. I will never ask you to do something that you don't like. Again, I am sorry. Please wear this for my family", he left the box on my bed and left.

Why is this so complicated? I let out a sigh and got ready.

He and I sat next to each other during the vrat. We both didn't look at each other. There were one or two awkward movements when we were asked to do the aarti and when he was asked to apply sindoor on me. Other than that everything went fine. I made kheer guided by my mom. Yes. My family came for the pooja. They are feeling extremely guilty for what happened. After some discussion we decided to not blame anyone and to accept the situation.