Fated With Him

11. First step.

Here's the second part. 

HAPPY READING <3

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Amaan's POV :

As we reached Aayushi's father's mansion and stepped inside, the priest was just preparing to start the hawan and Aayushi was giving him a basket full of flowers. She looked like she just came out from a shower, her hair freshly wet and dripping wearing a white Kurta and denims. 

Her father was sitting on the left side of the priest, his eyes downcast with a hard expression on his face. 

I went ahead and touched his feet. "Namaste uncle" 

He looked up and nodded and whispered my greeting back. When I looked up I saw Aayushi staring at me. I gave her a small smile and she smiled back, and turned around to go inside which I assumed was the kitchen. 

Sighing, I walked back to my dad and dadi where they were sitting on the carpet, with other of their relatives. Aayushi once told me that nobody ever contacted them from her mother's side, not even her mother's parents, since her parents were against the marriage of Aayushi's parents, hence, there was nobody here from Aayushi's mother's side.

A smiling photo of Aayushi's mother was kept on a stool with a garland of marigolds over it. Even looking at that photo ached my heart, forcing me to relive so many memories, so I wasn't even able to imagine how hard it must be on Aayushi herself.

 I kept standing leaning on the wall with my arms folded, as Aayushi carried different kinds of items for the rituals outside the kitchen to the priest along with other of the servants and observed her face for any kind of emotions, any kind of hurt, sadness or anything, but there was nothing. Her face was blank and deprived of any kind of emotions. 

And somehow that was worse. 

It was like the same Aayushi after one week, when her mother passed away. She was masking everything inside of her. 

After a minute or two, when everything which was needed for the pooja was there, Aayushi sat beside her dad. She didn't even spared a look for me. 

Is she afraid that I'll notice she's not okay? 

How do I tell this girl, that in front of me she doesn't have to be okay. But I get it, it wasn't just about me here. 

I went ahead and sat beside my dadi, as the pooja started and it was like my eyes now and then kept flickering back to Aayushi's face. During the whole pooja her face was down, not reflecting any kind of emotions, staring at the flames in the middle, like her mind isn't even here. 

It was literally painful for me to look at her like that. It was what I was afraid of. Since, the day she told me about her mother's death anniversary and invited me for the pooja, I was scared because I had no idea what to expect. It looked like the loss of her mother was still as painful for her as it was the day when she died. Maybe it was hard for others to notice, but for me it wasn't, because I noticed how, her eyes kept going back to the frame of her mother, even though she was trying hard to not look at it, the way she gulped now and then like was trying to take it all in, in a normal way. From inside, she was hurting so much. 

And to think about she went through this day every year after that on her own is even more heartbreaking. 

Why wasn't I here for her before now ? 

A soft nudge from my side made me almost jump from where I was sitting, and I turned my head to look at my dadi. 

"Pooja is going in the middle bacche, don't look at her too much, people will start thinking otherwise" she whispered to me slowly, and I scowled at her.