The Forced Bride

Chapter 5 - Potential Allies

I DEVAKI I

Devaki was in a beautiful dream. She could hear the chirping of the birds that tickled her ears with the sweet melody, singing her awake. She would take a bath and help her mother with the chores once she was fully awake. And once breakfast was ready, she would wake up her lazy little brother and together they would break the fast. She would then help her mother around the house and read one of the many books that her brother had left behind. After lunch, which was usually a quiet affair in her household, she would have casual conversations with her neighbours after which her head would be full of news that would never appear on a newspaper. However, the peace was shattered when upon opening her eyes, she saw the unfamiliar ceiling above her.

After a moment of confusion and panic, the last few days' memories came back flooding into her head. It only made her panic more as the reality of her circumstances hit her hard. The dream was just a teaser of the life and people she lost. She knew her life will never be the same again, even if she were to go back and find her family. It was hard to accept the reality, when only a few days ago, she was with her family, happy and safe. Now, she was all alone. Even though her family was alive out there, it felt like they had died and she has been orphaned. She mentally slapped herself for thinking such thoughts and decided to wake up, lest here mind cooks up horrifying nightmares, the likes of which she would rather not even think about.

As she sits up on the diwan cot, a sudden weight on her left ear makes her acutely aware of the earring she had decided to leave on last night before going to sleep, due to her inability to remove it. She touches her nose to see that the earring is free from the nose ring. She remembers trying so hard to remove it the previous night and finally giving up, when her fatigued body could not stay up any longer. Maybe, it was her tiredness that had made it seem like a hard task.

A Light touch, the likes of a feather, came to her mind. Was she dreaming? Or did she really feel a soft touch that glided across her cheek in a soft caress, when she was sleeping? Her cold and silent husband suddenly came to her mind. He was not in the room. His bed was made, so she was sure he had already left. It brought little solace to her heart.

It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable thinking about that man, who was a mere stranger hours ago, as her husband, especially when you consider the fact that her hand was forced in this marriage. She would never accept him as her husband or anything as such. But, she should be glad. That man had not tried to force himself upon her or try to coerce her into doing her "marital duties". The man had not even looked at her, much less touch her last night. But she could not put her guard down. He was a man. And a man could never be trusted. She had learned that from the very man who brought her up, her father.

The swinging of the heavy earring brought her back to the present, from her house and the sight of her father with his head down as the men dragged her away. She moved to the dresser and took off the earrings before dropping them on the desk, with the rest of the jewellery that she was forced to wear the previous night.

She was massaging her sore ear, looking at the reflection of herself on the mirror, when she heard the bathroom door open. Startled, she jumped in her seat, when her husband stepped outside the bathroom in nothing, but a towel loosely wrapped around his waist.

Devaki immediately looked away, her cheeks on fire. It felt like her whole face was about to burst. How could that man step out of the bathroom like that when he knew she was in the same room?!

He probably thought you were still sleeping, a voice told her.

But she did not want to think like that. It was better to believe that he did that on purpose. Maybe this is when he will show his true colours, after all he must have been tired from the long journey last night, just like her. But her theory was proven completely wrong when, without even sparing her a glance, he moved towards his wardrobe. She traced his movements through the mirror in front of her. Devaki thought she would die when he made eye contact with her on the mirror, and mortified that he might think she was admiring jis physique, she looked away.