The Accidental Husband

CH 1 || The Proposal

Aavya

******

"How have you been dealing with the loss?"

"Why didn't you stop him when it was the day of your wedding?"

"How are you dealing with it, exactly?"

"Did his death leave you unaffected?"

I was paralysed and unable to understand what was going on around me. People, to be precise, paparazzi hurled questions at me and I felt nothing less than their prey. In my entire life, I had never encountered a circumstance like that. Being from a middle-class household, the only way I had seen them up close was on television. I experienced what those who were their targets felt. It was a terrifying emotion, one that would engulf you completely and tear you apart into pieces.

"Let's go, Di." said Mahi.

"Aavya, come on." On my right was Naina di, and they both led me inside our home. We had just returned from the temple where they took me to receive God's blessings. However, I felt as though I was barred from getting any blessings. Everything that had been nice to me had become a curse.

As soon as I entered my room, I slouched on my bed with my back propped up against the headboard feeling lifeless.

"Miss Aavya..."

"Miss Aavya, we need answers..."

"Didn't you love Kunal Kashyap to stop him?"

"How could you do this to him?"

The ranting could be heard outside through the open windows in my room.

There is no middle ground or mercy for a woman; she is either the biggest victim or the prime culprit.

The person whose name used to make me blush until a few days before was now the cause of my pain and uncontrollable sobs: Kunal Kashyap.

Pilot and well-known social media influencer Kunal was quite famous. His family blamed me for everything after he left us, claiming I was the one who failed to stop him from leaving that day. He was not supposed to be on that flight. No one demanded or questioned the truth from me; instead, they accused me of murder.

'I will always be with you, Aavya, always.' He had promised he would be there, whenever I would fall, whenever I would be hurt, but it all turned to ashes with him on his pyre.

"You lied."

"You lied."

"You lied."

I sobbed and covered my mouth, trying to not let my sobs leave the room. Despite the mess I had made of myself; I had no intention of making my already troubled family suffer. They didn't even slightly deserve it.

I cried like a baby while scooting my legs to my chest as I lay on the bed in the posture of a foetus. How much I tried, the pain just did not go away.

Perhaps Love was not for me. I was never made for Happy endings.

I choked back my cries when I heard the door to my room open. I had no idea who it was and did not care. Because everyone knew I would be sobbing helplessly in my room. Now that they were used to it, I was too.

The bed on the other side dipped, and I felt a hand stroking my hair.

"Don't cry because of those assholes. These people feed on people's pain and adversities. You cannot become weak."