A Suitable Husband

Pragya's Disclosure

Pragya sat in front of her vanity mirror, slowly brushing her hair on autopilot as her thoughts raced ahead.

Indu Daasi had come to see her a little while after everyone had dispersed from the family meeting. She had carefully explained that Angad had indeed come to Mehra mansion in hopes of marrying her.

Indu Daasi informed Pragya that Angad had made a love marriage in his early twenties, but it had ended in a bitter divorce several years ago. He was now ready to move on, and this time he was trusting his family to pick a true life partner for him. Daasi had told Angad about Pragya's situation with Abhi and Tanu's baby, and he was willing to marry her on short notice to help them deal with the family crisis.

But to be fair to them both, Indu Daasi and Abhi's Daadi wanted to give the two of them a few days to get to know each other. If they really liked each other, the marriage could go ahead. No one would force either of them to do anything, but Angad was already willing to give this idea a chance, and Indu Daasi hoped Pragya would be willing too.

Everything inside Pragya had screamed at her to tell Indu Daasi that she could never be willing for this. She loved Abhi, and she could not even begin to imagine a life with someone else, even though she knew that she would soon be leaving Abhi's side forever. That aside, the idea of another sudden marriage to a handsome celebrity certainly didn't appeal to her. She would have to be crazy to make that mistake twice.

But Pragya was good at ignoring the urges of her inner self, and even as she felt a range of negative feelings, she reminded herself that this was just something she had to do. This was Daadi's condition to accept Tanu and the baby, and so she couldn't possibly refuse.

Thus she had assured Indu Daasi that she was willing to give Angad a chance. Pragya agreed to spend the next few days in his company, and promised that she would seriously consider marrying him. She trusted Daasi and Daadi to have chosen a suitable husband for her, and all that remained now was for her to spend a bit of time getting to know Angad.

Indu Daasi had been very pleased by Pragya's answer. Before she left, she gave Pragya a reassuring hug and promised her that everything would work out just fine.

That promise was still echoing in Pragya's mind as she sat numbly in front of her mirror. She still felt conflicted about this new vision of her future suddenly presented to her, but she told herself that she'd just have to take it one moment at a time. Five days was not that long to make a life changing decision - but in five days there were countless moments, and somewhere along the way maybe she could learn to see Angad as her future.

She was still lost in these thoughts when Abhi finally came back to their room. The sound of him closing the door made her turn around in confusion. Neither of them usually bothered with that, so Pragya had to wonder what was going through Abhi's mind.

He still looked angry as he had down in the hall. She mentally braced herself for a confrontation.

Abhi slowly strode up to her, saying nothing even as she turned away from him to set down her brush. He met her gaze in the mirror. Pragya was acutely aware of his presence behind her. The heat of him at her back warmed her from head to toe, even though he wasn't touching her.

"So," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "They told you the plan?"

Pragya looked down at the vanity and tried to find a comb or clip or something else she could work into her hair. Anything so that she could avoid looking at him when his eyes were burning with something that made her want to shiver. "Yes, they told me," she confirmed curtly.

She found a jewelled hair clip she'd been meaning to return to Bulbul. It was not the kind of thing that she would usually put in her hair, but today seemed a better day than most to try something new. She found her comb too, and started to change her hair parting so that she could put in the clip.