Unchained Melody

Chapter 3 ~ Mrs. Shekhawat

Wife... my wife. Those words were foreign to her. She had never heard them... not for her... not from him. Siddharth had never acknowledged her as his wife. He hadn't denied it, but he had not acknowledged it either. It came under the category of things that were never spoken.

And yet today, he had acknowledged it, spoken those words...in front of strangers. Her respect for him, which already knew no bounds, grew tremendously. He had heard those girls talking rotten things about her, and he had defended her. It was difficult for her to absorb. Had it even happened? Or had it all been a strange dream? Wife... my wife.

She was smart enough not to keep any hope despite his action, but she couldn't deny the warmth that spread through her when those words rang in her ears. She couldn't deny the sense of finally belonging to someone which kept rising in her. My wife.

They had been friends once... Did that still matter to him? Maybe that was why he had stood up for her. Whatever the reason was, she couldn't ignore the tiny spark of happiness that had travelled with her the whole day. Maybe somewhere, she did matter to him, as a friend or on some basic level of humanity. Whatever it was, somewhere, she did matter to him.

Rising from her bed, she walked towards her cupboard and searched inside for something with an urgency that she couldn't explain. Finally finding it, she held it in her hands, her fingers running over the smooth texture of the thick, white cover. Moving away from the cupboard, she sat beside the bed, looking at the small album in her hands.

She stared at the shiny letters embossed on the cover page. Her gaze travelled from her name to her husband's name beside hers. How strange was their fate? This was the only place where their names stood beside one another. In reality, they were far, far away from each other. They would never stand beside each other.

She opened the album and gazed at the pictures. Her so-called 'wedding' pictures... given the circumstances she had married in, very few moments had been captured on that day. Her gaze stopped at one particular picture, and involuntarily, her fingers traced the faces on it.

It was the moment that had changed her entire life. The moment that had re-written and redefined her fate. The moment when her husband had filled her head with the sacred red vermilion.

She didn't know who had taken this picture...it had all happened so suddenly and so unexpectedly that she had been surprised that someone had been able to take photos. She looked at her husband's hand touching her forehead, his lips set in a grim line. And she looked up at him with extreme confusion and shock written all over her face.

Turning the page, she spotted a picture of her with Shaurya at one of the pre-wedding functions...she looked at her smiling self...a cheery smile on her lips, and her eyes holding a bright spark...she was practically radiating with happiness. With a heavy ache in her heart, she realized that she could never be that girl again...that girl was no longer alive. What remained now was a mere shadow of her former self.

She turned the page and came across another picture. It was with Siddharth before they had been married... when they had been great friends... a reminder of happier times. A ghost of a smile passed her lips as she looked at their bright faces reflecting with mischief. It was a picture of them haphazardly applying haldi on each other faces...he had caught her unawares and had rubbed his haldi-filled hands on her cheeks. She had retaliated by doing the same. Such innocence... such carefree spirits.

People had always looked affectionately and even enviously at their friendship. And now fate had twisted their lives so much that they couldn't even look at each other without awkwardness plaguing them. Her heart was too heavy. She closed the album and moved to the bed.

She lay down on the soft sheets, suddenly too tired but still holding the album close to her chest. Her eyelids closed slowly, sleep claiming her...and yet her mind continued to wander to that day which had held a promise of a happy future with her so-called 'love'...that day which had shattered her dreams ...that day when she had changed...that day when everything had changed... ...that day she became Mrs. Arohi Shekhawat.

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That's it for Chapter 3, guys. I will be updating this book alongside Veer as I have completed writing most of the book and am now proofreading for grammar and punctuation mistakes. Please vote and comment your thoughts on the chapter. See you guys soon.