The Unwanted Bride

4 - The Woman for Yug

Side Note: Rahul AKA Rohan is the same person. In this book (before I started rewriting it in 2023), he was referred to as Rahul in 2018. His name, I, for personal reasons, changed later on. So in the previous chapters, if you read Rahul, just know that he will be referred to as Rohan from now on.

Typed: 04/12/2023
Chapter 4: The Woman for Yug

Author's POV:

"And you have been where for the past hours!" It was said as dramatically as a theatre actor would act this out. Khushi walks into the room with a raging Neha throwing a pillow at her.

"I was just out."

"Out? What is out?" Neha questions, her eyebrows quirking upwards.

"The definition of out is—" another pillow hits Khushi, this time on her face, interrupting her.

"Don't you dare use your lawyer tactics on me." Neha grumbles, lowering herself on the bed. She pouts, "I've been trying your phone for ages, Khushi."

Khushi walks to the bedstand and shows her charging phone. Neha takes the hint but still huffs. "I was just outside, the weather was nice." She refused to speak of Yug and his friends because that meant the conversation would turn into a full-on storytelling and Khushi wasn't ready for that.

"And, I am not using my professional tactics on you. I'm just—"

"Answering your question," Neha mimics, scrunching his nose and Khushi laughs hugging her best friend. As Neha stays seated, arms wrapped around Khushi's waist, her body eases off the stress. "I was worried."

Khushi only nodded, afraid if she spoke more on the subject, she'd spill into a fit of tears. "I think this trip was a great idea." Neha looks up as if to find a hint of a lie in her friend's eyes. She found none. "Goa feels," Khushi exhales, watching the people out the window of her room, walking around, smiling and enjoying life. "—restful. So restful that I want to stay in bed all day!"

Typed: 05/12/2023

Her honesty is applauded and accepted by a nodding Neha, "agreed, I want to stay in bed all day, however, Rohan and everyone else is waiting for us, I'm hungry."

~

While the others gushed over food, Khushi was sceptical of the atmosphere around her. In her mind, everything was way too peaceful. Way too pleasant. Something had to go wrong. It had too.

The wrinkled cheeks from stress and the straight line on her forehead weren't unnoticed by Rohan. When he asked what was wrong, she only shrugged. When it seemed like Rohan wasn't content with the look on his face, she mumbled, "I'm worried Isha will unintentionally mention this trip to our parents."

Rohan grabs a hold of Khushi, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her into his body as they watch their friends—sitting across them—enjoying the food. "Tu itni tension kyu leti hai, yaar." It's not a question but a statement. (Why do you take so much stress, dude).

There are very few people—very few men—Khushi trusts and is comfortably vulnerable and herself around. Her wall—the wall she had to create around her—isn't because she dislikes or hates men. It has nothing to do with them and their character but her. At a young age, Khushi realised building a wall and keeping men at arm's length kept her going. It's her mechanism.