Forbidden Ties

~the bride

'For some a prologue,
For some an epilogue'

It was a late afternoon in the city of Mumbai. Cold winds blew in the Bansal household signalling the aftermath of rain as the sky, fresh with colours of orange and blue meltes the day into night.

Meera was sitting by the kitchen window, chopping vegetables to help her mother cook lunch when she heard the bell.

"Didi, The door! I am busy!" Anvi, her little sister called out from her room.

"Avni! App hi dekho, ham bhi kaam kar rehe hai!" Meera shouted back from the kitchen.

"Avni, You see yourself. I am also working."

The music was loud and Anvi was dancing. Meera sighed, she is not busy, she is lazy.

The bell rang again. Twice this time.

"Sab koi tumhare thara khirki pe baith kar nazaare nahi dekh reha hai na." Meera's Aunt spoke eyeing sharply at her from the newspaper she was reading while she herself was comfortably relaxing on the couch.

"Everyone is not like you sitting at the window and enjoying the scenery."

She gulped, she didn't like her Chachi shouting at her. Meera was about to stand up but accidentally sliced her fingers with the knife. Blood dripped on her plain white kurti, soaking the perfect whites in red spots of hurt.

The third bell rang.

"Just Go, Meera!" Her cousin brother Satya, spoke walking from upstairs while carelessly talking to his friend on the phone. He looked at her and then at her bleeding fingers, "Aww, did princess cut her finger?" And then he laughed. Her aunt laughed along with him, the sound of their laughter echoing through the walls.

Meera almost made it to the door when she saw her Baba coming from the backyard. "Ham le lete hai."

"I can take that."

She looked at him and clenched her hand on her kurti. He is covered in dirt. Did Chacha Ji made him labour again?

Her father opened the door of Bansal's house when the fourth bell was ringing in the air.

Everyone expected it would just be another worker from the family's mill field until he asked.

"Ji?"

"Is this the house of Om Bansal?" A heavy male voice spoke from the main gate.

"Yes, I am Om Bansal. Who are you?"

Meera frowned and tried to peek from her father's shoulders. Maybe he is a new customer? But no he was....

"Is Meera Bansal home right now?"

Everyone stood up at the mention of her name. Chachi Ji immediately abandoned her newspaper and came cradling to stand at the door, Satya curiously stood beside his Uncle facing the man. Even Avni came from her room turning off the music.

Meera blinked looking at the person standing at the front door. He was a man in his forties, Younger than her Baba but taller, a grey streak of hair highlighted his angular face, light beard across his chin and spectacles covering his dark eyes. He was a good looking man for his age and rich too.

His clothes looked royalty, dressed in a yellow kurta with an expensive watch and gold adorning his shoes. Behind him, three SUVs lined the front gate with at least a half dozen people dressed in black guarding him.