A Mother's Will

Chapter 18

The next morning arrived, and Akira was very pissed off that Jovana was doing the rituals. Jovana was taken to the river, which was within eyesight of the ashram but about 2 km away from the temple. Jovana wore a white sari as instructed and dipped inside the river five times before coming out. She then took the eternal flame from the middle of the river and brought it to the shore. She was then asked to dress up in the sari and jewels kept in the room near the river shore.

When she came out in the half-sari kept inside, the blouse was pink in color, and the skirt was blue with a pink border and a blue chuniri. She wore all the jewels kept inside a hairdress, a necklace of three Rani Hars, a waistband, and Payal with those big earrings and very little makeup. She looked like she was not immersed in a river but in beauty. She then took the eternal flame from the fire stick back to the temple. There, she lit the first Diya in front of the goddess. The temple was huge, and it was time for sunset when she finally finished lighting up all the Diya's in the temple. She went outside and put the fire in the yagya kud. Now, she was supposed to walk back in and sit there until the yagya was over. Akira had a plan; she broke glass and spread it across the entrance. When Jovana entered, she stepped on them unknowingly and did not even notice them until they pierced her foot.

She saw it and removed it from her foot, and the first thing she did was to clean the place, and she moved with the bleeding foot, leaving blood behind. After she was done, she went to the goddess, stared at her, and went to the backside and sat there. The yagya would take up the night, and she had to fast until then, no water, no food since morning.

Due to the increased security, there were two heads of security in the house; they came when she was on her tour in India. One head of security was Rana, and the other was new and ex-military, as per record, named Rayan. Jovana knew he was an ex-military and a current CBI officer, and they knew that he was here for an internship.

Rayan was seeing Jovana make her return and was confused as to why the daughter was so estranged from the family. He saw her sitting there and bleeding and immediately went to her with the first-aid box and asked her if he could just do the first-aid. She said yes, and he went and sat down from the veranda to the temple so he could see the wound properly as Jovana sat on the veranda. He took her leg in his hand and put it on his leg. It's not much, so nothing to worry about, he said. Jovana was lost in her own thoughts and did not feel hurt when he applied a disinfectant. He looked at her, and she was gazing at the forest, so he pressed it a bit too hard. Ahh! She looked at him. What are you doing? They kept their eyes locked until Rayan said, "Done." Thanks, Jovana said. While Jade walked up to her and then asked her if she needed anything, she said loneliness. Jade and Jaden watched her from a distance, while Rayan was back to his work.

The yagya was about to finish when Jovana was called to take the things for the goddess and dress her up at around 4 am in the morning. She did that, and when the family came in, everything was up and nice. The maha aarti happened at 5 am in the morning, and finally they all ate at 6 am.