As The Pink Blush Appeared....

32.

It was late afternoon and all the ladies were gathered in the courtyard of the huge house. Manjiri was in the attic room, she was reading a random book to keep her mind from exploding from all those overwhelming thoughts. She picked up a fantasy novel where the female lead went against all odds and united with her lover despite the differences. Manjiri began wondering, no doubt she would lead a comfortable life with the IIT-ian guy, but would she be happy, would she have what her heart really wanted, would she be okay to live with somebody whom she didn't even know? Would she be able to leave Saanvi? Her life was so messed up. Saanvi, Saanvi her love, and with this her eyes welled up.

Saanvi was outside in the courtyard of the house. A group of ladies had gathered around the millstone and they were grinding the turmeric for the Haldi ceremony. Some of the ladies were crowding near the lady who was putting bangles in everybody's hands. Saanvi walked around offering water and tea to all the guests who had arrived. Then her eyes fell on one of the ethereal sites. Saanvi was utterly mesmerised as she saw Manjiri coming downstairs in a brown saree and when she wore those green bangles, Saanvi's heart forgot how to beat. Then an immense pain shot up in her body when she realised that Manjiri had worn those bangles, would soon be applied with that ground turmeric and she could never be with her. She would be lying a big time if she said that all this didn't really bother. Only she knew how terrible her state of the mind was then. She quickly plastered a sweet smile when somebody asked for the tea.

Manjiri's brown saree 👆

Manjiri knew in her heart that the marriage was useless and that she'd end up torn. But did she have the courage to talk to her love about this? No. Did she have the courage to escape the wedding with the girl? Yes. Was she concerned about people's reaction, about her family's reaction once she would reveal to them all about what her heart really wanted? Not really, if Saanvi was with her. She had to struggle between her brain and heart. As the ladies slid bangles on her lean hands, she closed her eyes and drew in sharp breaths discreetly. In her mind, Manjiri silently kept on repeating 'Saanvi,' the name of her love. After sometime she noticed Saanvi serving tea to the guests and why did she look so beautiful? Only Manjiri could see that the smile on Saanvi's face was not completely and genuinely mirthful. Did she feel the way Manjiri did? Manjiri quickly shook her head and ignored the thought.

Manjiri was wondering, she kept on thinking and her thoughts centered around only one person, Saanvi. She herself didn't know when she plopped down on the bed and like those high schools, picked out each and every petal of a rose flower one by one. She argued with herself a lot. She finally pulled out a paper and wrote, 'Manjiri day after tomorrow, you'll confess everything.' She sighed, of course Saanvi wouldn't accept all of this, of course her family, the society wouldn't accept it. But if she told everything to Saanvi, she'll be at least at peace, she will not have any burden of regret ahead. With this Manjiri drifted off to sleep and what did she dream of? 

Manjiri and her Saanvi were together, holding hands and running in green fields with colourful roses, under the warm sun they were laughing out loud like maniacs and her heart felt very light, there were no burdens, no stress, no fears. But suddenly everything changed, Saanvi was nowhere near her and she was lost in mysterious darkness, she could see the canopy of tall trees above her but everything was dark, darker than the sky on a new moon night. And in that scary ambience she saw a flash in the thickets. It was a stranger with a smile flashing all the thirty twos and he was whistling a very unpleasant tune. Manjiri screamed as she saw bats, owls, wolves and all other types of creatures coming up to her. Her heart froze when that strange man in the thickets came up in front of her and while whistling still, he pulled out something shiny. Manjiri gasped as she saw the sharpened knife being thrown in her direction. She closed her eyes, ready to see the death. After a few seconds she was shocked to see that nothing had happened to her. But, but her heart broke when she saw a knight in gleaming armour lying on the ground in front of her. She looked into those brown eyes and that was when she realised. She cried and cried loudly. And then the knight smiled, a fabulous smile but, no, no, this couldn't possibly happen. 

"No, no, please, stay, please," Manjiri woke up muttering and broke out in cold sweat. Saanvi patted her cheeks and tried to calm down Manjiri. 

A/N : Will Manjiri confess her feelings? Will she marry the IIT-ian guy? Will Saanvi accept Manjiri?

In Maharashtrian weddings, there's this pre-wedding ritual where the ladies gather and they grind the turmeric into powder in a millstone while singing songs. While this goes on, a bangle seller makes all the ladies wear bangles.