Her Saviour

2

"Look at you comforting others with the words you wish to hear."

- William Wordsworth

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Her POV :-

I felt myself being lifted. After waking up from my slumber, I found myself in the arms of my husband-to-be. He placed me on my feet once we were out of the limousine and in front of me was the Khurana property on the lands of the famiglia.

I felt my throat clogging up. I realised I was in deep, very deep trouble.

"Let's go!", said Utkarsh in his deep, baritone voice with a lingering softness which I discarded as just a figment of my imagination.

He was walking ahead of me. And even after trying to match his steps in my heavy attire with the injuries on my feet, I wasn't able to. But then I saw him reducing his speed to help me match his.

Even though I knew all of it was just an act, I still didn't understand the need of it. Sanjay never used to care about pretending. He was downright gruesome and he had never bothered hiding it in the pretence of soft gestures especially when we were alone.

This. This was scaring me more.

I didn't realise when we reached the doorstep where Jaanvi was waiting for us with a worried expression on her face. That made me feel guilty. She has always been good to me, and my escape might have made every finger turn on her even when she was totally innocent.

"Bhabhi, where did you go?", she sounded stressed. It was a desperate question that didn't need any answer.

"Take her to the room. Go through the gardens and enter the mansion from the backdoor. I've my men informed. They'll help you."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I...I didn't u..understand the reason behind doing all this. Sanjay had never tried to protect me from getting insulted by his family and this man here was going against his family to protect me? Or at least that's what it seemed to me.

"Remember Jaanvi, nobody from the family should come to know about it.", said Utkarsh in a voice so stern that if it were directed to me I might have started digging my own grave.

But then, I saw Jaanvi looking at me with a playful smile to which I reacted by staring down at my feet. I didn't understand how she could smile at such a strict command from his brother. It was bothersome.

"Ji bhaiya, jaisa aap kahein."
("Yes brother, as you say")

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Author's POV :-

Jaanvi pulled her through a path that was almost concealed by the long trees of the garden. It was almost as if the path didn't exist. This only made her believe the fact firmly that the famiglia had thousands of secret buried deep inside these buildings.

She was taken to the backdoor where one of his guards was standing. He saw them coming and gave them a nod of acknowledgement while opening the door to let them in.

As soon as they entered the mansion, a defeaning noise made its way to their ears. They knew that the place was ready to experience yet another grand wedding of one of the sons of the family.

A wedding where she was chosen to be sacrificed. Chosen to sacrifice her smile, her freedom, her identity and her life.

Jaanvi took her to the staircase which was completely isolated other than the few of his men guarding the area. They soon reached to the room that was assigned to the bride until she gets married.

Hardly had a minute passed that she entered into the room than a knock was heard. Jaanvi made Shivani sit on the chair and pulled the drape over her head. Her henna-clad hands were shivering. She was petrified.

"Bhabhi, I guess it's time for you to go down. Are you ready? Shall I ask them to wait if you want sometime?"

"No no! It's okay. I..I am ready."

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His Pov :-

I sensed her coming down before I saw her.

She was looking ethereal in that lehenga.

"Will I get to wear a lehenga?", the lil girl standing at 4 feet 5 inches, looking like a kid as compared to his height of 5' 10'', said.

"I'll try to arrange whatever you want", said the 19 year old boy with a frown etching his forehead.

"Can I have a brown lehenga please, Rana?", asked the girl with excitement gleaming in her eyes.

The boy, who was already on his journey of turning into a man, didn't understand why he was having such weird feelings in his stomach. He tried dismissing it.

He knew the rules of famiglia weren't ethical. The girl wasn't even legal. But he had to follow the rules as well as not exploit her in any way. He looked into her eyes while maintaining his distance from her and gave a small nod.

She was made to sit beside me. I could sense the slight tremors coming from her. Though it was understandable, I still felt a burning rage inside me. The irrational beast inside me hating to see her so scared. I wanted to kill all the possible reasons that made her this afraid. But my heart ached when I realised that I was topping the list of reasons as of now.

We performed the rituals that were asked. Throughout all of this, Shivani kept her eyes down, following everything that's said at once. The villagers were infamous for giving the harshest training.

We were asked to take phere. While Shivani was standing up, she was about to fall. It was almost like she was too exhausted to even stand. That automatically made me reach for her hands. I was walking in front of her with one of her hands holding my hand and the other one clutched my forearm. Once we were finished and took our seats back, pandit ji started speaking.

"Ab var vadhu ke maang me sindoor bharenge."
("Now, the groom will fill the bride's partition with vermilion", said the priest.)

I needed to see her eyes, to know if this is what she really wants. With my other hand, I tilted her chin upwards gently, and stared in her orbs. All I could see was the same hopelessness, pain and fear.

I took a pinch of sindoor between my thumb and index finger and filled her partition while few tears dropped from her eyes. Some flakes of the vermilion fell on her nose that I was about to wipe when I got interrupted by mom.

"Rehne do beta. Ye to shagun hai. Tumhare gehre pyaar ka pratik."
("Let it be, son. This is a good omen. A sign of your deep love.")

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