The Reluctant Bride

prologue

I came down the stairs wearing a red wedding attire, and when I looked up, I saw the person I was looking for, and my feet stopped for a moment.

There was something different in his eyes, he was anxiously waiting for his bride, and tears welled up in my eyes thinking about his pain when he finds out that I am not the one he loves unconditionally, nor am I the one he has been waiting for.

As we approached the mandap, he came running down and placed his hand in front of me, how could I hold this hand that doesn't even know who they are spending their life with? When I placed my hand in his, it felt like I had found peace from another world. It felt like we were one.

When we sat down, I kept looking at the person who was going to be mine, but he didn't know that he wasn't marrying his beloved, but someone he didn't even know. When he lifted my veil to apply sindoor, it felt like his world had shattered, like everything had become desolate for him, yet he still applied sindoor and held my hand tightly, as if showing his anger.

After the wedding, when we went to take blessings from our elders.

He asked them a single question, "Did you know?" His voice was heavy, his eyes filled with anger. He understood that they all knew.

Turning towards me, he softly asked, "Where is she?" How could I tell him that the one he thought was his world had run away with someone else, without understanding anything? I shook my head, indicating that we shouldn't discuss this here, and maybe he understood.

He took me to the car and made me sit in the back seat, then turned towards our families and said in anger, "This conversation is not over yet."