Blame It On Love

Chapter 19

Aadhya's POV:

I saw the caller id. It was Kartik. I wiped the tears discreetly and picked up.

"Are you alright?" He said as soon as I picked up the call. I looked at Adhiraj and Ananta taking rounds. I lost count of how many were left.

"I don't know." I said.

"Do you want me to come and pick up?" He asked.

"No. I need to be here. And see all this." I said while my eyes connected with Adhiraj again. And I realised that only one person could feel what I was feeling and I was looking right at him.

"And trust me. I am not the only one who is in pain." I said and hung up. I need to be here for him. 'He will break if I leave. The relief I saw on his face when I entered, spoke volume. I need to be his strength. I have a lifetime to cry.' I told myself.

By the time I kept the phone, Adhiraj and Ananta were already seated back on their seats.

"Now make the bride wear Mangalsutra." The priest said. His mother removed the mangalsutra from the jewelry box and handed it to Adhiraj. He was still looking at me. I showed him my right hand where I was still wearing the mangalsutra he gave me. That brought a small smile on his face. I smiled back. He then turned his hands towards Ananta and placed it around her neck. His mother secured the clasp as it was difficult for Adhiraj to do that. If I didn't know better I would have thought he wanted to be rid of the work as soon as possible. I chuckled a little at his actions while he tried to control his own laugh.

"Now put the sindoor." The priest ordered. His mother removed a big sliver coin and handed it to Adhiraj. She told him something in his ears. Adhiraj dipped the coin in the small box filled with sindoor and was about to put it in Ananta's middle parting hair. I felt as if someone had stabbed me in my heart and was twisting it. But then I noticed he suddenly stopped. I looked at his face and saw him looking at me. I pressed my lower lip between my teeth. Then I noticed tears were falling down from my eyes and that was what made him stop.

His mother held his hand and the sindoor fell on Ananta's middle parting. I closed my eyes and wiped the tears that were flowing out of my eyes uncontrollably.

"What happened, didi?" The girl sitting beside me asked.

"The smoke from the fire is going in .y eyes." I said.

"Yes, it's burning my eyes too." She said and smiled. I smiled back at her innocence.

I turned to see that Adhiraj and Ananta were taking blessings from all the relatives. I just sat there looking at them, longingly. Then my attention shifted on the sacred fire. That was still burning. I just looked at it and felt all my dreams burn with it. All the evidence of what happened in the last two days had turned just like that. In that one fire.

I didn't realise how long I was sitting there just like that looking at the now diffused fire. When suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to find Adhiraj standing behind me. His eyes reflecting the pain I felt in my heart.

"It's time to break our fast." He said. It was then that I noticed Sunil carrying a plate full of food. I hugged him and sobbed in his arms. While he held me tight and patted my head.

"Don't waste your precious tears for someone like me, Jaan. I don't deserve to be better cherished." He said and I sobbed harder. He was still blaming himself for all this.