Begusarai - The saga continue

038

"Behave," said Mrs. Tripathi, leaving her two daughters behind in the car as she hopped out with Meena Chaudhary, who had arrived in the next car.

Sneha looked at the blank expression on Sonam's face. Her sister had gone utterly mad.

Since the time she'd heard about Achintya's marriage to Niyati, Sonam had completely lost her mind.

"It should have been me. Me! Why did he marry someone who isn't even worthy of him?" Sonam had been chanting this for two days now. Honestly, Sneha was dead tired of it. She already had many important issues to deal with, without Sonam burdening her with this nonsense.

Her mother-in-law's arrival may have managed to soothe her parents' worries, but it only ignited Sneha's.

Vijay, her would-be husband, had kidnapped a girl? Tortured her? And now he was in the hospital because-

Well, that part Sneha didn't know. She had heard about it from the gossip chain among the household staff, but before she could get more details, her mother-in-law's arrival was announced.

According to her, it wasn't Vijay's fault, but his friend's, who had instigated him to commit the heinous crime. How much of that was true, Sneha didn't know.

Her father hadn't even questioned her further, accepting everything her mother-in-law had said, dismissing it with, "He's a young man. Young blood... these things are understandable."

Sneha wasn't shocked when she heard those words. She had always known that, even if the Chaudharys set her on fire, her father wouldn't object.

Mr. Tripathi wanted to try his hand in politics, and with Phoolan Chaudhary set to be the next Chief Minister-already confirmed, as her father had announced-there was no way he would sever ties with the Chaudhary family and risk his political career.

"Sonam, for God's sake... don't make a scene-"

"Why would I?" Sonam cut her off. "Why would I do something like that, Sneha? It's Achintya's fault. If he had agreed to marry me, he wouldn't be stuck with a woman of no status or match to his own."

"Yeah... but still..."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to compare myself to a girl who isn't even half of me."

Sneha sighed at her sister's words as Sonam marched towards the beautiful temple. She knew very well that behind all this pretense, Sonam was seething with jealousy and anger. And any of that could be used against poor Niyati, which made Sneha curse God again-for tying her to this self-absorbed family.

A family of people who thought everyone was beneath them, and for whom no one mattered,

not even their own daughter.

_

Something had clearly passed between the two sisters, as Niyati's previous good mood had now vanished.

As she sat on the wooden deck beside Achintya, he could clearly see the stains of tears on her full cheeks.

Achintya was right; his eyes followed the rituals Panditji was performing. Badi Amma had indeed arranged a wedding in the guise of the Satyanarayan Katha.

"For the lava parchavan, call the girl's brother forward," the Pandit announced. Ranveer, looking excited, stepped forward as both couples stood. Niyati held a small soop in her hand, and Achintya stood behind her, holding her hand.

The holy fire burned in the havan kund as the Pandit chanted the mantras. Niyati and Achintya took the seven sacred rounds around the fire, making vows. At the start of each round, Ranveer added lava to the soop, and by showering the lava from the soop around the havan kund, the couple completed each round.