Adhiyal Ishq

10. Engagement

The parade of cars came to a halt in front of the large Shiv Mandir. They said it was older than just a few years and was thought to have been made in the early twelfth or thirteenth century. It was the largest temple in the area with a large courtyard, surrounded by trees, a private hall for ceremonies, and a giant banyan tree with its trunk wrapped in threads of various hues; weirdly enough, the people were nowhere to be seen.

Did the Prataps privatize a temple for their convenience?

Is that even possible?

The only people on the premises were the families, men in black, and maybe the priest in the Garbhgraha. It was as if people took a break from praying and God went on a holiday.

Stepping out of the car, Aparna saw the silent temple and wondered about the power these people held and the amount she would hold when tied to them. Shaking off the thought, she toed off her footwear and bent to touch the first step, following it by gracing her forehead with the dust of the holy place.

🌷APARNA'S POV🌷

My bare feet loved the cooling felt of padding the marble stairs of the temple. The greenery around the premises helped my heart slow a little. The trees swayed with a gentle push given by the blowing air. Even in July, the place didn't feel hot at all. The rustling of leaves in the empty temple, as well as the chirping of birds, were soothing to me.

I had always yearned for this kind of tranquility, a life that never forgot my position as an older, responsible, and mature person. Because the dependence on me never stops, I can't even count how many sighs I've absorbed or how much anguish my shoulders have become numb from. Additionally, this participation today would add yet another responsibility.

Him!

Bloody Rudra Pratap.

When I woke up this morning, all I could think of was how to sway my prospected guy to deny the marriage. I hoped that if he was kind, he would sympathize with me and agree with my decision to decline. If not kind, he would at least be understanding enough to not go further with the idea of us - where I am uncomfortable. And even if he was not any of the two, I would use his anger to infuriate him by hurting his male ego which would surely make him say no. Men's male ego is their weakness.

They say, every dog has its day but damn my stars for I am a girl which technically makes me a bitch and hence, today was totally not my day.

I saw him in the flesh after having ogled his built on the internet quite a few times in the past.

Don't blame me, Smriti would search him up and I would just peak a little.

I wondered what he would be like and today all my questions were answered inside those four walls, in few minutes over a bowl of cookies and a glass of orange juice.

This guy, who was sculpted like a fictional man and physically managed to stun me for a while by his looks, was totally dumb, cocky, self-obsessed, bratty, brainless bastard. All that drinking must have drowned his brain because when I tried to make him understand my helplessness over the matter of accepting this proposal he acted like an owl in the middle of the day.

I tried being nice but that didn't work too and hurting his ego bit me back. I don't know if I bruised his ego by spitting out facts to his face but mine was totally shattered when his guy titled me as a 'bojh'.

Strangely enough, he did get in my head and I said yes to the marriage.

Well, not like I had a choice whatsoever.

And to top everything off, they are getting us engaged at this precise moment. It's as if they didn't try to give me some time to run away, which I surely won't do. It is intended for my dark romance novels and the stories I read on the orange reading app, and it is not really realistic. To put it mildly, the current scenario seems fictional too, with me getting tangled with this wealthy, obnoxious gym rat.