"Happy Married Life, Shivya Pathak" I weakly smiled seeing my condition, mangalsutra dangling in my neck, vermilion in hair and both hands filled with gold bangles.
"Come out quickly or do you want me to break the gate," my husband knocked again...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Shivya had always known this day would come. One day, everyone in this house would learn the truth about her education, about the life she had once built for herself before it was taken away. And today was that day.
The same day the email had arrived, calling her back to the life she had left behind.
But this time, she would return differently. Either with the man she had been forced to marry standing beside her... or without him, after ending whatever unnamed thing had slowly begun to grow between them.
Yet one truth stood above all others. She was going to step out of this golden cage.
She stood beside Vedant in the center of the drawing room while his grandfather sat on the couch like a judge waiting to deliver punishment. The rest of the family remained in their places, no one looked at ease except Vedant and his grandfather whose eyes moved between Shivya and Vedant with visible disapproval.
After a long pause, he asked, "What was that?"
Shivya frowned slightly because she genuinely did not understand what he meant. Was he referring to the tears she had shed after reading the mail that reopened old wounds and old dreams? Was he speaking about the moment she had sat helplessly on the floor, unable to contain the storm inside her chest? Or was he asking about the way Vedant had bent down and held her in his arms while she trembled between happiness and grief?
She stiffened instantly. Shame was expected to settle on her shoulders, as it always did in this house whenever someone wanted obedience. But before she could think of something, Vedant spoke
"I was hugging my own wife, not someone else's. So I fail to see what was shameless in that. Unless, of course, you believe loving your own wife damages a man's masculinity." He added with infuriating calm "Aur chaar logon ki aukaat nahi hai ki woh humare saamne muh khole."
His mother looked shocked, his aunt placed a hand over her chest, and Shaurya shifted uncomfortably as if wishing to disappear from the scene. No one in that house had ever heard Vedant challenge his grandfather so openly.
Dadu's grip tightened around the armrest of the couch as anger slowly darkened his face, but despite the irritation burning inside him, he decided not to drag the matter further because even he seemed uncomfortable discussing emotions and public affection openly. After a brief silence, he finally spoke "Do you think we are wise enough to know the reason behind your actions?"
Shivya instinctively turned toward Vedant before answering because she could already sense that he was not ready for whatever she was about to reveal. His jaw had tightened slightly, and the look in his eyes clearly warned her against speaking. Still, she gathered courage and said softly, "I want to tell them."
Vedant immediately looked at her as though silently asking her to reconsider, but then she lifted her green eyes toward him, nervous yet hopeful, and just like every other time, he lost the ability to refuse her anything. It was almost unfair how easily she dismantled his resolve without even trying.
