Ishqana Dil

Part 37

A/N: I should be murdered for writing this part... I'll just blame it on lack of sleeep...

She was walking down the stairs right behind Rachita but what she wanted to do was grab both her sisters by the hand and run. The problem was they had nowhere to go... They did not have anything else left in the world. This, Banaras, was their only home now. Their only refuge... And wasn't it strange that their home could give them so much pain? Rachi Di, especially... what had she done to deserve this? Jazz's reply to her question earlier resonated in her mind constantly.

Do you really think someone could forget a love of ten years so easily?

Absolutely not... Rachi Di and Rohan had practically grown up together. They had been only teenagers when they had started imagining themselves together for the rest of their lives, however silly that could sound. How had it been so easy for him to abandon her sister? Anger surged within her. If Rohan Garewal had gathered his guts like a man and stood for Rachi Di when he should have, this would not be happening now... Maybe her sister would have been leading a happier life... Was it really too late to stop this wedding? Wasn't there any way she could save her sister?

***

On one hand, it made him feel like he had been emotionally run over by a truck and on the other, that forlorn look on her face only made her look more beautiful. Really, if he had known loving her would be so complicated, if he had been able to stop it, he would have... Would he? Maybe not... He couldn't even figure that out... He did not regret loving her, no. He just wished the pain could be banished from it. Till he was suffering, it was bearable. But the moment he saw it on her, his life turned into hell. Perhaps even worse. And what hurt him the most was that he could not do anything for her, like now...

"Mantu!" he started when Rama elbowed him. "Kitni sundar lag rahi hai na tumhaari honewali Bhabhi?"

He nodded with a small smile, wishing he could point out that Rachita looked just as miserable as her sister. Rama said he loved her and sometimes, it looked like he meant it, but did he? If he loved her, wouldn't he see that something was wrong with her? Wouldn't he feel it? Wouldn't he try and do something about it? Did he really love her then?

***

They had divided the aangan in two, the girl's side and the boy's side. Apparently, the Guptas' house was too small to accommodate all their guests and anyway, like Rama's mother had sweetly said, it would be easier to hold the haldi of both the bride and the groom in the same place. She could simply have acknowledged her stinginess because that's what it really was about and Amaya knew it.

Rama and Rachita were made to sit right across from each other, and she found herself right across from Mantu. In other circumstances, she could have rejoiced, while Uma shot daggers at her from over Mantu's shoulder. Instead, she was having her heart fall apart slowly, painfully. For her sisters. For herself. For the future...

***

Buaji crouched down next to the panditji with a wide grin and lowered her voice as she spoke, making it appear like she wanted to know if he needed anything. "You know what you have to say, don't you?" she hissed at him threateningly.

He gave her a feeble, scared smile. "Ji, ji..."

"Hmm, good." She stood up again and walked over to Mohini, her eyes fixed on the girl's side. The Chaubeys and Mathurs looked like they were forcing themselves to look normal. She sneered. They had harmed her nephew, gotten him badly beaten up, hadn't they? They would have to pay for it now. Little by little. And tonight, she would make sure they did not sleep.