Dare to Hope | Heir & Heiress #2 | ✓

♛ Being A Raichand ♛

♛ Jhanvi ♛

-One Year Later-

(From current timeline - where Dare to Be ended)

          Staring at yourself in the mirror and not recognizing yourself. That is how I feel as I look at myself and wonder how in the God's name I got to this day. There was this day when my world was ripped away from me when I found out who my parents really were and my life had changed entirely as I moved to Mumbai.

Then there is today when the pieces of my world seem to be falling in their places and I am standing here in this ancestral palace that is way too big a house for me to share with just my daughter. So, even when not too long ago my life completely changed its meaning and I should not be okay, I feel okay. I feel like finally, everything is going on the path of how it should be. How I want it to be.

I blink away from my image at the knock on the door. A second later, it opens and in walks Aarav dressed in an elegant off-white colored traditional sherwani with its matching bottoms, a turban over his head, broach at the coat pocket and pearled necklace hanging off his neck.

I raise my brows at how dressed up he is and as he walks in, he mutters while rolling in eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Keep the judgements to yourself."

"Well, you do look... funny." I comment trying to muffle my laugh because even though he looks handsome as ever, it is simply not an outfit I have ever imagined him in. I have no doubts that his family must have had to pester him to get him to agree to step out of his preferred suits and into this.

He narrows his eyes in agitation, "Well, it's your damn fault. You look funny too, you know?"

Both of us glance down at my outfit once again. The ceremonial dress that weighs more than a ton along with the additional weight of the jewelry's that barely keeps my own weight on my knees. I feel like I am drowning in this maroon red dress and yet... my heart feels the lightest it could have possibly been.

I clarify for the sake of my dignity, "Funny? No, Raizada. The adjectives you are looking for is flawless perfection. Magnificent. Elegant. I look like a Queen, okay?"

I expected him to continue our teasing banter but he looks back with a serene expression in his eyes void of all humor. "You do look like a Queen."

I smile back for a moment, basking in the compliment and feeling that rare emotion called happiness once again. As I exhale, I express my thoughts openly, "You know, I never thought I would live long enough to see this moment. The way things had been going this last year..."

He steps up to me to reach for my hands, "Hey, no. Happy day today. No talks about anything sad, got it?"

I want to focus on just the positives as I have tried to do so far but today, I accept that with the good is the bad and with the bad is the good. That is what life is made of and we have to accept both parts. We cannot all the time focus on one and ignore the other.

So, I press my lips together to control my tears and shake my head to disagree. "No, Aarav. Today is the good and the bad. The worst and the best. I fought like hell to get to this day so today, you listen, okay?"

He must see how much I mean my words and how much I need him to listen. He answers with a simple nod.

With a sniff, I continue. "The whole morning feels like a blur and I don't know yet how I feel about it, but God..." I exhale a sigh, "Oh, I am done. I am so done."

"Done?"

"Yeah, done."

He says in confusion, "Okay, I'm sorry; I don't follow."