Hope

The Unbecoming

As the days for the wedding turned into a countdown, Avika's happiness was beyond control. She was glowing and was full of positivity. And her freedom wasn't the only reason. Her fiancé, Jai, would send her letters, to get to know her as much as he can before the wedding, and she could also ask anything she wanted about him and his family. Their love blossomed, and both of them couldn't wait to see each other again. Avika thought that thanks to her stepmother, she had hit the jackpot of a lifetime, but she also knew that her stepmother didn't do this on purpose as she was not counting on the boy to be so sweet and understanding. Avika would go out with her sister as an excuse for shopping, and the stepmother always made sure that Vidhi was with them so that she could keep an eye on them, and report anything suspicious back to her mother. 

Posting and receiving letters was nothing less of an adventure for Avika. She would post the letter while Sanaya distracted Vidhi, and receive the letter at her neighbour's house as it was her best friend's house, and she knew exactly what would happen if Avika's stepmother were to find out about these letters. But as they say, good things only last for a little while and Avika's misfortune had just begun.

In her latest letter to Jai, she had finally confessed to him that she has fallen in love with him, and that she will do everything in her power to support Jai, his dreams, and will take care of his family like her own, as her own family never gave her this level of unconditional love, which she had received from a stranger. She was waiting for a response expectantly, but she didn't receive anything. She thought that maybe he was just busy with all the wedding preparations, so she decided not to overthink about it.

The day of the wedding finally arrived. Avika woke up that morning, beaming with pride and happiness. She started getting ready, she had never looked this beautiful before. She finally saw her real self in the mirror, and saw the reflection of the woman, that Jai saw in her. She could see why he loved her so much, and couldn't wait to move to his house, to another city, far from all the cheap tricks of her stepmother and close to her loved ones.

When she stepped out, she saw that her stepmother was smiling at her. She came and wished her the best in her life. She even kissed Avika's forehead, and gave her blessings for a bright future ahead. Avika couldn't bear this, as this was the first time her stepmother was being nice to her. She had teary eyes, and hugged her stepmother, forgetting everything that had happened in the past and forgiving her. A kiss on her forehead was all that it took, for her to forgive and forget. Thats how pure Avika's intentions and heart was. 

Now it was time for the groom and his family to arrive. She was looking out of her window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jai, and when he finally arrived, her heart started pounding so hard, she thought it might come out of her chest. When her eyes landed upon his face, he also looked at her, but Jai's look wasn't filled with love and excitement, rather it seemed like, hate? She thought she must be imagining things, and brushed off the negative thoughts. She ensured herself that he must be tired after travelling for such a long period of time and he'll get better once he gets to rest.

The wedding began, and as she was making her bridal entry, she noticed that Jai wasn't even looking at her. In fact he was trying his best to ignore her. His eyes were everywhere but on Avika. Now she knew that something was wrong because Jai had told her in one of his letters that how he had always imagined himself smiling and crying at the same time when he'll see his bride coming towards him. But this wasn't him holding back his tears, but rather it was anger.

She shuddered at the thought. What could have happened? Why is he behaving like this? Is it something she said? Is it something she did? Was it the letter? Questions swarmed her head, but there was no time to have a conversation. The only way to talk to him, was to complete the ceremony and then finding an opportunity where they will be alone.

The wedding took place with no complications. Her stepmother was being very sweet, she looked after all the guests personally, making sure that no one is uncomfortable. Avika was happy to see this reformed phase of her stepmother which gave her a little assurance, that whatever might be wrong with Jai, she'll make it right. After all she finally managed to invoke love inside her stepmother's cruel heart.

Once all the ceremonies were done, Jai and Avika, along with Jai's family, went back to their city. Now, it was time for them to be finally alone. She wanted to hug him, and tell him that how much she missed him, but instead, Jai slapped her.

She was numb, devastated, she couldn't understand what was happening. It just looked like a nightmare, so she closed her eyes, and opened them again. But her face was still stinging and she knew that it wasn't a nightmare, and far from a dream. She looked at him, and all she saw was disgust in his eyes. She couldn't speak a word because her throat was welling up with a river of tears which were about to follow, but she pinched her leg, and managed to utter.. "Why...?"

Jai : "You never told me that you were having an affair with someone else, and only wanted to marry me because you planned on keep cheating me, while living happily with him?"

Avika was at loss of words. She couldn't understand a word he was saying. Affair? Me? With whom? When?

Avika : "What are you talking about? What affair? I haven't done anything like that!"

Jai scoffed, "Then how do you explain these letters your mother sent me? Aren't these in your handwriting? Didn't you address them to your lover? Telling him how much you've missed him? How much you love him? And how you cannot wait to take care of him and his family?"

Avika was shocked, she looked at the letter, the very letter she had written for Jai, but it was somehow addressed to someone else.

Avika : "I wrote this for you!! It was my very last letter before you stopped replying! I was wondering why you never responded but I thought you must be busy with the wedding so I didn't write another! I don't know how did this happen, why would I do this to you!"

Jai : "How am I supposed to know? All I know is that you've broke my heart, and I will never forgive you for this. I will make your life living hell, for the rest of your life. I will make sure you never see an ounce of happiness ever again. This is only fair after what you've done to me"

Avika, almost begging and crying, "Please believe me, I have nothing to do with this, this letter was meant for you, I don't know how did this happened, this is a major misunderstanding. My stepmother must have conspired this, please give me a chance to prove myself innocent. I swear, its always been just you, there is no one else"

But Jai could only see red. He didn't know the chemistry of Avika's stepmother with the whole family. She had always seemed so sweet. She even apologised personally on call when Jai wanted to break things off with Avika after finding about the letter. She told him that he can mend things later, almost begged him that it'll be very unbecoming of her family and Avika, if he broke things off, so Jai decided otherwise, and chose to hate Avika for the rest of her life. He thought that it was a much better revenge anyway. He didn't realise that her stepmother was the one who intentionally stole the letter from Avika, made a few changes, and addressed it differently, so that it'll look like it was meant for someone else, and got delivered to Jai by mistake.

Avika's new life started off as hell, but calling it hell was an understatement.

Jai never let her go alone anywhere, she couldn't do any job, she wasn't even allowed to talk to Rahul, as she was banned from making conversation with any guy at all. She were to only bear a child for Jai and cook like a good wife. Avika stopped dreaming after that, she was never cheerful or positive again. Her stepmother had managed to extinguish the very last beacon of light inside her, and now she was just a walking dead person, living at Jai's terms, and never expecting anything from life, ever again.