Hope

Weddings and beyond

Sanaya's wedding, as expected, wasn't anything lavish either. For her as well, career was not an option, and the guy who was being considered as a "suitable match" didn't had a job either, in fact he had just been kicked out from his workplace because of his short-temper. Sanaya cried day and night, begged Rahul to do something about this, to not let this wedding happen, but Rahul was already suffering himself, didn't had a job, had a baby to feed, and had a wife to look after. He told Sanaya that she can work after she gets married and her husband-to-be won't have a problem because he is unemployed himself, so someone's gotta earn the bread in the family. Sanaya also considered speaking about this with her future husband but then she remembered Avika's case and thought that it could just be pretty lies and she wouldn't know what would happen to her after getting married.

The most Rahul could have done to help her sister was to speak with the guy himself and ask him if he'd be okay for Sanaya to take care of his family while also pursuing her own dreams, and that's exactly what he did. To his surprise, the guy whose name was Abhishek, told Rahul that ever since Sanaya had been mentioned to him, his luck has started to evolve. He was short-tempered because his work wasn't being appreciated and there was dirty work politics but ever since Sanaya has been introduced in his life, his life has completely changed for the greater good. He was in the process of securing a very well-paying job and if everything goes well, he will always cherish Sanaya as the lady luck and no harm will ever come her way. Rahul was satisfied but he didn't wanted to tell all of this to Sanaya because if in any case Abhishek was lying, he couldn't have bear to see one more person's dreams getting shattered. 

Sanaya objected until the very last day but all Rahul said to her was "trust me". He told her to just go along with whatever is happening and worst case scenario, she can still apply for a job and if anything wrong happens, she can leave Abhishek and work while being financially independent but this was the best shot she had for freedom. 

Sanaya was speechless because nothing in her life made sense, but when has it ever right? So she got married. Her wedding took place in the society's common playground, with minimal decorations and limited variety of food because according to her stepmother, they had already spent about everything in the previous marriages, and this was all they could afford with Sanaya's lousy salary and her father's savings. 

 Although, to her surprise, everything that Abhishek had told Rahul actually turned out to be true. Abhishek was able to secure the job after he got married to Sanaya and also had no problem with her career. They both started living a happily married life, and Sanaya go away more than what she bargained for, and what her sisters couldn't get, a loving family.

As Sanaya went her own way, my mother Ananya, now struggled with all the house chores alone. She had to do everything by herself, from making meals three times day, to making morning and evenings snacks, tea, taking care of me, doing other house chores such as laundry, etc., and almost collapsed on the bed every single night. The stepgranny still managed to comment on her mistakes or "laziness" if she ever caught Mom holding me, or putting me to sleep, saying that she uses me as an excuse to get some rest, which wasn't untrue because my nap time was literally the only time she could sit and get some rest herself. But the stepgranny decided to snatch that away as well and started to keep me by her side at all times, she would only let my mother see me at night as I wouldn't sleep without her. 

An year passed by, I was now one year old, and could crawl and walk a little. My parents were still only civil with each other, Mom would spend most of her time in the kitchen and Dad, in the office. I spent most of my time with the stepgran as she made sure to keep me apart from my mother as much as possible.

One day suddenly, Demon Lord announced that he has to go back to abroad and work there for another year before he can finally wrap up things in that country and come back, settling here for good. Naturally, Vidhaan and stepgranny accompanied him so that Vidhaan can get his global education whereas Vidhi stayed back because of her job. She was working in Hotel Management and got to travel a lot, all over the country, for conferences, events, etc., and didn't wanted to let go of her lifestyle. The three of them left, leaving Mom, Dad, Me and Aunt Vidhi behind.

My grandfather's house was also rented so father decided to move into a bigger place, which they could call they own home, and since he was beginning to make good money, he thought it was high time to buy a house. He managed to find a place, the house had two floors, six bedrooms, two living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, with a huge terrace. He loved the place but couldn't really afford such a house all by himself, so he decided to contact his father. 

Demon Lord agreed because even he wanted to settle down in his own house after coming back to the country, and told my father to sign the papers and get the deal started. In about a month, they were able to finalise everything and we moved to a new house. Moving can be stressful as there is a lot to be taken care of. Sanaya came down with her husband in order to help my parents move, but Vidhi saw this as an opportunity to flee so that she doesn't have to deal with the hassle. She announced that she has an important office trip coming in and she cannot avoid going, so she won't be able to be of any help.

My mother juggled between taking care of me, my father and the house amongst many other things. Vidhi had always been just like her mother, mean and rude to my mother. She would stay out all night with her friends, not bothering to notify mom or dad about her whereabouts, and create problems for them as they had to deal with the stepgranny's interrogations. Stepgranny had already gave my mother an ultimatum that she better take good care of Vidhi or else it won't be good for her, so Ananya, my mother, tried everything within her power to provide extra care for Vidhi but she wasn't having any of it.

Vidhi had fallen in love during one of her office trips. She met a boy who was fairly handsome but didn't make that much money. Vidhi's earnings were greater than that of the boy. Seeking her parent's approval, when she told her mother about the guy, she flipped. She told her to only marry the most richest man that she can find. She told Vidhi that she will look all around the world to find the most suitable match for her but Vidhi's world was blinded with love, and she desperately wanted to marry this guy.

Arguments turned into fights, and the stepgran told Rahul, my father, to keep an eye on Vidhi so that she doesn't runs off until she gets back from abroad. Rahul would try to cheer Vidhi up, he told Ananya to cook delicious food for Vidhi and tried to reason with her so as to why her mother was against this relationship. Vidhi would throw away the food that Ananya would bring to her, every single time and wouldn't stop crying.

Six more months passed and Vidhi had lost a lot of weight, she was looking very weak because she hadn't eaten properly in ages. She thought if she looked like this, her parents might show her some sympathy and eventually would agree to the wedding. When her parents and brother finally returned from abroad, the stepgranny saw how weak Vidhi looked and completely lashed out on Ananya. She accused her that she was torturing Vidhi behind her back as a revenge for however they have treated her, she almost wanted to slap her but didn't. Ananya begged that there was nothing she could do, she couldn't force Vidhi to eat, she would take food to her room everyday, she would make her favourite dishes but she never ate any of them. The stepgran then blamed her bad cooking skills but didn't believe Ananya that it wasn't her fault that Vidhi had become so weak. 

Vidhi, on the other hand, could care less about Ananya and didn't wanted to support her in this. Instead she just kept crying and begging to her parents to at least meet the boy and then decide for themselves if it'll be okay or not.

Seeing Vidhi like this, her parents couldn't say no, and eventually agreed to meet the boy and his family. Vidhi's trick had worked, but it only made things worse for Ananya, she wasn't allowed to go near Vidhi under any condition, she wasn't allowed to even talk to her. Since she had treated Vidhi so poorly, it was now her turn to suffer.