AR----BELONGING

FINAL CHAPTER

The girls chirped and laughed around her, some ran hither and thither; yet she sat motionless. They adorned her with gold and diamonds. They painted her face and stared mesmerized by her vanity.

"The baraat is here" One chimed delightfully as she spotted the procession from the window.

They came to her again and embraced her in the circle of their arms. Then they left her. She suddenly felt herself getting sick and scuttled to free herself from the knot that had been tied in her stomach and had eventually reached her throat.

"Riddhima?" She jerked at the familiarity of the voice and hurriedly fixed her face. It was a voice she was not expecting but it had caused a soothing effect.

"Aunty? What are you doing here?"

"My goodness child you look so beautiful, no I don't think beautiful justifies how you look today. My god protect you from any evil eyes" As the lady leaned forward to kiss her head, Riddhima threw herself in her arms and did something she had been longing to do for days; she sobbed.

They sat peacefully now. There was so much that Riddhima wanted to say, so much she wanted to ask, about HIM. It was the lady that broke the silence first.

"You are about to embark on a new journey Riddhima and a beautiful one at that. Don't welcome it with tears. I am proud of the decision you have made and I am proud of my son for respecting it. I had accepted you as my Daughter-in-Law the day you had visited me in Satyagarh. I have always known of my son's affection for you and you had shown yours by coming back, but perhaps it was not meant to be. Perhaps, you and Armaan were meant to meet and love but not meant to be together. Who we are meant to marry has already been decided above and maybe the person up there did not write your name with Armaan. You were a daughter to me then and you are a daughter to me even now. I just wanted to come here today and tell you how proud I am. May God bless you with nothing but happiness Riddhima."

Riddhima watched helplessly as Gayatri walked out her door. She didn't understand how god can allow 2 people 2 meet and fall in love but not destine them to be together, it just did not make any sense.

"Maanga jo mera hai

jaata kya tera hai

maine kaunsi tujhse jannat maang li

Kaisa khudha hai tu

Bas naam ka hai tu

Rabba jo meri itni si bhi na sunni"

"Armaan Please get up and stop brooding and gawd please take a shower, you smell worse than a skunk" Throwing a towel at him Nikita all but pushed him towards the bathroom. She was sick and tired of his "my world has ended" act and she was definitely sick of the song he'd had on repeat. She had just switched the CD off then his phone rang.

Everything was over now, it had ended before it had even started. He could never forget the day Rahul had come to Satyagarh. It was the day he lost Riddhima forever; again. Turning the knob of the shower to "cold" setting he let the water trickle out and freeze his mind. Perhaps if he stood under it long enough he could die of a brain freeze. Death certainly seemed a good option at this point; at least it would take away the pain. How was he supposed to live without her? It was ok when they hadn't seen each other in years; yes it was much better that way, but now when he had touched her again, smelled her again and worse loved her again, now how was he going to live?