narik_nq
I once told someone, in my best Devdas voice and with the utmost seriousness,
"One day I'll write a book for you before I die."
She looked at me, nodded thoughtfully, and said,
"Write it in a language I can read. Otherwise, I'll come kick your grave.
Kameene, yeh kya likh ke mar gaya? Mujhe bhi padhni thi."
(You scoundrel, what is this nonsense you wrote and then went and died? I wanted to read it too!)
That should give you an idea about the heart of this story.
Set in the 2010s Canada, between chai and snow, this is the story of Alizey and Zayan.
Zayan didn't believe in marriage.
Alizey believed it was sacred.
He thought love was like mist, meant to be felt, never seen.
She thought he sounded like an overdramatic Victorian novel.
They didn't marry for romance.
They married for a plan.
The arrangement was simple. The feelings were not.
What began as a practical agreement, two adults negotiating boundaries, rent, and kitchen duties, slowly turned into something far more unstoppable.
Because love, when it finally arrives, doesn't knock politely.
It walks in silently and stays.
This is a story about marriage before love.
Trust before desire.
Surrender before confession.
And the confounding realisation that sometimes, you don't choose your life partner.
You just discover you already have.