[Slow updates] 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟐 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 • • • • • • • • • • 𝐊𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐡 𝐱 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐚 The sacred fire had been burning too long. It cracked and spat like it knew. Like it had been waiting for a groom who would never arrive. The music had stopped. The smiles had died. Only whispers remained. "Left her..." "At the mandap..." "What a disgrace..." She heard every word. Still, she didn't move. Draped in red. Covered in gold. Sitting like a statue carved out of pride and humiliation. Her eyes burned so fiercely it felt like they might bleed- But she refused to cry. Tears would mean he mattered. Tears would mean he had broken her. The priest shifted uncomfortably. Relatives looked away. Her parents stood frozen between shame and helplessness. Time stretched. Suffocating. Merciless. Then- A voice. Sharp. Cold. Absolute. "I will marry her." The words didn't just interrupt the silence. They shattered it. Every head turned. He walked forward through the stunned crowd without hesitation, without permission - as if this was never a question of if, only when. He stopped before her. For the first time, she looked up. And the world tilted. Not a stranger. Not a savior. Him. The one man she had buried long before today. He bent slightly, his presence swallowing the chaos around them. His voice dropped, meant only for her, each word deliberate... intimate... inevitable. "Welcome back in my life, sweetheart." Not an offer. A claim. As if she had never truly escaped him.
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