Chapter Seven

Rajveer

I woke up with a sinking feeling in my stomach, dreading what lay ahead. The day I had been dreading for weeks had finally arrived, and I couldn't escape it any longer. It was my worst nightmare come true. 

As I got out of bed, I tried to shake off the overwhelming sense of anxiety that had settled over me. I knew I had to face the day Headon, no matter how much I wanted to run away and hide. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that I was stronger than the anxiety that had taken over my body. 

A knock on the door broke me out of my trance. 

"Raj." mum sauntered into my room "I'm so proud of you son."she said.

"Thanks." I replied tersely. For getting me married to Roshni.

"When Roshni comes into this house as your wife, I want you to treat her well and love her, she's a kind person at heart." she remarked.

"Alright mum, I will try my best in treating her well." I paused "but I can't promise you, I would be able to love her." I finished, truthfully. I didn't want her to have a lot of expectations from me. 

"You will, son, I trust you will in the near future. Now go get ready, we will be going to the bride's house in two hours." She said and I excused herself out of the room.

Yash and Pintu arrived shortly after.

"Yash, Pintu" I greeted them with a handshake.

"Hey groom, I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend your engagement." Yash apologized.

"It's alright dude, I told you it's not important." I waved the topic aside.

"I'm so happy for you Raj." Pintu smiled.

"I can't say the same for myself." I smiled sadly.

"Don't worry Raj, you never can tell, you might fall in love with her sooner than you think." Yash winked.

"I don't think so." I scoffed. "where is Daniel?" I inquired.

"He is on his way coming here." Pintu replied.

After an hour or so, I got dressed in my wedding attire. Here I was, sitting in my well decorated vehicle with my friends, heading to her house. 

Arriving at our destination, I took a moment to gather my thoughts and summon the courage within me. I knew I couldn't let my worst nightmare consume me. I had to face it head-on, no matter how terrifying it seemed.

The drive to the house was shorter than I had anticipated, with the guys bickering nonstop. We alighted from the car and I stopped to observe the house for it looked very different now. The building was decorated with flowers, balloons and colorful lights.

The exterior was eye catching, they really did an amazing job decorating the building. It looked perfect. 

Stepping into the living room, I observed the interior was even more beautiful than the exterior decoration. They were prepared for my downfall - I huffed.

"Hello. Welcome everyone, come in and make yourselves comfortable before the ceremony starts fully." Roshni's mum ushered us in.

"Where is my beautiful daughter in law?" I heard mum asked from behind me.

"She's getting ready, she will be here soon." her mum answered.

Why is she taking so long, does she think we will wait for her for eternity!

I'm sure she's just in there, applying makeup and stuff.

"Here she comes." a woman I haven't seen before whispered to me.

I looked at her wearily. "Finally she's here. I just want to get this over and done with." I muttered.

"Wow! My daughter in law is looking so charming" mum complimented and some other women started talking about how beautiful she was, how lucky I was to have her and bla bla bla...

Why is everyone so mesmerized by her.

I finally looked up and saw her, she was indeed looking beautiful but that didn't change the fact that she is unreasonable, after all I told her on our engagement ceremony, she still didn't back out.

"She chose this life for herself and I should not be blamed for the consequence." I muttered underneath my breath.

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Roshni

While I was stepping down from the stairs, I sighted Rajveer and his family waiting for me to get started with the wedding. All eyes were on me except Rajveer's, he was looking down. He didn't even spare a moment to look at me and that simple act of his, broke my heart, tremendously.

"Relax, Rosh, you look beautiful." Vid said into my ear.

Why isn't he at least looking at me, do I disgust him that much? - I wanted to ask him at the top of my voice. All grooms are always so eager to see their brides on their wedding day, but mine was the opposite. He was disgusted by me instead. He loathed me already - I could tell. I couldn't blame him though, he told me he didn't love me and was just pressured into getting married to me. He was honest with his feelings towards me and I respected him for that. I brought this upon myself by still going ahead and getting married to him. The fault is all mine and not his. I would have to face the consequence of my decision now. I hoped he would soften with time.

When he finally looked up at me, I expected him to at least give a little smile, even if it was fake, it would have given me a little hope that we may get along in future, but instead he furrowed his brows and looked elsewhere. I felt like crying at that moment, but I managed to maintain myself.

I greeted my in-laws and some guests and they all showered me with blessings and congratulations. Soon the ceremony began and all the wedding rites were performed, ending with Raj applying the vermilion on my forehead and securing the wedding necklace over my neck.

"Congratulations! You two are now married." The priest announced and everyone began to cheer.

"I am married?" I muttered. It sounded so unreal even to my ears.

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RAJVEER

I was married to her now and I would have to live with her under the same roof as a couple. In my room.

"Congratulations to both of you, I'm so happy." mum said, tearfully.

"Please make use of the advise your dad and I gave you." I heard her mum say to her on the verge of tears.

"I will mum and don't worry, I'm not going away from home permanently, I will always visit." she wiped her tears.

Why didn't she just stay behind if she didn't want to leave that much - I scoffed.

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Few minutes later, the celebration was in full swing. The lights of the building dimmed as dancers came on stage and started their performance.

"Let's go continue the wedding rituals." mum said to me.

What wedding ritual was she talking about?

"I am already married mum. What wedding ritual do I need to do again?" I asked, exasperated.

"It's in form of a game, come on." mom led me towards where Roshni and some women were seated.

"There is a ring in this bowl filled with milk, both of you need to put your hand in the bowl and search for the ring. The first person to get a hold of the ring would surely be the dominate one in this relationship." a woman explained cheerfully.

"This is so childish." I muttered to nobody's hearing.

We both put our hands into the bowl and began the search for the ring.

Few minutes later, Roshni found the ring and the women started laughing.

"Our Roshni will surely be the one making all decisions in this marriage" a weird woman said and bursted into laughter, followed by the other women too.

"This is embarrassing." I muttered again. "Where is Sam?" I suddenly asked. I just noticed I haven't seen her around for a while now.

"When we left home, she was complaining of headache but promised to attend the wedding when it subsides." mum explained.

"Was it bad?" I asked, concerned.

"I doubt she was even telling the truth about not feeling fine, she's just making excuses not to be present here." mom voiced out.

I suddenly recalled Sam telling me how much she hated Roshni. Mum was probably right.

"The groom and the bride should dance." a woman suggested.

What! Dance?

"No. I'm sorry I don't dance." I shook my head in disgust.

"But you will have to dance today, it's your wedding day." another woman said, annoying me further.

"I really can't and won't." I said with finality.

"Please do it for me son." mum pleaded

Oh no!

"Alright." I answered, reluctantly.

I took her hand and led us to the dance floor. She placed her hands on my shoulder and I had to reluctantly place mine around her waist as we danced slowly, following the rhyme of the cool music.

We danced for what seemed like ten hours before the music finally went off and the crowd started applauding our performance. Honestly, I found nothing interesting in the dance. I just wanted it to be over and I was glad it was.

"You did great, Roshni." Mum praised. "and you too dear."

"Thanks mum" I faked a smile.

"I thought you said you don't know how to dance." a woman stated.

"His lovely wife must have taught him." another answered.

When will all this be over! it's already getting late and I need to sleep.

The celebration went on for few more hours and it was finally time to go back to our home.

Finally.

But unfortunately for me, Roshni had to come home with us. The crying session soon began. Roshni's family, especially her mom were crying as if they were sending their daughter to her grave. Roshni on the other hand was also crying uncontrollably.

Such a drama queen!. She would have been able to avoid all these if she had declined to get married to me, but she didn't and now, she was shedding fake tears.

Dad, mum and daughter hugged each other repeatedly.

"We will take very good care of roshni." mum assured.

"Take care of my daughter son, she's all I have, I can say this proudly, you're very lucky to have her. Please take special care of our jewel." Her dad said to me.

"Take care of her son." Her mom addrd tearfully as she hugged me.

"Alright mum." I replied and got into my car quickly. Few minutes later, she also got into the car. The driver put the key in the ignition and gave life to the car. Throughout the drive home, she kept on crying silently.

Her eyes were all red and puffy from all the tears she shredded that evening.

"Stop crying," I sighed. She chose to ignore me and continued crying, maybe even more than she was before I spoke. My words seemed to have ignited something in her. I shook my head and let out a sigh. At least I tried to pacify her.

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