She keeps her gaze fixed on the sacred fire, unable to look elsewhere. What is happening right now is so overwhelming that believing it is proving to be extremely difficult for her. In just a few hours, everything has changed drastically, and now she finds herself sitting in the wedding mandap. Slowly, she turns her face to glance at the man sitting beside her, whose face is devoid of any emotion. He is performing all the rituals guided by the priest in a robotic manner, as if he is just going through the motions without being mentally present.

Her gaze shifts toward the gathering, where everyone is silently staring at her. A strange sense of fear begins to engulf her, tightening around her chest like an invisible noose. Instinctively, she clutches his hand tightly, the hand that is currently bound to hers with a ceremonial cloth. The moment she does this, he grips her hand even more firmly in return, causing a soft, involuntary sob to escape her lips.

“Ahh…”

She gently turns her face toward him again. He is simply looking at her with fire in his eyes. Though his face appears calm and impassive, she can clearly see the suppressed anger simmering in his eyes. Her heartbeat quickens, thudding violently in her chest, and she tries to pull her hand away from his grasp, but deep down, she knows it’s impossible. Their hands are tied together as part of the traditional wedding ritual, the sacred bond of union. Both of them are now staring at each other continuously, silently questioning how they ended up here, when suddenly the priest announces.

“Both the bride and groom, please rise to take the sacred rounds around the holy fire.”

Without any delay, the groom stands up. But she, on the other hand, remains seated, as if still searching for someone among the crowd. Her eyes dart through the sea of guests, desperately looking for a familiar face. But before she can respond, he grips her hand even more tightly, holds her arm firmly, and pulls her to her feet. His voice, though low, is laced with irritation as he says,

“I need to be free from this drama. Let’s finish this quickly.”

She is unable to respond, her voice caught in her throat. She simply starts walking behind him to take the wedding rounds, her eyes still restlessly scanning the faces around her, still searching, hoping for her.

Soon after, they sit down in the mandap again. Moving forward, he takes the sacred chain, mangalsutra, and ties it around her neck. Then, looking directly into her eyes, he takes a pinch of deep red vermillion and fills the parting of her hair with it. As the red powder touches her skin, she instinctively shuts her eyes. Tears begin to roll down her cheeks, silently tracing paths of sorrow down her face. Her heart trembles, crying out in anguish, and in that fragile moment, a whisper escapes her lips, heavy with emotion:

“Where did you go, Didi? Today was supposed to be your wedding day… And yet, here I am, sitting in your place instead…”

~~~~~

The bride and groom stand at the doorway, gazing ahead. His grandfather, Vishambhar Rana, is silently watching them. The women of the house, too, quietly turn their eyes toward Vishambhar Rana. No one utters a word, yet all the traditions and rituals are followed in hushed obedience. The bride glances softly toward the groom, confused and overwhelmed. She struggles to comprehend the expectations placed on her. Everything already feels strange and alien, and to add to it, the entire wedding has been suddenly turned upside down. Holding back her tears with tremendous difficulty, she starts observing the people around her, trying to make sense of it all.

At that moment, Vishambhar steps forward, his powerful presence halting everyone in place. Standing tall, he addresses the women of the household in a firm tone:

“Today, the daughter-in-law of this house has arrived. Don't you women know how to perform every ritual properly? She is a new girl; she doesn’t know anything. Instead of letting her flounder, guide her. Then let her rest now. Enough has already happened today.”

His one commanding voice sends a wave of fear and discipline through the gathering. Everyone immediately begins to assist the bride, gently explaining to her what she needs to do. Following their guidance, she knocks over the ceremonial pot at the entrance and presses her feet into the tray of vermilion water, leaving crimson footprints as she steps inside the house.

The groom walks beside her silently, matching her slow and unsure pace. As they finally cross the threshold and enter the house, the groom abruptly unties the wedding knot binding them and removes the sacred band from around his neck. Without a word, he steps away from her and walks straight toward his grandfather, standing before him with a stern expression. Seeing this, Vishambhar instantly raises his finger and commands him in a sharp, authoritative voice:

“Vanjeet… Every moment has its own time. This is not the time for questions. Take her to the room and leave her there. And all of you, come to my room now.”

Vanjeet clenches his jaw and throws an angry glance at the bride, who is still struggling to keep her tears in check but is now visibly trembling. Despite her best efforts, the dam of emotions is on the verge of bursting. Vanjeet abruptly approaches her, firmly grasps her hand, and starts to drag her away from the hallway.

The bride stumbles slightly but quickly regains her pace and matches his speed, almost running alongside him as they disappear down the corridor together, him burning with anger and her barely holding herself together, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

As soon as they enter the room, he forcefully pulls her inside and slams the door shut behind them. Then, turning to face her, he lowers his gaze for a second, his eyes land on the wedding chain, breaking the wedding chain violently before speaking in a voice laced with bitterness and pain.

“Congratulations… I know very well that ever since the day you met me, you never liked me. And that’s exactly why you never wanted Koyal and me to get married. Aavya… you crossed all limits. You knew Koyal and I were in love—deeply in love—and yet, you asked her not to marry me. That’s why she left. Or is there something else going on that I don’t know about? But the truth is, even if Koyal comes back now, it won’t matter anymore… Because, first of all, I’ve already married you, on Grandfather’s orders, because he cared more about his reputation than our happiness. But let me make one thing clear. Even if this marriage hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have married Koyal either. Because the girl who claims to love me but gives up on our relationship in just two minutes—just because you asked her to—isn’t someone I can trust anymore. She left me… left me to be humiliated in front of the entire world…”

Aavya, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, stood frozen. Nothing made sense. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew how deeply Koyal loved Vanjeet, so why did she suddenly walk away? What happened in just a few hours that turned everything upside down? Trying to steady her emotions, she suddenly reaches out and grabs his hand tightly, her voice trembling but urgent.

“Listen to me… I know you’re furious right now, and I understand, but something is terribly wrong. You’re not seeing it. Di—my sister—she loved me deeply, and she would listen to everything I said. Yes, I admit, I didn’t want your marriage with her to happen. I told her in anger that it would be better if she didn’t marry you. But that was it… I never imagined she would actually leave you... She loved you truly. She would never walk away from you over something so small. Please, believe me, something is not right, she would never leave you like this…”

“Leave…”

His voice, low and thunderous, cuts through her like a blade. In one harsh jerk, he yanks his hand free from her grip. His eyes bore into hers, burning with rage and betrayal. Aavya instinctively takes a step back. His face, contorted with anger, makes her flinch. For a moment, she wants to say more, but her courage fails her.

Without another word, he spins on his heel and storms out of the room, slamming the door so violently behind him that it echoes like a gunshot through the silent house. Aavya jumps at the sound, her whole body trembling. She brings both hands to her mouth, pressing them tightly as if to stop the sobs escaping from her chest. Unable to hold it in any longer, she collapses to the floor in tears. Her voice cracks into the silence as she whispers between sobs.

“Where are you…”

~~~

Vanjeet walks into his grandfather’s room, where his father, Yogendra, is seated alongside his wife, Sangeeta. His aunt Tejaswini is also present with her husband, Gavish. As soon as Vishambhar sees the fury on Vanjeet’s face, he doesn’t wait for him to speak and addresses him sternly:

“You have no right to be angry. You were the one who liked that girl. You made the decision to marry her on your own. We stood by you in every step and supported all of your choices. We felt joy because of your happiness. But do you think I could allow a public mockery of our family? … That girl ran away from the wedding, and you expected me to sit quietly while the whole world laughed at us? When the family proposed to get their younger daughter married instead and bring this humiliation to a halt, what exactly was the harm in it?”

Vanjeet silently looks at his grandfather, then his gaze shifts slowly to every person present in the room. He knows all too well that for these people, family honor and reputation stand above everything else. Thinking beyond that is not in their nature.

He remembers clearly how, when he had approached them about marrying Koyal, none of them had been thrilled. But for the sake of the family name and expectations, they had reluctantly agreed. Yet, in the end, for reasons still unknown to him, Koyal decided to back out on their marriage day suddenly. And now he’s the one being cornered and interrogated by his own family. His jaw tightens with rage as his eyes scan them all in silence. Suddenly, Tejaswini steps forward and speaks, her voice laced with practicality, but not without sharpness.

“Vanjeet, there’s something you must understand clearly, your actions don’t just affect you and us. Your sister’s reputation is also tied to yours. Do you even know the kind of things her in-laws had to say to her when your bride ran away from the wedding? For years, people have already questioned us about you not being married at 32. They ask what’s wrong with you or what’s lacking in our family that you still refuse to settle down. We never had a problem with you marrying someone of your choice. When you brought her name up, we did our due diligence, and after making sure everything was fine, we agreed. But in the end, that girl ran away on marriage day. Don’t you think this will fuel all the gossip about something being wrong with you or us that caused her to flee?… The decision Papa took—to get you married right away—was the right one…. It shut everyone’s mouths. Now that this marriage has happened, you only need to maintain it for a while. After that, you can decide what you want to do.”

“Tejaswini…”

Vishambhar’s voice thundered across the room as he suddenly yelled her name. Tejaswini instantly fell silent, startled by her father’s tone. But Vanjeet, unaffected by her silence, steps forward and positions himself right in front of Vishambhar. His voice is firm, filled with unflinching defiance.

“I know exactly how to handle my sister’s in-laws... I’ll take care of them in my own way… But let me make one thing very clear: this marriage might have taken place under your orders, but I make no promises about how long I’ll sustain it.”

Without waiting for a response, he storms out of the room. He has no intention of returning to his room just yet. Instead, he climbs to the upper floor and stands there, silent and brooding, trying to calm the storm of rage inside him. He grips the iron railing tightly, his knuckles whitening, but no amount of pressure seems to release the fire burning within him. His eyes flick toward his room with sharp fury, fully aware that everything spiraled because of Aavya.

Fueled by this thought, he suddenly turns and strides toward his room. But the moment he reaches the doorway, his steps come to a halt, and his eyes widen in disbelief and screams.

“Aavya…”