CHAPTER 9

Suman's eyes are a little wet, and she is focusing solely on her hand, which is still very red. Everyone was laughing at Adhiraj's antics at the time, but no one noticed how tightly he was holding her hand. Although she was in pain, she kept her feelings to herself. In Adhiraj's room, Purva is seated in front of her. She can't speak to her since she is focused on her hand. She doesn't do much more than touch her hand. Suman gently took her hand, not the one that was swollen. Purva spoke hastily while holding out her bruised palm.

"Roughness is solely in Singhania's blood, so say they act a little like this, but I'm stating this based on my experience... He has a wonderful heart. I know very well that you know everything about Adhiraj. I just wanted to let you know that I saw a very nice boy with a smile on his face who got lost unexpectedly somewhere. He is not bad; give him some time."

She gave a small nod, and Purva grinned and said

"All I can say is that Gayatri Maa and I are entirely yours... We promise to never let you experience the absence of your loved one."

Purva leaves the room quickly. Since Suman has never been by herself in a room before, she is growing increasingly anxious. She usually lived with her grandmother. She really misses her grandmother. She appeared to have spent hours sobbing while resting her head on her lap.

How will Adhiraj treat her in a private space if he treats her this way in front of everyone else? Then what will he do alone in the room? She is crying so hard that she might pass out from the fright.

She needs to sleep because she is quite weary, and Adhiraj still hasn't come to his room. She is trembling a lot from lack of sleep, and the heavy wedding clothing is now starting to bother her. The moment the door unexpectedly opens, she fiercely clasps her fists together and struggles to breathe.

As he locks the door and turns to face her, she is too frightened, even by the door-closing sound. Although she immediately wants to leave this place, she is aware that she cannot accomplish anything. She can definitely feel Adhiraj looking at her. Adhiraj is furious and keeps glancing at her all the time. Adhiraj wanted to approach her right away to ask her all the questions that had been on his mind for a while, but he saw that her hands were gripping her cloth in fear, as if she were too afraid.

Suddenly, the sight of her in such fear breaks his heart. He's unable to comfort her. What can he do, though, with what he knows? He swiftly makes his way to the closet to change his dress. His entire attention is on Suman as he comes out of the closet, and he lies down on his bed without turning to face her; he didn't say anything to her. His mind was questioning him repeatedly, "How can she agree to marry her friend's love and become extremely angry with Suman?"

Suman feels as though her body would lose its life as soon as Adhiraj lays down next to her. But because she has heard too much from her friends about how a husband abuses his wife on the first night, she is in too much of a panic and sits there with her eyes tightly shut and her fists clenched. She has already witnessed Adhiraj's roughness, which has made her fear him quite a bit.

Adhiraj doesn't turn toward her or move his body for a while. Suman exhales a breath of relief and turns her face a little in Adhiraj's direction in an attempt to make eye contact. He appears to be sleeping because his back is facing her. She doesn't want to make any noise that could wake him up or cause him to turn to face her. She gently gets out of bed, but she doesn't know what to do because she absolutely does not want to be seated next to Adhiraj in this manner.

She is aware of where Adhiraj just left the restroom. The lehenga she is wearing right now is really bothering her, and she is unable to find her clothes or any sort of closet in the room. In order to avoid making any noise that would awaken Adhiraj, she moves very slowly in the direction of the bathroom while turning to gaze back at him.

A small smile breaks out on her face as she approaches the restroom. When she notices the wardrobe, she is incredibly happy. She quickly finds her belongings in front of her and takes a comfortable saree from her bag. She shuts the door and starts taking off all of her jewelry and pins, which takes a long time. This is significant work in and of itself for her, but what makes her the happiest is that, finally, she is getting rid of all this stuff.

After being completely free from this very tiring work, Suman slowly opens the door and looks at Adhiraj. He is still sleeping in the same position. Now that she has taken off all the jewelry, she is relieved that no sound disturbs him. Although it is getting harder for her, she still enters the room slowly since she has no idea when Adhiraj will awaken and turn to face her with enraged eyes once more.

She begins to scan the room because she is utterly at a loss for what to do. She is feeling sleepy and exhausted. She finds it quite challenging to sleep with Adhiraj, though. She wants to sleep, but Abhiraj is already asleep. She instantly lays on the floor, close to the bed, since she needs to rest right now. When her body contacts the chilly floor, she shivers briefly before adjusting herself there. Since there isn't much cold in the room, she wraps a shawl around herself.

She begins to remember what Nishtha said as soon as she is on the ground, which undoubtedly makes her smile slightly. But as she thinks back on Adhiraj's actions, she again feels panic. While she is aware that she is currently married to Adhiraj, she is unsure of what her future holds, and she must work on this marriage. She should endeavor to make her life proper with him. She closes her eyes and wonders about everything. She has no idea when sleep will embrace her.

Adhiraj stays still for a while because he has trouble falling asleep, but he has no idea what Suman is doing, because he knows she got up from the bed and it is now too late. No, he is not waiting for her, but he gets up right away to look around the room since he is concerned about any unpleasant incident. He is scanning his room, but Suman is nowhere to be found. It is very irritating, but he gets out of bed to find her.

He checks the bathroom to see if she is in there, but nobody is there. If she leaves at this time of night, everyone will question him a lot, so he runs his hand through his hair to calm down. He came out of the area.

A glimpse of someone's heena-clad foot caught his attention as he turned around and entered the room. She was sleeping on the floor on his opposite side, which is why he didn't notice her as he quickly shifted to her side. She was already asleep. She lying on the floor doesn't bother him in the slightest; he only knows. Nobody will challenge him because he simply knows she is in the room. He therefore makes a silent retreat to his bed in an effort to fall asleep quickly.

CHAPTER 10

Suman's first meal ritual is today. All of the family members are seated at the dining table with a smile. Adhiraj is sitting next to his father in silence. He is not interested in anything and is only showing his presence.

With everyone's help, food begins to be served on the table. Suman hides herself behind Purva and stands there, looking down, while carrying the desserts she has prepared. Rakshit strikes his foot firmly against Adhiraj's leg to force him to look at her at least once because he is not giving any attention at all. He quickly kicked him hard, but in answer, he gave him a stern stare. Rakshit meekly says.

"What is your problem, yaar?"

"What is your problem?"

Suman begins serving sweets with bent eyes and a small smile on her lips as everyone compliments her cooking skills. Gayatri and Purva are standing on either side of her for support. Suman is overjoyed that everyone enjoys her handmade food, but Adhiraj didn't even look at her. His eyes noticed his grip marks on Suman's skin as she served dessert to Adhiraj last, but he turned his eyes away.

Apart from him, everyone praised the food, but he did not utter a word. He could not enjoy anything since he was simply eating as though he had to finish it. Achindra has informed him.

"Suman needs to go to her house today for a pag-phera; you two will spend the night there and come on the next day. Her family has invited everyone to their home. However, your brother and sister-in-law will accompany you and return only at night."

He nods his head slightly. Seeing this, Achintya and Achindra smile because they have seen very well that he is not refusing anything of theirs. After having breakfast, everyone goes to their room, then Gayatri and Purva ask her to get ready to go to her house, but she knows very well that Adhiraj has also gone to the room, and if she goes to the room, then she will definitely face Adhiraj, from whom she wants to save herself at any cost. So she tells Purva.

"Di, please come and help me."

"Sure come..."

When both of them come inside, Adhiraj is sitting in the room, reading a file. Hearing the footsteps, she realized that Suman had come into the room because, being a new bride, her anklets were going to be ringing a lot. He has not looked at her at all, but he is also quite aware that someone else is also with her, but despite the presence of someone else, he does not want to see her anymore. Both the women go into the closet from there. Suman is excellent at everything she does, but here everything is new to her, due to which she needs Purva's help. While looking at Adhiraj's clothes, she takes out two night suits, gives them to Suman, and says to her while smiling and teasing her.

"Go ask Adhiraj Bhaiya, which night suit would he like to wear tonight?""

Adhiraj can easily sit outside and listen to all of their conversations, but in this case, as soon as Purva asks Suman to go outside and ask Adhiraj, she immediately declines by shaking her head. Purva smiles and assumes that she might be shy, so Purva goes outside and asks him herself. Suman instantly inhaled deeply, fearing that Purva would not pay attention to her and that she would have to approach Adhiraj, something she preferred to avoid.

Adhiraj very comfortably gives all the answers to Purva, and he is very angry that Suman does not want to come in front of him because Suman knew that he loved Nishtha even though she had agreed to the marriage. In such a situation, she will have to bear his disregard, which she wants to avoid by appearing less in front of him, but he does not care about it.

When everything is ready, they go to Suman's house. Suman is with Adhiraj and is doing nothing except keeping an eye on the view outside. Prakshit-Purva, Adhidev, and Rakshit will come in the rear car. There is no significant change in Adhiraj's behavior after reaching Suman's house, which everyone notices, but Suman's family believes that he speaks very little, and Adhiraj's brothers are upset to see him like this. Because all this is going to cause Suman a lot of problems in the future. However, he hopes that Suman's behavior will change Adhiraj.

Adhiraj remains in Suman's room after his brothers and Purva have returned home. He is right now resting in Suman's room, and Suman is standing in the kitchen with her mother Urmila and grandmother Parvati, who are asking her about the Singhania family and are pleased to learn about their behavior. Urmila immediately tells her by giving her a glass of hot milk.

"Go give it to our son-in-law."

Suman is shocked to hear her mother's words, as she has not come face-to-face with Adhiraj even once since her arrival here and had no intention of doing so. And she doesn't even feel the need to come in front of Adhiraj until tomorrow.

"Maa… I'm exhausted and sleepy... You inform Radha, she will give it to him..."

"He is there, and as a good wife... You should do all of his work yourself, and secondly, I see you haven't gone in front of him even once since you arrived... Do not do this at all; otherwise, it is not good for you. So now go to your room and sit with him and talk nicely, like a good wife. If he allows you, then only come to your grandmother's room to sleep, or else sleep in the same room... Understand that."

"But maa…"

"I don't want to hear anything."

Parvati looks at her granddaughter's face, which has turned a little teary-eyed. She immediately tells her daughter-in-law.

"Urmila, don't be harsh on her."

"Ma, can you tell me if I said anything wrong? What you and my mother taught me—what you said at the time—I am now teaching her. What's the problem with that? You are well aware that the husband was more attracted to the wife at the start of the marriage, and she did not draw his attention to herself at that time. How will he now pay attention to her and start caring for her? ... (Turn to Suman.) I don't want to listen to any of your excuses. Now go and sit with him and talk nicely."

She looks up at her grandmother, who appears to be impressed with her daughter-in-law. She also nods and indicates that she should follow her mother's instructions. She's out of options right now. She will have to go in front of Adhiraj, whom she was trying to avoid. She enters her room with a glass of milk. Adhiraj is lying on the bed with his eyes closed, as Sumedh has already left the room and is talking to him when they are together. She approaches him and speaks in hushed tones.

"Milk… "

Adhiraj immediately opens his eyes and looks at her. Suman quickly bowed her face and looked away from him. He stood on his feet, picked up a glass, and turned towards her. He looks towards Suman while drinking milk, then towards the door, wanting to talk to Suman. He wants answers to his questions, so he tells her right away.

"Close the door..."

His strong, masculine voice sent shivers up and down her spine. She turned and shut the door, but did not return and turn towards him. She hears the loud sound of glasses being placed on the table, which makes her lightly jump onto her place.

"How do you feel now that you've married your best friend's love? ...."

Suman can't bring herself to turn around and tell him that she wasn't even asked for YES OR NO. Her parents told her directly that she had to wed Adhiraj. She swallows a lump and tries to say something, but Adhiraj continues.

"You will just be known as Adhiraj Singhania's wife, but you won't have a place in my heart... Always keep this in mind."

Without receiving a response from her, he lay down by showing his back towards her side on the bed. He didn't want to stop there at all. She opens the door and leaves right away for that reason. Even if she has to go out and lie to everyone that her husband has given her permission to do whatever she wants, she cannot afford to stay there at this time. It is very hard for her.