Chapter 5

Aadhya's poV

"Aadhya you're looking so beautiful today. And why not? You should be…” Asmita said dreamily as if she’s on cloud nine and finished “after all it’s your wedding day." 

Yes it's my wedding today with Mr. Veer Roy....

I don't know whether I should be happy that my parents are happy about this marriage thing or cry over my cruel fate?

One slap can make a person's life hell. If one month ago someone had told me that I would marry, I would have laughed until my stomach hurt. But here I'm marrying the devil of my life.

"Aadhya, where are you lost? In veer's dreams?" Asmita elbowed me teasingly.

Oh yeah in the dreams that are far worse than nightmares. My heart spat venomously at the thought and I badly wanted to wipe that irritating smile on her face but I managed to bottle up my emotions.

"Hah, as if you aren’t lost in Akshar's dreams. You know today you're going to be married to him" I said trying my best to sound happy.

But whom am I kidding? Every word that left my mouth was like spears on my heart. The brutal irony of fate and my worst reality. It seems lady luck is on my side as Asmita was lost in her own dreamland, far from noticing the regret and pain reflecting in my eyes. She blushed like there is no tomorrow and dare I say, she is freaking more red than a tomato now. But wait something’s amiss. Is she crying?

Hell yeah, but why? Why is she crying? Shouldn't it be me filling buckets after buckets with tears now?

"Asmita what happened? Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong? If so then please forgive me, I didn’t mean to disappoint you. I'm sorry." I said hurriedly.

Asmita gave me a genuine smile as she reassured me "No Aadhya I'm not crying because of you but I remembered my wedding with Kabir" 

"Your wedding with Kabir? It’s not like a forced marriage or something like that?" I didn’t mean to be an information digger but my curiosity got the best of me. 

"No Aadhya, it was not a forced marriage. Kabir married me because he loved me so much and I was also happy to marry him but that incident shattered me" she said more like whispered at the end of her statement.

"You know you can share it with me if you want." I said 

"Do you want to know?" she asked hesitatingly.

"Yes why not but only if you feel so" I answered. 

"OK then I will tell you" that’s all she said before narrating her story. 

Asmita's POV:

I was a normal girl. Blessed not only with beauty but also a cursed fate. 

Being a manglik wasn’t helping much (a curse according to Indian Astrology according to which her/his first husband /wife will die.) 

I was 18 when I met him. Kabir Chatterjee. The handsome guy whom I saw in a mall. A complete stranger to me, 

On the day of my birthday suddenly my parents told me about my engagement with that handsome stranger. I was shocked that is an understatement. When he says that he loves me and wants to marry me I freak out. 

I remember my poor financial conditions. And to counter that, my mom used to work as a maid for a house. Her masters are very good but suddenly she left the job. And we became rich. I tried to ask my mother many times how we became rich but every time she used to shrug me off saying she won a lottery. My brain was too young to think of that statement of hers and my 9 year old self believed her lie. 

I got everything I want. I was raised like a princess. But as the time passed I became suspicious over the money my mother claimed to win in a lottery. My suspicions lead to my arguments and that seemed to piss her off. Every time I was given a reason that I naively believed.

But on my birthday everything cleared up for me. 

The truth of our richness was him. He was 8 years older than me. He saw me for the first time when I was just 9 years old. He was the only son of my mom's masters. He fell in love with me the moment he saw me first. 

He made his parents ready to give me the privileges that I deserve as his wife. And just like that just from that moment I was betrothed to him. I was shocked to my core but nevertheless, I accepted my fate but did not love him back. But he loved me so much that I believed to be the luckiest girl to marry him. 

After 6 months I got married to him. On our wedding night he met with an accident and died. I was shattered because I lost the person who loved me dearly. And to know that I was the reason for his death blew my heart. I forgot the fact that I'm manglik and that cost me dearly. 

Even after his death I was in my in-laws house. Because they love me like their own daughter. They never blame me for their son's death. Any other person in their place would have blamed me as a bad omen and what not but they were anything but harsh. They are the one who asked me to complete my studies. 

I engaged myself in college and studied to forget him but all in vain, I couldn’t forget him. Not that I love him but he became my good friend in such a short time that had tugged unseen strings in my heart. 

Then Akshar came into my life. I met him in college and then Veer. Akshar and Veer both are very good persons. Akshar saved me from some seniors who tried to molest me while Veer made sure that they all were rusticated. 

My beauty was the reason for it. I hated my beauty. That was what made Kabir attracted towards me and love me, eventually resulting in his tragic death. And now I was in trouble because of the very same culprit. Although I can't deny the fact that I felt attracted towards Akshar from the start , it still felt bad. 

My guilt of being the reason for Kabir's death and that it is just a few months from that horrible day made me feel like I was betraying him.

Then after 2 years Akshar proposed to me but I was scared to accept it. So I asked my mil. She said Kabir loves me and I am living my life to make him happy. So after a lot of thinking finally I accepted his proposal. And then I fell for him. And now we're getting married in just a few hours. 

As I finished my story I glanced towards Aadhya to find her crying. 

"Aadhya don't cry please it’s OK. Now I'm happy. Don't worry about me and focus on your future." I said unsure of how to make her tears stop.

Her aunt who will be mine soon, came and took me for rituals. 

**************

Asmita's POV ends

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Aadhya's POV

Asmita told me her story and it was too much for me to bear. I don’t know why but I'm feeling bad for Kabir. Because he also didn't get his love like me.

I didn't feel when I started crying. Asmita tried to cheer me up and asked the reason for my tears and it was then that I realised I was crying. Before I could answer her, my aunt came and took her out for some rituals. 

This shifted my attention to my miserable situation. Soon he will be here to marry me. 

Asmita has a bad past but her future is bright with Akshar. On contrary my past, present and future is permanently dull, all because of that man Veer Roy.

His dreams made my past unbearable. Within a couple of hours from now I'm going to marry him, signing to destroy my future because he clearly stated that he wants me for revenge. And I know by hook or by crook he will get me. 

Why did I slap him? Why? Only if I could go back in time and stop myself from slapping him. Why my desire to save that girl has brought me to my hell? I would not have married him if I had kept my thoughts and my hands to myself. But what now? What is the use of crying over spilled milk? What was to be done is already done and here I am standing now. Miserable, helpless, confused and devastated, just waiting for my life to take a turn in chaos.

I signed my own death certificate the day he proposed to my family with his marriage proposal, leaving no room for me to refuse because of that incident. 

The day was the worst day of my life. I remember everything like it just happened. The day he came with his sister with a proposal.

Flashback

It’s been 1 week since the incident in the restaurant. From the day of Akshar's engagement I get messages from him. Saying that I have very little time to enjoy my life. I was scared but I am not dumb enough to blabber this to anyone. Who will believe me? The claim that a rich handsome billionaire is sending me messages? No one. Why will they? After all a person like Veer can get any girl he wants to marry. 

Then the next day he came with a girl who will be around 22 or 23 years old.

He introduced her as his sister Ragini. 

I must admit that the girl is very pretty and she looked like a friendly person unlike her brother. My mom made them sit offering tea and snacks. 

Then my dad dropped the bomb on my head. 

"Veer I'm very happy that you chose our Aadhya to be your wife. I know she slapped you in a misunderstanding but you forgave her and are ready to marry her." my dad said it 

The information was not less than a tsunami on my little heart. I choked on my saliva "What are you saying dad? Wife, marriage what is this all?" I yelled super shocked on how the hell they just fixed my marriage without my knowledge. 

"Aadhya is this the manners I taught you? Don't you know how to behave in front of your future husband?" my mom scolded me.

Future husband my foot, this was enough to blow my trigger and I boomed "future husband?? Are you kidding me mom? You didn’t even ask my permission. Hell you didn't even bother to inform me this. And you're expecting me to behave?" I said on the verge of crying both because of my frustration and fear of this man.

"Shut up Aadhya we're your parents we can do anything we want to do with you." my mom spat angrily.

If they don’t care about my feelings then screw the manners, I won’t care either. "You know what mom I know you hate me but I never thought you would marry me without my consent to just get rid of me" I said and ran away from there.

I was crying badly, maybe for 2 or 3 hours. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming towards my room. Akshar came into my room and sat beside me. Unable to hold my emotions in I just hugged him not in any intimate gesture but just a bear hug. I don’t care what it will seem to others but right at this moment I want someone to console me, to make me feel cared and loved. He didn’t say anything just hugged me back and stroked my back in a soothing manner.

He asked the reason for my tears. I told him everything and I felt like he wanted to say something but couldn't. I can tell this by seeing his face. 

"What happened Akshar?" I asked him 

"You know I knew it from the beginning that it will happen but I didn't think it would be this soon" he said hesitatingly making me shocked.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked 

"You remember the day of my engagement when Veer came. He was continuously staring at you. I thought it's my fault. But he was really staring at you. I thought to ask him later but then I forgot." he said 

"Next day he called me about you and your relationship status. I asked him why he is so interested in you. He said that he likes you because you slapped him. I was shocked to know that the girl is you who dared to slap him." he said 

Suddenly we're disturbed because my mom and Dad came to talk with me asking Akshar to leave us alone for some time.

He left me with an apologetic look on his face. 

Now it’s time to listen to the things my parents have to say....