Edit
1174 Words
Now that both Ishanvi and Neer had agreed for the engagement ceremony, the elders decided to do it as soon as possible.
Everyone had gathered at the Maurya Sheraton hotel, where the Royal family was staying for their unplanned, short visit to Delhi.
"We would really like it if the ceremony can be held before we head back to Chandigarh," Mr Oberoi said over lunch. "The ceremony needn't be grand or extravagant, just simple without any pretensions or splurging much."
"When do you plan to hold the ceremony?" Mr Dixit inquired.
"This weekend if it's okay with everyone," Mrs Oberoi replied. "Because we'll leave for Chandigarh early on Monday morning."
Everyone looked at Ishanvi and Neer to see if they were okay with having the ceremony immediately.
"It's fine with me," Neer said after a while. "Let's ask Ishanvi first before deciding anything."
Everyone smiled at his response before turning their attention to Ishanvi to know her decision.
"I don't have anything to do this weekend," Ishanvi hurriedly told them in a low voice. She felt uncomfortable with sudden attention directed at her.
Everyone burst out laughing at her response, even Neer couldn't help himself from turning his lips upwards.
After that, everyone got busy with the preparations and discussions of arrangements while Ishanvi sat there silently, stabbing her salad with the fork. She was embarrassed by how everyone had reacted to her reply and was still sulking about it.
Neer noticed that she wasn't participating in the preparations and wondered if she wasn't willing to go ahead with this marriage or if she was being forced or under some pressure to marry him.
But he knew Ishanvi wasn't someone who would just give into someone's demands unless she wanted to do something herself.
*"Then why is she looking upset?"* he asked himself.
Before he could arrive at a conclusion, he was dragged away by Nurvi and Inaayat to discuss the theme for the function.
As there wasn't much time left, Ishanvi was ordered to finalise a dress for herself as soon as possible and send it for the alterations if needed. Same instructions were given out to Neer as well, after all it was an important day for both of them.
Ishanvi and her sisters along with Nurvi and Anna had gone shopping.
They had decided to wear gowns for the event. And as it was an evening event, they had decided to keep it elegant yet glamorous.
Anna had come to meet Ishanvi and also to help them with the decor and other arrangements.
Ishanvi dragged Anna to the room assigned to her.
Anna had left with the promise to return the next day early in the morning.
While the elders had retired to their rooms, the youngsters had decided to play dumb charades till late in the night citing it'd give them a chance to mingle and get to know each other a bit before the event.
They had gathered in Paridhi's room that she was sharing with Ira, and divided into teams of — and began playing.
A little while into the game, Ishanvi received a text on her cellphone. It was from Neer and it read
*Please come into my room for a while. We need to talk.*
She looked up from her phone and realised that Neer wasn't there which meant he had already left when the game had started.
Making an excuse about going to the washroom, Ishanvi got up and left from there.
Questions swarmed in her head as she made her way to Neer's room. Ishanvi found his request weird considering Neer had never really invited her to his room before. And what did he want to talk about right before the engagement?
Questions bugged her mind, questions only Neer could answer.
Reaching outside his room, Ishanvi knocked on the door a couple of times.
A commotion was heard before Neer opened the door and let her enter.
He motioned her to take a seat on the couch but she refused and instead stood beside the huge window in his room that overlooked the garden outside.
"My apologies for calling you here in the middle of the game," Neer said, standing across from her.
"It's alright. I wasn't really into it," Ishanvi shrugged.
"Look Ishanvi, it's kinda important and hence I wanted to make it clear to you before we exchanged the rings tomorrow," Neer began.
"What is it?" Ishanvi asked him in a calm voice.
Neer closed his eyes momentarily as if it was paining him, whatever he was going to say. "Ishanvi, I don't want you to have any expectations from me or from this marriage. We'll be like a husband and wife only in name, only for the world. I'll do everything I'm supposed to do as a husband and look after you but don't expect anything else from me. I hope you'll understand!"
Ishanvi took a few steps backward as his words registered in her head, she couldn't believe her ears.
She stared at Neer in bewilderment.
She was baffled after hearing those words. She couldn't understand where it was coming from. If he didn't want her to expect anything from him or this marriage, why was he marrying her in the first place?
For a moment, she felt like cancelling this engagement and calling off the wedding. But then her family's happy faces flashed in front of her eyes. And his family. What was their fault? Why snatch this happiness from them? They didn't wrong her. Then why make them go through the pain of severing the ties?
No, she can't do this to her family! Or his. She can't break their hearts like he had broken his. And for their happiness, she decided to let it all happen as planned.
"But what about her? Her feelings and emotions— do they hold no value in his eyes?" Her mind questioned.
"It's not the time to be selfish and think about myself. She needs to go ahead with the plan and get married to him for her family's sake," her heart reasoned.
Tears had pooled in her eyes— angry tears, tears complaining about this unfairness, tears asking a million questions, tears reflecting how much his words had hurt her.
But suppressing all her emotions that were surging inside her, she blinked the tears away and stared Neer straight in the eyes.
"Okay, I'll remember this," Ishanvi finally said after what felt like a century.
With that, she walked to the door, without sparing him another glance.
Walking out of the room, she closed the door behind her with a bang which indicated how perturbed and emotionally shattered she was!
And Neer kept rooted at his place, staring at her disappearing figure as her eyes filled with tears cracked something within him with a crackling noise.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Did I just drop a bomb? The biggest bomb ever in the history of the story? I hope you enjoyed the sudden twist. Did you get a whiplash tho? I, for sure, did!
- Writer
