My Destined One

Welcoming in his House

Meera's POV

  I was sleeping quite peacefully, but I wanted to change my position now. Generally, I sleep in one particular position and hence my muscles become stiff in the early morning. Sometimes I just endure it not wanting to get up early or sometimes I change my sides and fall asleep again. But right now, I can't endure it any more, my left hand is paining and so is my leg. I was about to move but I felt my movements getting constricted. I tried to move again but something is holding me, and the more I force myself to move, the tighter the hold gets. Wait? What is holding me? Who is holding me?

  Realization dawned upon me a little late. Why am I so slow? I realize who is holding me, but why he is here. Its such a big room, I know it has only one big bed, but still why did he sleep with me on the same bed? 'Oh come on girl, get a hold on yourself, this is not the first time you are sharing a bed, sleeping in each others' arms. Get used to it.' My mind reasoned. No, I can't get used to it. Its the very freaking last time bro. If I get used to this, it will make things harder for me. Stop making things harder for me. Please.

  I slowly opened my eyes, and the first thing that came in my view is a shirt less, well build chest, where my hand is resting proudly. I slightly look up, seeing Aarsh still peacefully sleeping with me, wrapped in his arms like a baby holding his toy to his chest. Why does he always sleep shirt less! I feel our legs are also entangled, I try removing my legs from under his leg, but out of no where he pulled me to himself more by my waist. Now I started feeling hot. 

  I tried again to get up, literally trying not to wake him up, but to my discomfort, he pulled me up and hid his face on the crook of my neck. His hot breath is tickling me in a very different way. Now my legs are free. Thank goodness. I again try to move my lower body away from him, but this time he just smashed our bodies together with a huge force. How is he still so strong in sleep? This time I too hugged him but only because of the tightness. I started pushing his shoulders, to make some distance, but no, failure is just written on my fate. He pulls me in, and lord save me, he started kissing me muttering, "Just five minutes more baby." 'Baby?' He is thinking that he is kissing Sana, that broke my heart again. And this time I felt the actual urge to move away from him, badly. With all my force I just pushed him away and not letting him a chance to pull me back to him, I quickly got up. This time his sleep is completely disturbed, but I didn't give a damn. 

  "What is wrong with you? Why can't you ever let me sleep peacefully? Can't you stand the sight of me sleeping peacefully or what?" He groaned in his thick morning voice. Man, its groggy but it sounds heavenly to me. Ok, pervert, stop having orgasm just hearing his voice, its not the first time. I calmed myself and looked at him, but his nude, well build chest was making things harder for me. It was quite a struggle for me to keep my eyes on his. I let out a sigh and said, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Why the heck are you here?" "To sleep, you blind woman," he huffed. "When I asked you last night where will you sleep, why didn't you tell me clearly that you want to sleep on the bed?" I asked again. "Well Ms. Meera, sorry Mrs. Meera, any normal person sleeps on the bed only. And its my room, I can sleep where ever I want. So what's wrong with me sleeping on the bed?" "We shouldn't have share the bed Aarsh, and its Miss Meera, not Mrs. Meera." I said getting out of bed finally. 

  He also got out of the bed at the same time, and after stretching his muscles, he said, "Its not a big deal, its not the first time we are sharing a bed. And Miss or Mrs., it hardly matters." "May be its not the first time, but still, you are married now, we shouldn't have shared a bed." I said in a serious tone. "Please, for god sake, please stop. Its still quite early right now, and am hell tired, physically, mentally and emotionally. Lets fight after wards. You wanna use the loo?" He asked. I nodded my head in denial and so he dashed to the washroom may be for his morning chores. The moment he closed the washroom's door, I huffed and sat down on the bed. Its not even 10 minutes in the morning, my mind has already started a fight with itself. And the topics were simple, to melt over his morning voice or not, to get used to wake up everyday like this or not, to enjoy the left over time I have with him or not and many such small but intriguing things. It seems my mind was fighting a baseless but a very strong battle. 

   He came back from the loo with a wet towel hung by his waist, he is driving me insane bit by bit. "Listen, I would suggest not to shower right now, its 7 in the morning, I am expecting by 8:30 we will start our journey, and by 10 we will reach my home. There you can have your bath." He said and moved on to wear his wedding costume. "Aarsh?" "Hmm?" "What if... what if... Sana doesn't come back?" "Sorry? I couldn't follow you." Obviously, I muttered those words vey lowly, glad that it at least reached to my own ears. I cleared my voice and asked, "Do you have any news about Sana?" I said it out loud. He stopped what he was doing and looked at my reflection on the mirror and said "No." That's it. "Then what should we do if she doesn't come back before the welcoming?" I asked with a little panic in my voice. "Well, I have thought about it too. If she doesn't come back before the welcoming then am afraid we literally have one option left. And that is introducing you as my wife." 

  Listening to these words, a warm wave of panic spread all through out my body. "You are joking right?" I said it without even considering it for a second. "Do you really think I will joke about this? How worst you think I am?" He asked with a knitted brows and anger in his voice. "Aarsh, if am introduced as your so called wife, do you even realize what consequences we have to face? f**k the consequences, have you thought what you are gonna explain to your parents, your relatives? Almost everyone knows me and each and every person knows Sana. Just think before you speak." "So what do you want me to do? Stand on the threshold without a bride beside me, when the whole family is eagerly waiting for that person only? Listen, I can't do that. I have to bring home my wife." "But that is not me, its Sana, you dumb head." "But are you seeing Sana here? No, so you have agreed to sit beside me on the mandap, you will only stand on the threshold with me." "Are you trying to punish me just because I agreed to be your model?" I asked in confusion. "No, love. Its not called punishment. I am just reminding you the responsibility you took upon your shoulders, and also, you can't step back now, without completing it."

  I sighed listening to his words. I shouldn't have obeyed him yesterday like an i***t. See, where am stuck now, there is literally no way of getting out of this situation. I was is deep thoughts, when Aarsh came and stood infront of me, cupped my face and said, "Meera, I will let you go. I promised you. Its just that I will first see Sana and only then I can let you go. I promise I won't try to bind you. Just bear a little bit please." I looked at his eyes. I felt a bit bad for him. "But what about your parents and your relatives? They will first remove the veil, see my face and then let me enter. Your mom might go into some kind of shock." "Don't worry about my relatives, I will handle them, if its required. And about my parents, I promise no one will tell you anything. I will handle everything. Just trust me a bit." I nodded and he nodded there after. 

  After some few minutes, I completed my morning routine. Soon after Shagun and rest of the girls came in to get me ready. Everything was done in complete silence. It literally felt we were getting ready for a damn funeral and not a part of a wedding. But it doesn't matter now. What's going on right now, its way more bitter than a funeral, at least for us. We had a light breakfast all together and soon, as Aarsh said earlier, by 8:30, we were in the car, heading towards his house. Its at least an hour drive from here, giving some extra time for traffic. One hour is enough time for changing of my fate. In this one hour, either I can be tied up with Aarsh for the whole life, or maybe its last few moments am spending in his presence. 

  Yes, I have decided it now, if Sana comes back, not only I will leave this place immediately, but also I will go away so far, that none of them can find me. I know, in these times its quite hard, but I will try, my level best. I honestly can't endure to keep on watching Sana and Aarsh together. Yes, I have tried to prepare for this for quite a few years, but I can't. Moreover, whatever happened in last 24 hours, it will always take a toll on my mind. Neither I will be able to forget it, nor I can endure it. Going away is the only option for me. I came out of my deep thoughts when the car jerked a bit. Aarsh was sitting beside me. He stopped me from clashing my body with the passengers' seat. "Careful Meera, please." I nodded and then he moved his arm from my chest, which I haven't noticed earlier. 

  The path was not in a very good condition. Indian roads, I tell you! He pulled us together and grabbed me tightly by my shoulders. I wanted to push away but couldn't. May be its the last time I will be in his close proximity. We were now almost 20 minutes away from his house. He was focusing on the road completely, although he wasn't driving. Suddenly a question came in my mind. "Aarsh?" "Hmm?" "What did you tell in your home? I mean how have you arranged everything?" He looked at me in confusion for a bit, but after a few seconds he started saying, "I called mom, told her to send away all the unnecessary guests from the house. She was a bit confused, but I provided 2-3 excuses, and gladly she bought it. Right now, my mother, my close paternal and maternal aunts and cousins are waiting to welcome us." "Exactly how many?" "May be 10-15. Why?" "That's too much." "Am sorry, I can't help it. You see, my marriage was one of the most awaited event in my family. The presence of this much relatives is quite natural according to me." He said in a convincing tone.

  I wasn't still sure about this. 10-15 people are waiting to welcome Sana. What will happen when they are going to see me instead of her. How all they will react, how I will be able to take those reactions, these thoughts were literally roaming in my mind. Aarsh might have sensed my tension. He grabbed my hand with his other hand tightly, pressed the already resting hand on my shoulder, made me look into him and said, "No one will say anything to you. I won't let you get hurt Meera, ever." And honestly speaking, I believed in each and every word of his sentence. I was really ready to face everything now. Yes, I can do it. 

  20 minutes later, when we reached reached the entrance of the town, it took the driver 2-3 minutes to park the car on Aarsh's driveway. Aarsh got out as soon as the car came to a halt but not before muttering "Put your veil down." I did what he asked me to do, but I wanted to say, 'Soon they will remove it and face the reality, why delaying it any further huh?' But I didn't say it out loud. He soon came  to my side of the door, opened it, and helped me step out of the car. Soon the other cars came, and every one got out, ready to see the drama going to happen in a few minutes. We climbed the steps together, me and Aarsh side by side while the others followed us. We stood on the threshold, waiting for his mom to start the rituals followed by the drama.

  Soon enough aunty came with a plate, which consists things that are required for my welcoming. She started with aarti (where the light is shown to the god, here its shown to the character to let god bless her in this new home. Indian tradition, try not judging it please), she did both to me and Aarsh respectively. She did a few more rituals that are to be done before my veil gets lift up. Within a minute or two, the time came. She handed over the plate to one of Aarsh's aunt, I don't know from which side. But she abruptly stopped. By the looks of it, she was trying to search someone among our friends, may be not able to find that person, she finally looked at her son and asked, "Where is Meera? Everyone is here, but where is she?" Oh boy, my blood turned cold. "Mom, lets get done with this first and I will tell you everything. Ok?" Aarsh said politely. She nodded and then her hands lifted to grab my veil. Slowly she took it and gently put it over my head. I didn't have the guts to look at her, but I can clearly imagine the expression on her face by hearing her and everyone's gasp. Its done its over. And my waterworks start without any prior notice. 

  "Why is Meera here? Where is Sana? Aarsh, do you think its time to joke? Bring me my daughter in law right now!" She screamed. I met this woman quite a lot of times, but I have never ever seen this side of hers. Am scared. "Mom, Sana is gone, Meera agreed to sit on the mandap with me to stall the wedding, but unfortunately Sana didn't show up. Mom, its me and Meera who got married. She is your daughter in law from now." This time I looked up, looked up to him. Is he really serious right now with his words? I knew it, he won't let me go. Ever. I hate you Aarsh Sharma, I hate you from my core for putting me in this situation.