My Destined One

The Marriage

Aarsh's POV

  A few hours ago

  I was getting ready in my given room, where I have just arrived some good 20-30 minutes ago here. This hotel is basically mine, am one of the board members. So doing the marriage event here wasn't a very big deal for me. I already started getting ready, wearing my sherwani (a type of ethnic men's wear) and pajama. I didn't want to look overrated but my mother is a tough woman to deal with. Nevertheless, I agreed to style my hair, did my facial for the first time yesterday, and now am waiting for someone to come and tie my turban on my head. I sitting on the bed and waiting, when I heard the door bell, 'It might be someone who has come to my rescue.' I went to the door, opened it, and soon became disappointed. Its not the one I expected. Its Sharman who has rung the bell. "What the hell are you doing here? And the last time I checked, you don't know how tie a turban. So what the f**k are you doing here?" "We are in a crisis and this bloody moron is hankered about his turban. Such a self obsessed man he is!" He muttered but I heard it quite clearly. "What do you mean by crisis? Is my wedding seems like a crisis to you? How can you say such a thing? We are your friends Sharman." "At least let me come inside." I nodded and gave him the space to enter the room.

  He entered the room, I locked the door. I went to him and he looked worried, more like shaking. "Sharman, what's wrong man? Is everything alright?" "Aarsh, promise me you won't panic." "Just tell me already what's going on. Then I will decide if panicking is the only option or not." "We can't find Sana. She is nowhere, she left the place." 'The words I wanted to hear for so freaking long.' "What? Do you even know what nonsense you are speaking? And what do you mean by you can't find her? She is not a key or any small thing that you might lose, she is a freaking person." I said in a panic tone. "I know buddy, but since the time the makeup artist came they couldn't find her. Swayam bhai was there do bring them to her room, but she wasn't there. Swayam bhai hasn't told to their parents yet. Her cousins searched the entire place, but there's no trace. When we all came, he told us. We tried to call her, but its out of reach. We are losing hope, Swayam bhai decided to tell you, but he couldn't understand how. So I volunteered to come. Aarsh do something or this wedding can't happen." He said in almost a breaking tone. I felt bad for him. Here I was happy for what I was hearing and on the other hand Sharman felt helpless and hopeless. 

  "Where is everyone?" I asked. He looked up to me and said, "In Sana's room." "Bring them here. Lets sit and discuss what we can do. I don't think stopping the wedding will be a good option?" "Bro, what are you saying?" "Just bring everyone here. Lets discuss and find a solution. Quickly go and bring them here." He nodded and got up and literally ran to others. 'Now no one can stop me from being with you Meera. Get ready to be mine.' I smirked.  

  Within minutes I heard the door bell ring again. I opened the door and saw everyone standing infront of me. Swayam bhai, Sana's cousins, our friends, everyone was here. I let them in. They sat down, everyone looked depressed and tired. They really searched her thoroughly, I felt bad for them. 'Why do you do this to others Sana? Don't you feel anything for them?' I internally asked. "Bhai." I said to Swayam bhai. "What am I going to do Aarsh?" He started crying. Looking such a matured and solved man cry like this pained my heart quite a bit. I held his hand, crouched down and said, "Tell me bhai, what do you want? You want to stop the wedding? We can stop it. I will take the blame on myself." "No, the wedding should happen." Even in this sad atmosphere, I couldn't help but smile a little. 'Yes, I want this wedding to be done. My and Meera's.' But I can't say that out loud. "But how? Why? Who will sit beside me on the mandap? I think its a bad idea." "No Aarsh, please don't say that. If my parents get to know that Sana ran away before the wedding, they will die out of pain, they will be hurt. And if the wedding stops, anyhow, they will die out of humiliation. You know how our society is. Even if you take the blame on yourself, people won't stop shamming us. I will be able to bear it, but my parents won't. Aarsh don't stop this wedding." 

  "I understand what you are saying, but how will it happen without a bride?" I asked in a 'What nonsense are you even saying' tone. "Any girl can sit beside you, after all their face will be covered?" 'Woah, he is quite fast.' "And who will sit beside me?" I asked him in return. He looked at our friends. 'He is actually trying to save Sana by sacrificing others. Wow, what a great brother!' "No, no way. You are kidding right?" "Do you really believe I will joke at this point, huh?" "Ok, but who?" "Anyone, please." This  time he said pleadingly to the girls. "Well, Vidushi is too short, Riya is quite broad, so is Varsha, and Maithili is too thin. No one can dress up like Sana and sit beside me pretending to be her." He nodded at my explanation. 'Its time,' my mind said. "Wait, where is Meera?" I asked. "She hasn't arrived yet, she will come by 6:30 she said." Maithili said. I nodded and said. "Call her up, and ask her to come as quickly as possible." "Why?" Swayam bhai asked in confusion. "Because she is the only one who can sit beside me." I said confidently.  He nodded and everybody started contacting Meera. 'Its really time now.'

Present

  Everything is going pretty well, pretty planned. Without doing anything, Sana left. I won't say am too happy about it, but Sana leaving the wedding is truly a blessing. When Sharman informed me around 6 in the evening that Sana is nowhere, I was pretty much, how should I place this, ok with the whole thing. Maybe somewhere, in slightest way, happy about it, but I didn't let anyone see this. I took this as an opportunity, rather a blessing, for me and Meera to be together. Everyday, since the day I knew what exactly she is to me, I just wanted her to be with me. Within minutes, she became precious to me. Earlier, I always had this strange feeling that I need to be with her. We had some kind of strange pull towards each other. Since the day I first saw her in my tuition, the attraction began. After knowing our bond, I felt everything is pretty much explained to me. The pull, the attraction, feeling wrong to be with Sana, feeling right just to be in Meera's presence, everything is self explained right now. Now, I am just glad that Sana left. Where ever she is, I just hope she remains happy there, hopefully she has gone quite far by now for people to catch her.

  I was already sitting on the mandap along with the priest and Sana's father. He seems quite happy, but little did he know what horrific yet wonderful thing his daughter has done. I just can't help feeling happy and blessed all together. I just hope Meera don't find me enjoying this situation. Phew!  

  Everything is going good, within next few minutes Meera will come down. And we will have our marriage. I was eagerly waiting for that moment when all of a sudden the priest said, "Call the bride" to Sana's father. Uncle turned towards aunty, signaled her to bring my would be. She nodded and went out of the hall. Finally. After a good 5-10 minutes, aunty, along with all other girls came with Meera. I know I can't see her face, its completely cover. But I can clearly imagine how beautiful she must be looking as a bride. My bride. They bring her properly, helping her out with her saree and veil, and all other thing. Finally she came to the mandap and sat beside me. I literally felt her shivering beside me. I hold her hand which was on her lap, squeezed it hard and whispered in her ears, "Don't worry, nothing bad will happen. Everything will be alright, I promise you." Listening my words, she gave a slight nod, making me understand that she got it. Seeing my this small gesture, some of the people who have no idea what exactly is going on, smirked and whistled a bit. I only allowed our common friends, Sana's brother and few of her cousins to get involve in this matter. Rest people have no idea even in the slightest bit. Now am just waiting for this marriage to be done, take Meera with me and leave this place as soon as possible. 

Meera's POV

  This has to be the longest 15 minutes of my life till date. After I was completely ready, mentally, the girls came back in. I don't know why they left in the first place. They were having some conversation which I don't exactly wanted to be a part of. Honestly speaking, I don't want to be a part of this place anymore. I just want to run away like Sana. 'Why did you do this Sana? Why? You wanted this marriage in the first place then what could have been your reason for this s**t? Haven't you ever realize what people go through just because to see other person happy, lively? Don't you care about anyone at all? I know there's no love, but what would have costed you to try?' Things were going in my head non stop. The more I thought about Sana, the angrier I became. 'Meera, you've to endure it as long as you can. Just keep faith on Aarsh, he will make everything all right.' 'Do I have any other option apart from hoping? I don't think so.' The inner battle was now taking a toll on me.

  I closed my eyes, rubbed my forehead, its just too uneasy right now. "Meera, you need something? Water or fresh air?" Shagun asked worriedly. I just nodded my head in denial. She nodded her head in understanding, gave a tight smile and a squeeze on my shoulder and left to god knows where. I know they are trying me to help, but honestly speaking nothing is working. I will feel helped once this is all over and I can go back to my regular life. But after all this, will my life be regular at all? Don't know. I just knew one thing, I need to go away from here, from everyone present here.

  My thoughts continued when all of a sudden we heard a knock on the door and from outside we heard Aunty's voice saying, "Sana, beta, its time for you to come out." Everyone froze in the room. They stood up, hurriedly some one put the veil on, covering my face and others helping me to stand, and someone, I didn't notice who, went to open the door. Then aunty came in along with some of Sana's aunts. "Look at my daughter! She looks so beautiful in her wedding outfit. Had to say, I didn't like it that much before, but Aarsh's mom told me Aarsh insisted to buy this for her. And just look at her, standing here with such a grace." "She truly looks beautiful. Beta, just move your veil and let us see you." One of the ladies told. Shoot!

  We smelled danger, pure danger. The moment this veil goes up, everything will be stopped, destroyed, ruined. No no no, somebody stop her. Say something. I panicked and started squeezing the hands which held mine. They understood that am already panicking. "Aunty no!" It's Maithili. Thank god. I sighed. "What?" "Aunty, don't you know its a bad omen to look at your daughter after she already put the veil on?" "Then why did you put it before I can see?" "Well, to be honest, you, the bride's mother is not allowed to look at the bride after she gets ready. Basically you aren't allowed to see her." Maithili said emphasizing the last line. 'I love you girl.' "Oh, but I hoped to see how beautiful she is looking right now." Aunty said in a sad tone. I felt bad for her. "Don't worry aunty, we will describe you later. Now lets go and get these 2 love birds married." Vidushi said in a convincing and cheering tone. 'Love birds! What a joke!'

  They carefully took me out of the room, aunty was walking ahead of me, holding my right hand, while my friends were beside me and the other ladies who accompanied aunty earlier were behind us. They helped me with the stairs, helped me to reach the mandap and made me sit on the mandap beside Aarsh. Yes, unfortunately its happening. The thing I tried to avoid, rather ran away from, is happening. Am getting tied up with my destined one. I couldn't stop it from happening, couldn't avoid it. All my sacrifices, all the pain I bore, became useless within minutes. My head was screaming, 'Somebody stop it. Save me from this thing, I don't want this.' While my heart said, 'It was always meant to happen. We are in right place, beside our right one. Nothing can be better than this.'  Honestly speaking, one day I will die out of this conflict between my heart and mind, and genuinely I feel that time is near.

  My inner turmoil was taking a toll in my body. I didn't realize until I was shaking. I couldn't concentrate on anything right now, when all of a sudden someone held my hands. It was Aarsh. I immediately looked at him. He squeezed my hands and whispered, "Don't worry, nothing bad will happen. Everything will be alright, I promise you." Listening to his words, I felt calming my self all of a sudden. I gave a slight nod, making him understand that I am ok. Seeing this small gesture in between us, some of the people who have no idea what exactly is going on, smirked and whistled a bit. Aarsh only allowed our common friends, Sana's brother and few of her cousins to get involve in this matter. The rest thought that the love between Sana and Aarsh is being shown off. God! People these days!  I didn't pay a heed to this. Instead, I was praying, praying hard, for Sana to come back, somehow. I know it was supposed to happen, but I don't want it to happen. Sana, please come back. Please. And with that a drop of tear fell from my eyes, imagining what will happen once she comes back, imagining the pain I will be in, after I leave this place. 

  For forever.