Ch-10"The literal thing. I asked you to cancel the engagement, not the marriage," he said with a sigh making Rahul frown."What do you mean, Arjun?" he asked."She is not in the position to wake up and attend the ceremony. And in the olden days, there is nothing called engagement. Both sides of the family exchange Thamboolam and the presence of the bride and groom are just for show. I guess we have to go with that," Arjun said.[Thamboolam: In south Indian culture, there is no concept of a wedding. They exchange a plate filled with betel leaves. The groom's side would exchange the plate with saree, betel leaves, betel nuts, flowers, coconut, any kind of fruits, flowers, bangles, red turmeric, and turmeric. While the bride side would give the same betel leaves, betel nuts, a kind of fruit, silk dhoti, and red turmeric. This segment means fulfilling the ceremony of engagement. The exchanging of rings was never a real segment. From what my parents said they give them as gifts in the mar
Ch-11"Your dad is dead and will never wake up,""You are an orphan,""You are unlucky girl,""You are a bad omen,""She should be thrown somewhere,""She is such a bad luck attracter,""You little bitch get out of here,""She should be killed,""NO! NO! STOP IT! DAD! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU!?""DAD!! DAD!!"Laya sat up straight at the nightmare she got. Indeed, it's not a nightmare but a memory of her childhood.She tried to run her hand through her hair but something tugged her. She saw a drip was connected to the back of her right palm. She sighed as she remembered the incidents that happened in the morning. When she got to know that it's her engagement, she fell unconscious. She only remembered her brother carrying her to her room or one of the rooms in the mansion.She removed the needle as the drip was empty. Laya smiled bitterly when she realized there was no one for her to remove the drip after it got emptied. Trying to ignore the pain that was rising in her chest, she walked towar
Ch-12Maha Lakshmi gave it to me when her husband intervened."Son, there is an auspicious time in another hour," the old pandit said. He looked like he was in his nineties or eighties.Laya wondered how he was still holding on with that much age."Since we have fixed the auspicious time. Shall we start the segment? Get my future-daughter-in-law ready?" Maha Lakshmi said."Aunt, but Rahul is not here," Durga tried to say."It doesn't matter," Maha Lakshmi said."But you didn't let the segment happen when my sister is absent, Aunt!" Abhinav almost yelled at her.Maha Lakshmi looked at him with a frown as he raised his voice at her."Abhinav…" Laya's weak voice could be heard in the silent room where a storm was brewing. Her voice attracted the commotion. Maha Lakshmi looked at her with displeasure."It's my fault. You shouldn't yell at aunt. It's just wearing a saree and adorning a few ornaments. No big deal. And it's one of the biggest days in my life. I will get ready. Before that… a
Ch-13Laya sat on her bed as thought about the things that happened to her. Her mother-in-law looked like a devil. She can remember those evil mothers-in-law from that kind of telugu serials. As for her father-in-law he looked kind but powerless in front of her mother-in-law. As for the groom… he looked like a perfect jerk or maybe not.From what her mother-in-law said…. She stopped the segment due to her absence but she didn't do the same during her son's absence. She can imagine her life in her in-law's house. A sneer formed on her lips at the bitter life she was going to have. She was fretting whether she should trust her brother or not or run away.If she has a mother or father or a brother who are related to her biologically, she would not have to go through this situation. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she thought about this. Who would support her from now on? She would be given with respect based on the dowry she takes. And adding to the point she takes 1/3rd portion of sha
Laya didn't know what happened all the time. She did what she was asked and what she was told to do. No one asked if she was fine with what they were doing to her or not. No one asked if her health was good or not. Even her brother Arjun was not seen around. She sighed at her situation pitifully.She looked at her hands which were filled with mehndi. Seeing her mehndi dried, she decided to wash it off. After washing it off she realized this mehndi was pretty nice on her hands, she wondered if her life would be this pretty as her hands. She searched for the name of the groom in her hands. But she could only find the letter R as for the rest she didn't understand what was written on her hands.She gave up looking deeper into it. In mehndi, the groom's name would be written on the hands of the bride. They say that the redder the shade of color turns, the brighter her married life will be. So, every bride wishes that her mehndi would dry into the darkest shade of red.Laya's hands were in
Ch-15Next day…Laya heard from her Sharada that there was a Lord Shiva temple and has to go there to give offerings. Now She had to get ready for it. She wore red a saree and got ready to leave along with her sister-in-law and her brother after they got ready. She doesn't want to take help from anyone… so she tried to drape the saree with a YouTube Video. She couldn't fold the pleats of her frill properly so… she just pinned her frill without folding the pleats to her blouse. She decided to learn how to fold the pleats of her saree frill properly when she gets time this evening.They decided to go to the temple at 8 A.M. And just to drape this saree, she got up early. She saw her mother coming towards her… which brought a headache to her. Last night… her mother woke her from her sleep just to tell her she should go to the temple in the morning which ruined her sleep. Laya was so frustrated to the point she wanted to curse her mother that all her rubber bands would disappear for the n
Ch-16Raghuram felt a headache was coming on his way after hearing his son's words. He asked him to accept the deal and to deal with it sooner as the groom's people were coming… They have to prepare a welcome for them the soonest. Looking for a new hotel to stay over was an impossible thing to do.Arjun was thankful for his father's decision right now. He has to convince his relatives to stay in those less luxurious rooms. Arjun spoke for nearly an hour with the manager regarding the things, payment, the groom welcome preparations, and things. It was already 9.30 A.m. By the time they were done speaking. Laya felt relief after the things got settled down.Arjun and Abhinav came out to see Laya standing in the garden trying to catch a yellow butterfly that was flying away from her. Maybe this was the first time they saw her smiling genuinely in the past eight days. A smile crept on their faces as they looked at her. "She looks beautiful when she smiles," Abhinav said."Of course, Just
Ch-17"I think you should go inside and check around" a voice startled her. She turned around and saw a man with the most beautiful pair of black eyes peppered with gold, staring intently with a curve in his lips. There was a spark in his eyes that she couldn't look away from, his lips had the softest and prettiest shade of pink she had ever seen. She was drowned in him. There was complete silence for minutes, which was broken by that person."Hi !!! This is Rahul,'' he introduced himself."This is not a drama, right? Then why do I feel as if his name is music to my ears when I don't even know him ?!" Laya asked herself in her mind. His deep voice brought her back to reality and she squeaked out a "Hi !" While in response she saw amusement swirl in Rahul's eyes as his lips curled in a smirk. Laya flushed at his reaction. It was the first time that she had felt so disoriented in front of a man and on second thought, she had no regrets. "Why ?" she asked herself. But soon her thoughts g