Doom Or Destiny

First night, Let's fight

Jaanvi’s POV :

We had to catch our flight back to Mangalore in the evening and we reached Mangalore airport by 6.30pm. We had to drive for about an hour to reach the mansion. Once we reached, my new family welcomed us with aarthi and I entered the house after spilling the rice filled kalasha. My mother in law took us to the pooja room and asked me to light the lamp and pray for the prosperity of the family.
 
Soon some relatives of the family surrounded me and started asking about me, my career and my family back in Bangalore. Though it felt like an interview, no one objected about my career and I was happy about it. My mother in law took me to the guest room and asked me to freshen up and get changed into something comfortable.
Shreya and Shivaani helped me with the saree and all the hidden safety pins and clips used to keep everything intact. Now I decided to wear a simple peach saree since I’m still a new bride and the woman crowd wouldn’t have much liking for other kind of cloths on bride, especially on her first day and I didn’t want any new problem.

Shreya and Shivaani left me to let me rest for a while. I plopped on the comfy bed of the guest room and almost every body part of mine was reporting me about their pain. But my brain had its own share of pain that kept me awake.
 
I started thinking about my journey from Ms. Jaanvi Avasthi to Mrs. Jaanvi Vasisht. If my past with him was different and if we were still in love with each other, I would have been the happiest bride today. But right now, I don’t know if I'm actually happy or not. Everything happened just like the way I and Ved dreamt years ago but the emptiness in my heart when all these events were happening was not something I dreamt of. I don’t regret marrying him at any point of time, since I have gained a new family full of loving people because of this marriage and the family I left behind while walking to my new life are happy too. Everything can't be perfect, but whatever I have right now is beautiful. Even if I can't find love I can definitely build a life here and survive. With all these thoughts I hardly slept for some time.
 
Later Shreya came to my room and asked me to join everyone for dinner. This time it was a decent dinner without any new drama of feeding each other or something. But the cousins gang was still teasing both of us. I had to maintain a smile on my face throughout the dinner to prove that I'm still a new coy bride.
 
Next I had to get ready for my first night with Ved, as if something would actually happen between us, what a good joke, isn't it.... Shreya and Shivaani came to my room with a baby pink crepe saree and helped me get ready. My mother in law was in the room once I got ready and asked the two girls to leave us alone as she had something to talk to me.

She came and sat next to me and I thought she would start talking about the tradition and stuff. But she didn’t talk about any of those, in fact she didn’t talk at all.
  “Aunty you have something to talk to me?”
I asked her with hesitation.
  “No more aunty business dear. Its either Mom or Mumma"
She replied with a playful glare.
  “Fine I will go with Mumma”
I don't want my Mom to feel betrayed at any point. So Mumma is my pick this time.
  “That‘s like my daughter”
  “So Mumma, what is issue that you wanted to talk to me?"
  “I want to tell you something which might be bit surprising for you"
I nodded and asked her to proceed.
  “I know everything about you and Ved. So you don’t have to be cautious around me about your relationship"
Her words brought me sheer shock as soon as I heard about them. Why did she push Ved to marry me even after knowing he doesn't even like me? That clearly doesn't make any sense...
She guessed my thoughts and continued to talk,
  “When I first saw you at Arnav’s engagement, I was curious about you. I thought you would be a good match for my Ved. But when I asked Arnav and Yash about you, they told me everything. My son is a complete idiot Jaanu. You could have been the best couple if that boy was bit more sensible at that time. I’m truly sorry for whatever pain he has given to you”
There was sincerity and pain in her words though it wasn't really her fault.
  “Mumma its all in the past. We both were too young to make good decisions may be. We both almost forgot everything before we met again. You don’t have to apologize"
I held her hand and gave her a smile. She doesn't have to be guilty for what he did, she doesn't deserve to be in such situation.
  “I know Ved wasn’t much positive about this marriage since the beginning. But I didn’t want him to destroy his future with that gold digger girlfriend of his. I might sound greedy when I pushed you both into a loveless marriage, but I have trust in you both. You will end up loving each other once you give chance and accept each other. My Ved has been a workaholic kid since he began his career and his only goal is to maintain the legacy of his father. In this journey he forgot to live for himself. She used his weakness of loneliness to enter his life and convince him that he loves her and she is the only one who loves him.
  I won’t force you to accept him and start loving him at this moment. But I want you to consider this relationship. I want you to bring back the happy Ved who loved you and had dreams about his future with you”
For a mother, whatever she is speaking is perfectly alright, I was really relieved when she didn’t support her son’s mistakes and didn’t force me to start loving him. It would have been hard for me if she expected me do so.
  “Mumma.. I love this family, so I will never try to break this relationship and I’ll continue to love you all. Regarding Ved…. My heart still has questions about falling in love with him again. It's not as easy as it looks.
The sole reason I was ok with an arranged marriage was my inability to find a romantic love again in my life. I can only promise that I will try to respect this relationship but for love….I don’t know if I will be ready any soon.”
I wanted to be honest and didn’t want to give any false hopes to her.
  “Falling in love with a person you meet in your life isn't hard. But the important thing is to stay in love with the same person for the longest time. Your relationship with Ved during your college days had to fight with the major communication gap that creeped between you both, so it went through downhill as the time passed. But now you're bound to a responsible relationship. You both practically spend a lot of time together in a day. So even if you don’t fall in love with each other quickly, you both will try to tolerate each other’s presence in your life. You both become part of each other's lifestyle. Someday you might start enjoying each other's company too. I want your love to slowly grow like a pearl and stay beautiful forever. I just want you to give a thought about this Jaanu and remember your Papa and Mumma will always be here to listen to you"
She held my hands to give me the comfort I craved for. This is how mother's magic works, they clearly know how to handle things with minimum damage and maximum care.
  “Usually when a girl leaves her paternal home to her in-law's place, first thing that she worries would be her in-law's treatment towards her. But I was sure I would have the coolest and the most understanding in-laws waiting for me in my new home. I would cherish this forever Mumma”
I promised her with all my sincerity.
She kissed me on my forehead and asked me to go to my room that I will be sharing with Ved.
And... Here goes nothing...