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Gauri, a young village girl ho...
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Looking at the young couple, Vasundhara beamed. She wanted to check if Gauri ate but watching her son indulging the beautiful girl, her heart came at peace. The way Gauri smiled at Yagya and Yagya stole glances full of deification, Vasundhara sensed the brewing chemistry. Perfection paled in comparison to that sweet moment. So, passing them a last glance, Vasundhara retreated.
At least Gauri wouldn't suffer the way she did. The poor girl will successfully earn the love and respect she deserves from the guarded King.
Years ago, on the same night, when Vasundhara was a young bride, full of life and excitement, shy and meek, she waited the entire night for Raghuveer's arrival on the stairs of Chandra Mahal. There was no one to tell her that it was not needed because he doesn't like her. She remembers sleeping on the stairs and waking up to the grumbling of an engine. Her husband had stumbled out of his car in the early hours of the morning in a drunken frenzy. Her soul almost left her body noting that he drove himself home when he could barely stand straight.
Tears flooded Vasundhara's eyes.
He had slurred how ugly she was and how much he hated her. He called her names, loud enough to wake every sleeping being in the fort, and then walked past her as if she was a pest beneath his boot. Her father-in-law had soothed her the next morning when she couldn't stop crying and scolded his son. All she wanted was an apology to forget the scene and move on, but it never came. Still, she consoled her heart and pretended like nothing happened. Things such as this always made her jealous of Garima, the late sister-in-law who was loved dearly by Aaryan.
In childhood, she had dreamt of marrying a prince and living in a grand palace. In her teen years, when she was out of school, she wished to be matched with the most handsome man. And all those dreams came true when the proposal from Ranas came. She was on the moon, unbeknownst that the happiness, freedom, and tranquility experienced in her father's home were about to get thwarted in Royal Paradise.
Now after 26 years of marriage, she can barely recognize herself. A shadow of what she used to be. It wasn't the grey hair or wrinkles that disturbed her but the emptiness and hopelessness plaguing her every waking hour. The lips which once used to remain stretched into a goofy grin, barely smiled. If you look closely, the corners have turned downward. The days of loneliness and struggle stole all her light. 26 years of unhappy marriage standing on the shoulders of a woman who has lost all her loved ones mysteriously, has now become a rope around her neck. It tightens every day, suffocating her, reminding her of the responsibilities and problems surrounding the fortress where she is still waiting to be embraced and accepted by one man who will never love her.
Still, she does the chores, sometimes with devotion and other times as formality to maintain an image in the eyes of onlookers who will never understand her pain. Leaving the palace, she marches towards the infirmary where the man responsible for her sadness rests. Nodding at the nursing employees, Vasundhara enters the private room where Raghuveer was hooked to medicines and glucose. She slowly brings the blanket to his chin as he sleeps peacefully and then settled on a chair beside his bed.
