His Arranged Bride

Chapter 3

Nitya

Clutching my one hand with the other over my knees, I wait for my husband to enter the room.

I am married now, to a man named Pratham Bhardwaj. Apart from his name, the other two things that I know about him are that he is seven years older than me, and he is the younger brother of Yash Bhaiyya's friend, Naman Bhardwaj.

I have met Namanji only twice when he came to our house with Bhaiyya. Both the times he was good to me. Even told me that I am also like a sister to him.

That is somewhat reassuring to me because I feel I at least know someone in midst of all the strangers here.

A wave of trepidation unfurls within me as I look at the door, wondering how the beginning of my married life would be.

In just a matter of ten days, this significant change has occurred in my life. This marriage that will most certainly alter my life. And I am anxious how this change will be.

After Babuji gave the ultimatum to Yash Bhaiyya regarding my marriage to happen within the two weeks and also him getting that land within a month, we all were too stressed about it.

We had never seen Babuji behave that way, after all. He used to get angry, but he used to listen when Maa and Bhaiyya reasoned with him.

Of course, he never listened to me, but this time he did not budge from his decision even when Maa and Bhaiyya relentlessly tried to convince him. Instead of being convinced, he completely stopped talking with all of us.

So, getting worried by his stance and also his degrading health due to him not eating properly, Bhaiyya took a decision and Maa also sided with him.

Bhaiyya told me about his friend's brother, who recently returned to his village after completing his studies abroad. He also told me about their family being affluential and rich with good values and morals too.

I was slightly apprehensive about it because Prathamji's village is about eight hours farther from mine and also, I felt nervous about marrying a man who returned from abroad. I was nervous whether he would want a simple, village girl like me to be his wife or not.

But when I told this to my brother and mother, they only reassured me, saying that Prathamji would be happy getting a wife like me.

Although I was fully not reassured, I agreed to it, because Babuji's health was degrading day by day, and no medicines given by Vaidji was working on him.

After getting a yes from me, Bhaiyya immediately headed out of the house to meet his friend and talk about this alliance with him.

To this day, I do not know what Bhaiyya told Namanji that he also said yes to the marriage proposal.

I did ask Bhaiyya what he said and how this marriage was fixed, but he only told me not to worry about anything else and prepare myself to being a good wife and daughter-in-law.

And just like that, in a matter of only ten days after the marriage was fixed, I got married to Prathamji.

I swallow, feeling my mouth go dry, when I again think about my husband.

The first time I saw him was on the wedding Mandap, and I have to admit that my heart had stutter when I had briefly looked at his face before averting my gaze.

As I had ambled to the Mandap, I mostly kept my head lowered, but just once I had looked up, wanting to get a glimpse of the man I was about to marry.

A small smile had lighted my face when I saw his handsome face. It so happened that we looked at each other at the same time and a flash of something strange ran within me. I am not sure what it was, but it made me gulp and quickly lower my eyes.