Love could be that strong #YourStoryIndia

Chapter 46

AN : That's Madhu in her bridal attire in the pic.

*Unedited*

Madhu was tossing and turning in her bed. The festivities were going around in the house yet she was locked in her room on the pretext of having a headache. It was her 'Sangeet' (also known as a function a night before the marriage.) Everyone was busy laughing, dancing, and chatting. Madhu had endured each and every ritual with a big fake smile but now it felt like she couldn't take it anymore. She stared at her henna-covered palms. She traced the henna patterns with her finger where the name 'RK' was proudly written. That bastard!! Madhu mentally cursed him. He had bribed the girl applying henna to write his own name on Madhu's palm instead of Mukund's. It was a custom that the groom's name was written on the bride's palm. But somewhere deep inside she knew that it was always his name that was meant to adorn her palm. 

She never saw Rishab after the day of Arnav and Khushi's engagement. But somehow he was always around her. Every morning she woke up to find a note along with a bunch of her favorite flowers - Lily by her bedside table. Madhu strongly suspected Khushi's involvement in this. Since the past few days, each and everything intentionally kept reminding her of every little moment spent with him. A week back a car purposely ran close to her and she shouted all kinds of bad names at the driver. And a few seconds later she received a message from an unknown number saying,

"Remember our first meeting? Even though we were off to a rough start, we somehow made it." 

And when she reached the market she received a note from the vegetable seller saying,

"I am still in love with that cute, angry Madhu who bossed me around when we made dinner on Anjali di's anniversary." 

An involuntary smile graced her lips when she remembered that day. Rishab almost set the whole kitchen to fire. Just then she got a message saying,

"I love your smile. But let me remind you that I still don't know how to cook. So it's you who's going to cook after marriage. I will do the dishes." 

She instantly turned around to find him but he was nowhere near in sight.

"You can't see me. It's bad for bride and groom to see each other before the wedding."

Madhu instantly grew tomato red and hurriedly went back home. This morning when she woke up she found a gift-wrapped box. There was a beautiful yellow dress inside with a note saying

"Yellow suits you. I am sure you will look gorgeous in this dress that I selected for you."

Madhu decided against wearing that dress and instead wore another one brought by Mukund's family. But looks like Rishab had too many spies. Little Kush 'accidentally' spilled a soft drink on her dress and she had no other option but to wear the yellow one. 

Then later that night Khushi threw her a surprise bachelorette party. Although Khushi had something like 'fun with booze and strippers' on her mind, she had to cut it down when Madhu reminded her of Arnav. Khushi very well knew that Arnav will chop the limbs off the poor male stripper, so she did the next best thing - she got Madh a personal dancer sort of guy. According to Khushi, the guy was dreamy. But anyhow her bachelorette party was extremely fun. Madhu had some of the best laughs of her life all thanks to Khushi. But there was still a slight tugging at her heart. Suddenly the lights went off and Madhu felt a hand on her waist. The person turned her around and wrapped his arms around her waist. There was no need to tell her who he was. She was very well aware of his close breath on her neck which was sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. And to her own surprise, instead of shouting, she continued to dance with him in a dark room with moonlight spilling from the window. All she could see were his eyes. His eyes held immense regret, hurt, guilt and love. All of that for her.