Kyra (Complete)

Chapter One

Delhi, India

The slow movement of her lips was in sync with her words even if her heart fought against them. Kyra could tell. She always knew when Mother was fighting hard to keep her emotions in check. She knew by the way her eyes could never make contact with Kyra's. She knew by the constant fidgeting of her fingers that were clasped before her and half buried in her joined knees. She knew by the coming together of her thick black brows to form a weary frown. She knew but she listened as she had always done, making certain to remember every word as well as heed to them.

Mother was going over Kyra's new role. It wouldn't be the first time though, both Mother and Grandmother had prepared her for this her entire life. But it would be the final time.

“You are privileged that Vihaan accepted.” Mother was saying. “Vihaan arrives tomorrow and you must be prepared to welcome him. Oh, Kyra!” She laced her fingers with Kyra's. “You must show Vihaan's family that they made the right choice by agreeing to have our family joined in marriage.”

Vihaan; the name she heard every single passing day since she turned nine. The man she was betrothed to. She didn't have a say in any of it and she didn't think she needed a say. But she had heard of Vihaan all her life and had never gotten the privilege of setting her eyes on him. At first she thought it a coincidence how he would fall sick whenever her family was invited to have dinner at his home or how he would have somewhere else to be whenever his family needed to visit hers. As the years went by, it became increasingly clear that he wanted nothing to do with her and to prove his point, he left Delhi for the United States to go to college. If Mother's words were right, then she would set her eyes on Vihaan for the first time, on the day of their wedding.

“So many young ladies out there and they choose you!” Mother tried to sound excited but her eyes carried no excitement in them. She was weary. She too had no idea what Vihaan was like but her fear rose from a place much darker than Vihaan's anonymity.

“He will be kind to me.” Kyra tried to put her mother at ease.

She smiled and nodded. “And if he is not, Kyra, you be kind to him. You must be strong.” Tears filled her eyes as Kyra tightened her hold on her. “And, you must never show fear.” She whispered. In that one sentence was hidden the history of her mother's abusive marriage.

Kyra understood much more than anything that her mother feared what Vihaan would do to her. She also knew that if her mother had her way, she would stand against the marriage. But the Jindal women had no say in a household run by her father.

“I won't, Maa.” She said, even if in truth, she feared the future that awaited her, especially since it was a future with a man who most certainly did not like her.

“Anja!”

Her father's angry voice carried from where he stood downstairs, to where Kyra sat with her mother upstairs in the bedroom. She could feel her mother's features become tense.

“Anja!”

He sounded closer, perhaps he was making his way up the stairs? She glanced at her mother who had withdrawn her hands and was rising from the bed. Kyra watched as she straightened and made her way across the marbled floors and toward the door. But it was too late, for her father's angry figure was already standing by the doorway.

“Didn't you hear me calling?” His angry voice exploded in the room, causing the hairs on Kyra's arms to rise and her heart to skip a beat.

As she watched the scene before her, she tried to tear her eyes away but she couldn't. Her mother's tense back was to her, and while she couldn't hear her mother's voice, she knew she was speaking. Her mother never rose her voice while speaking, especially while speaking to her father.

In a matter of seconds, his fist was slamming hard across her mother's face. Kyra watched as her mother fell to her knees before him and bowed her head.

“Get her ready!” He yelled, pointing an angry finger at Kyra. “Vihaan and his family arrive tonight.”

With that, he turned around and walked away.

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Author's Note

First chapter. Do tell me what you think. Your vote is also highly appreciated.