It's All You... [Arshi]

VII - Change: Temporary vs. Permanent

I'm sorry, I'm in office and posting this.. Can't say anything much now.. Just read and enjoy. ☺

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|| VII - Change: Temporary vs. Permanent||

"Hello?"

"He..hello?"

"Is this Anjali?"

"Yes. I... I am Anjali."

"Please don't be nervous. It's just me, Vinay."

"O..Okay."

"How are you?"

"Good. *pause* You?"

"Pheww!! The first question from you. I'm fine too, Anjali." The hearty laugh from his side loosened some nerves of Anjali as her lips cracked for a meager smile listening to him.

~

"Anjali Anjali.. I so wish to see you now." Vinay sighed on the call.

"But you know you cannot come right now."

"Well, what if I did come now?"

"What?" Anjali shriked into the phone. Her cheeks which turned red a while back lost their color all too sudden.

"You don't know what a desperate groom can do for his bride when he wishes on something." Vinay claimed proudly in the phone that Anjali had to crack a smile for that. But the smile didn't take too long to be gone as she heard his next words. "I'll jump into your room in the night. No light, no disturbance."

"Ji.. You can't come to my room like that. What if.. What if Mamma or someone comes to my room at the same time? What if.. What if Chotte comes to my room? You can't.. can't.."

The roaring laughter was his answer to her words that halted Anjali's stutter as she pouted in indigantion. He is such a tease. "Anju! Oh, you're so easy always."

"I hate you!!" She muttered as her pout got more defined. She knew the phone can be heard by anyone who picks up the other line. They didn't have the advantage of separate telephone lines but have to suffice with telephones to a single connection. But he always made her forget about it.

"Sweetheart! I love you so much!!" Vinay claimed on the phone, the conviction in his voice bewitching Anjali more. To know that you got the man of your dreams makes a girl feel pleasure unknown. And Anjali experienced that with Vinay. "Anju! I'll do anything for you. You don't know how hard it is for me now without you here. I really wish to see you right now."

And all Anjali could gush about her groom in her mind is how perfect he is, a man any girl could want, a man that she is getting. Maybe this is God's blessing to her lackluster life.

~

Anjali sat numb beside the dead bodies of her parents as the murmurs intensified. It's like her brain froze in the moment she heard the gun shot and her brother's scream for their mother. Neither their consoling aunt mattered nor her brother who sat without speaking. She remembered the morning when she woke up with a bright smile that came with the knowledge of her marriage. After all their innocent flirting, finally today she would be married to someone who gave her hope of a future and a smile she can cherish. But life really is unpredictable.

"Sharada-ji, we will take your leave now." Vinay's mother had the courtesy to tell them that they are leaving but they left without even turning around to hear what Sharada, Arnav and Anjali's aunt, had to say. But it all got clear once huge murmur broke out on how the groom side had left the bride at the altar without any marriage and anyways, the mishap happened had already guaranteed a cancelled wedding as per the people who stood there.