The Accidental Wedding

32. Happy Ending

I worried for the rest of the night; about my father, about the wedding, about my babies. I barely slept that night, but when I did, all I saw was the same nightmare over and over again.

I was running through a jungle in the red, bridal lehenga. My hair flew around in the air and my anklets made sound as I moved. Everything was heavy and tried to stop me from running. I fell down but then got up and kept running. Suddenly everything came to a halt and Shiv came out of nowhere; but this time, he didn't tell me that I will find a way. He just looked me in the eye for a second and vanished into thin air. He didn't comfort me like last time, he didn't say anything, he didn't kiss me, he just went away.

The nightmares were becoming true as every minute passed by as I sat in front of the mirror. The red bridal lehenga, the matching bangles, make-up; everything was weighing me down, it made me feel weak, vulnerable. 

I was waiting for it to turn into a beautiful white flowy dress but it never did and I realised that it was reality and dreams just misguide us into thinking that things that are barely possible can happen anytime. The dream I dreamt one night, it started as a nightmare but ended as a beautiful dream and that was the only hope I clung to. I hoped our plan would work out as we had pictured it.

I walked down the massive staircase once again, with Sanjana by my side. The large living room was cleared out and was decorated with lights and flowers. The mandap sat in the middle of the room and as we walked towards it, I felt every eye on me. Everyone looked at a bride who was walking towards a marriage but no one saw a broken girl who never wanted any of it.

I saw Ashwin sitting in the mandap, everyone else around him had smiles on their faces other than the people who knew what was going on. My mom, Vivan, Sanjana; everyone knew this was all a lie.

I sat down beside him and the rituals started.

Halfway through, I saw Lorenzo and Sanjana leave for their part of the plan and after a few minutes, all the lights went off. The fire from the mandap wasn't enough for anyone to see clearly. People started muttering things and some of them went to check what was wrong.

I felt Ashwin get up from beside me silently and I felt another body sit beside me. I sighed in relief as I realised that the plan was going as we thought.

 The lights came back up and I turned around, expecting to see Shiv but I saw Ashwin still there, sitting with worry on his face.

"What are you doing? Where is Shiv?" I whispered to him in slight panic.

"Shiv isn't anywhere to be found, no one knows where he went. What am I supposed to do?" he whispered back.

"Oh, no." I muttered to myself.

Just then I heard a voice yell.

"Stop!" I heard my father's stern voice.

Everyone turned around to see Shiv pushing my father's wheelchair towards us.

"What is happening?" I whispered. My head was spinning, nothing was going according to the plan.

"I have no idea." Ashwin replied to me.

"I cannot let this wedding happen." my dad said loudly.

"Why? Do you want to get arrested?" Ashwin's father asked him.

"Still better than seeing my daughter go through hell."

"Dad, no. I am not letting you go to jail." I told him.

"No one is going to jail. The papers never said that would happen if the deal is broken. No imprisonment, no lawsuit." Shiv said.

"What?" Ashwin and I asked in unison.