The Arrangement

Chapter Fifteen: Grabbing the Reins

I was back in my bedroom by the time Kunj and his wife stormed out of Sanjana's room. I heard them calling her name.

I sat on the bed and crossed my legs, decided that looked too casual, and got back up. I tried to clean up my cosmetics sitting on the dresser, but felt I looked too busy and stopped. Kunj's voice could be heard downstairs, then outside, as he announced that the brides entrance would be delayed. After that, I heard his pounding footsteps come back upstairs.

Heat surged through me. By the time Kunj threw my door opened, I had shut myself in the bathroom.

"Aditi!"

I shook my hands out to stop their trembling, then stepped out of the bathroom. I managed to look surprised as his appearance.

"Where is she?" he demanded, eyes pinning me place.

"I'm sorry?"

"Where is Sanjana?"

You don't know anything. You don't know anything.

"What do you mean?" I shook my head. "She's not in her room?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"What's going on?" Darshan was at the door. Behind him, I could see Jayanti and Vivaan.

Kunj pointed at me accusingly as he looked back at them. "She did something. I know she did."

"You told me to stay in my room. I've been here the whole week," I replied.

"She's telling the truth," I heard Vivaan say.

"No. She is lying." Kunj shook his head.

I met his eyes calmly. "You are only accusing me because of what happened on the first night. You aren't thinking with a clear head."

"Don't speak to me like that. Her clothes are gone, her lehenga is lying on the bed. She wouldn't run away like that unless you convinced her to!"

I heard Jayanti whisper to Darshan to do something. The man hesitated, then stepped forward. "Bhaiyya, whether she did it or not, we should be out looking for Sanjana. She can't have gone too far. We should go."

Kunj nodded, his eyes on me. "We'll go. I'll hunt her down and drag her back by her hair if I have to."

I shuddered. Kunj strode out of the room and Darshan followed closely behind. Jayanti walked up to me and cupped my face in her hands.

"Did you do something?" she asked so quietly I had barely heard her.

I tried to calm my racing heart down. "No."

She seemed to accept this and nodded before leaving the room. Vivaan walked in after her and closed the door behind himself. He quietly studied me from across the room and I found I couldn't meet his gaze.

"Tell me that's true," he said, his voice held a warning note to it. "Tell me you didn't do this."

My hands clenched the end of my shirt tightly. "She turned eighteen today and she's pregnant. They were getting her married to a divorced forty-year-old to hide what she did."

"So you had her run away?"

"Tell me what other choice there was."

Vivaan shook his head. "Are you-are you even thinking straight? Do you know what will happen to her if he finds her?"

"I had to give her a chance at freedom. She couldn't-."

"You didn't do this for her, you did this for yourself," Vivaan snarled.