Elliy waited patiently for the youngsters to digest the news. There were loud groans of protests and also shouts were heard from some overwhelmed students. Elliy understood their state of mind well and let them pour out their frustration until they calmed down a bit. She saw the mixed reactions of everyone present below the dais. The Principal and his staff had a very hurtful expression as none of them wanted their students to face such a thing. She saw that every girl had tears in her eyes. Some were complaining, some were sobbing loudly and some were shocked beyond belief to even react to this situation. Then she gazed at the boys. They were all protesting excluding three of them whom she recognized to be the golden trio of the business world here in India. She tried to calm the protests that she was facing from the children while the three of them were lost in their own world as they looked like having an important hushed conversation.
KO: I don’t believe this. How can they force us into something like marriage?
VM: I will have an investigation set into this matter urgently.
KK: No need of that. I already doubted that why have the school authorities made it compulsory for all the students to attend a small reunion so I personally looked into this matter. Whatever the lady is saying is true. I have checked it personally with my most trustable sources.
Veer and Karan’s mouth fell open on hearing this.
VM: That’s the reason why you are so calm?
KK: Hmm.
KO: But still Kabir, how can we not react? We will have everything changed in our lives. We will no longer be able to live our old bachelor life. We will be bound to someone and we don’t even know who that person will be!
VM: What if she is a gold digger? What if she does not understand us? What if she does not fit in our world? What will we do Kabir? We do have a status in the society. We just can’t let a stupid curse ruin our hard work!
Kabir listened to them intently. He knew exactly what to answer to them because he himself had those questions when he first came to know about the curse.
KK: If she is a gold digger then we have got nothing to worry about. She would want money and we will give her what she wants and in return she would do what we want her to do. So I believe it will be good if she will be a gold digger. Being the question of not understanding us and not fitting in our society, well I don’t think we need her to understand us as we do not need ‘her understanding’ to deal with our colleagues or rivals and we can always groom her to fit in our society so that does not count as a problem. The only consequence of this will be our bachelor life. I have come to know that a word has been leaked to our partners that the photos the media has been pressing are not all hype. They have started to question our relationship status and thus we should see this as an opportunity to wash our hands clean. We can say that we are engaged and thus no one will be able to raise their hands on our characters. We have to lose something to gain something. We have to lose our bachelor life to gain our status back in the society that is currently at risk. So I think this is just perfect.
KO: What if the girl is dumb?
KK: Then we must teach her to shut her mouth and only open it when needed.
VM: What if the girl is firm and hard to dominate?
KK: Money can dominate everyone; if money does not help then problems will surely help. We will create problems in her life and then indirectly dominate her to do as our will.
Kabir explained with an arrogant smirk. While the end of their conversation, Veer and Karan seemed much calm and relaxed. Kabir on the other hand was always very much clam with his stony expression perfectly glued on his face.
It took a good ten minutes to subdue the shrieks of protest from the students. After everyone was quiet, willingly or unwillingly, Elliy continued.
E: Now we will let you all know about the partners that you will be bonded to. All the girls were said to wear a ring and come. This ring will serve as the purpose of a promise ring so that we can ensure your safety. If there is anyone who has forgotten the ring then please go to the backstage, there we have kept a box with different ring sizes. Pick one up and return to your seats.
Sounds of movements were heard after this statement. Almost half of the girls rushed backstage to get the rings. Sanchi closed her eyes as she soaked in the news and prepared herself for the new bomb to be blasted on them. She was eager to know her partner as somewhere deep down she had already accepted the fact that this curse was not a joke or a prank or a nightmare. It was very much true and right in front of her eyes. She crossed her arms on her stomach as she felt insecure. What if the person she is to get bound turns out to be like her father? The mere thought of that had her digging her nails in her hands causing red scratches to form on her hands. If she would have applied a little bit more force, blood would surely ooze out of it. Isha and Pragya stopped her seeing her red hands and instead took hold of her each palm tightly. Right now, this was their only way of comfort, to know that you were not alone in this weird situation. After everyone returned and settled down, Elliy started the most awaited part.
E: I will call the names of the girls in an alphabetical order; you will have to put two drops of your blood on the page in the book that is lying on the table. (She pointed towards the table kept in the corner of the stage). The book will generate the name of your partner and then you will have to perform the promise ceremony. The man will come on the dais and make the woman wear her promise ring and escort her down the stage towards the seats. You will sit on the chairs with your partners after the sorting has been done. Now I would like to call the first name….
The ceremony started with a gloomy atmosphere. The girls reluctantly went up to the stage and removed their ring. They made a great fuss about the blood section where a pin was pricked on their forefinger to take two drops of blood. As soon as the name appeared, the girl’s face dropped and she threw a longing gaze towards the golden trio that sat at the back with all of their glory and daze. Sanchi could not understand the reason behind the girls’ longing for any one of the trio. She accepted that they were rich and handsome but they were still a bit arrogant and that didn’t let the reality slip out.
Soon enough Isha’s name was heard.
E: Isha Kaur, please come on the stage.
Elliy requested patiently. Sanchi was astounded by the amount of patience this old woman had. She was putting up with their tantrums from a long time and still she did not get irritated or she did not let a sigh of despair come from her mouth. Sanchi felt the need to learn the art of patience from this marvelous lady standing in front of her. She was brought back to reality when she heard Elliy saying Isha’s partner’s name.
E: Karan Oberoi, please come on the stage.
Sanchi was happy that her friend got her crush as her partner. She had also conversed with Karan before, more like a verbal challenging debate but it was in a friendly manner. So it was really great that Karan had been selected for Isha. While descending the stairs, Sanchi glanced at Isha and mouthed a ‘congratulations’ to which Isha nodded her head in acknowledgement.
The next in line was Riya Sareen. She was paired with Vikrant Ahuja and they started to fight on the stage soon after the ring ceremony. Everyone was trying to concede their smiles as everyone found their fights cute and they just knew that the two will make a good fighting couple.
Soon enough it was time for Pragya. She too got Veer Malhotra. Sanchi’s happiness doubled in amount. She also started to get nervous as her turn was approaching soon. After Pragya it was time for Priya Malhotra. She was paired with Sanket Sharma, her childhood sweetheart. All the girls awed at them as they seemed to be the happiest couple as they were benefited from this curse. Now they would not have to convince their families about their marriage. Everyone was genuinely happy for this ever so lovey-dovey couple.
E: Sanchi Mishra, please do come on the stage.
Sanchi’s heart began to beat at a high pace as she made her way towards the stairs that would lead her to the stage. She was nervous but she made an attempt of hiding it, the only proof being her hands that were shaking bit but not much to be noticed.
Kabir sat at a distance as he saw Sanchi walk confidently towards the stage. She did not falter in her steps as most of the girls had done before. He saw the slight tremor in her hands but he thought that she was doing a good job of hiding her nerves while the others had been a shaking mess. He glanced towards his friends and saw that her two best friends had been paired with his. If she was to be paired with him, then it would be great as he would not have to worry about the sync between the would-be-wives of the golden trio. They had most of their works together and thus they travelled a lot. It would be much easier to have their wives be friends so that they would not have to deal with bickering wives on their journey out instead of working. Karan and Veer were also thinking that Kabir should be selected for Sanchi as they saw her to be the one who could change their best friend. While conversing with her, they found her to be very unique and her antics made them wish for Kabir to be written on Sanchi’s page.
As Sanchi climbed up, she let out a deep breath and gave a small smile to Elliy as she stood in the middle of the stage. Elliy smiled back with tiresome eyes. Sanchi could understand the pain and trauma she would have gone through to be the one to break the news to those youngsters and then dealing with their tantrums. Elliy gestured towards Sanchi’s ring and she immediately obliged so as to not cause the poor old lady any more troubles. Sanchi was then led to the table with by a help of the school. She closed her eyes as the pin pricked and blood started to ooze out from it. She tilted her finger and allowed two drops of blood to pour on the page where her name was written elegantly in cursive. She was given a piece of cotton to stop her bleeding and a band-aid to cover the wound. In a matter of seconds, the page turned green as she gasped and a flash appeared that had her covering her eyes with her hands. Then slowly the light began to fade and a name was written below her name.
Sanchi stilled as she read the name. There in the elegant cursive was written ‘Kabir Kapoor’. She turned around as Elliy called for Kabir to come on the stage. Their eyes met and Sanchi could see him smirk. She could not understand the reason behind his smirk but she still averted her gaze and let them connect it with her besties. Their eyes were shining with happiness and she saw Karan and Veer’s faces were also adored with genuine smiles. She turned towards the sound of steps to find Kabir standing directly in front of her with an arms distance. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves but ended up basking in the unique smell of her soon-to-be fiancé. He smelled of musky wood and some unknown spices that soothed her somehow.
E: Make her wear the ring and that will serve as a promise of your relationship.
Kabir took hold of Sanchi’s shaking right hand and slipped the ring in the third finger. Sanchi felt the warmth of his touch and she looked up to find him gazing at her hands. She saw that he was seeing the bright red scratch marks on her hands. She quickly withdrew her hands and let them fall limp on her sides with her skin complaining the loss of the warmth. Sanchi did not hear anything and thus she looked up to see him staring at her in a scrutinizing way like he did not like her sudden retreat. Looking at him for a good two minutes made her realize that he was very tall and that she only reached his chest. Her neck was aching from the particularly odd angle it was in now. She turned when she heard Elliy.
E: Now escort your partner down the stage and please go and take a seat.
Sanchi started moving and she felt Kabir’s presence just behind her. As she was ascending down the stairs, she saw that every girl excluding Isha, Pragya, Riya and Priya were giving her death glares. She did not understand but when she felt the presence of a particular person behind her, all the pieces began to fall in their places. It was not her fault that the destiny chose Kabir for her so she let the glares pass and took her seat besides he besties Isha and Pragya who were seated with their partners. Kabir came and sat down next to her with appropriate space between them. She was reminded of the time when the girls and boys would sit together and both of them would sit at the ends of the table to keep maximum space between them. Sanchi smiled at the memory and shook her head at their silliness back then. Her curls which were tucked behind her ear fell over her face when she shook her head so no one could see her smile. She breathed a deep silent sigh and straightened in the chair as the ceremony came to an end.
E: So everyone has a partner now. I would request all the girls to wear the promise ring as removing it would have consequences. It may start as accidents and they can also lead to death if you do not marry within the next three months. I think I have given you ample examples of the people who have tried to defy the curse so please don’t do this. I hope that every one of you will learn to keep up with your partners. To ensure that the marriage is at least fruitful, there has been an addition to the curse. The women will have to conceive within two years of your marriage.
Saying this Elliy rushed to the backstage not wanting to deal with the fierce youngsters anymore. A collective gasp was heard and Sanchi’s hand flew on her heart which was now beating in an inhuman speed. The child part was the last blow to the already hanging coffin as she realized that this was going to be very much difficult with the new Kabir that she had to deal with.
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Hello everyone,
I hope you liked the last surprise. So what has Sanchi’s father done to have her frightened this much? What will the couples do now that they know that there will be baby coming along soon enough?
What do you say about Kabir’s sharp mind? Don’t you think he has too business oriented mind? Please do like or dislike or comment.