Chapter 32: Here
(Recap: Suhani expresses her hatred for Sayyam and disowns him, reluctantly accepting the condition nevertheless. Krishna searches her hand for Yuvaan’s initials, but sees a dark red ‘S’ instead, Yuvani tries to convince her that it is indeed a ‘Y’, but before anything is confirmed, Suhani calls Krishna to the mandap)
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Krishna sat at the mandap, waiting for Yuvaan. It had been half an hour, and she was feeling awkward; some of the guests were staring at her and talking among themselves. She overheard some women talking about their ‘new generation’ and how the boy had probably left her alone and that there was something wrong with her, which was why the boy didn’t want to marry her.
All of a sudden, Sayyam walked into the room, wearing a red Kurta. He turned to the women, and she watched as he heatedly talked to the women, who consequently lowered their heads in shame. Suhani walked in soon afterwards, looking downcast. Krishna stood up, confused as to what was happening, when Suhani announced that Sayyam would be marrying Krishna. Krishna’s breath hitched as she looked on in shock. The world around her kept living, moving, breathing, but she stood frozen, unable to process any information, until she felt a strong grip on her hand.
She looked up, startled to see Sayyam looming over her. She squirmed to get out of his grasp. “Where’s Yuvaan?” she cried, breaking away from Sayyam and running to Suhani. “Suhani aunty, where is Yuvaan, what kind of joke is this?”
Suhani just looked away, not responding to Krishna. Sayyam dragged her up to the mandap, while Krishna struggled to get away from him. Yuvani, watched the scene unfold before her in shock, while Bhavna rushed to Suhani, tugging on her arm.
“Suhani, what are you doing? We can’t let this happen, Sayyam can’t marry Krishna forcefully!”
“I agree with Bhavna ji, we have to stop Sayyam, what happened to him suddenly?” Sharad came to stand next to Bhavna.
“No! No one will stop anything; this marriage will happen.” Suhani said resolutely. She had to do this to save Yuvraaj, she’d left him in the room, but Sayyam had warned her against staying with Yuvraaj. Suhani was just as confused with Sayyam’s behavior as Sharad and Bhavna; how could he have changed overnight?
She was a mother, and she knew that everything Sayyam had said and done in the past month was not just good acting. He was genuinely a good person. The Sayyam she knew would never do anything to hurt her…then why today…”
“Suhani! I don’t know about you, but I can’t see Krishna like this.” Bhavna started moving towards the mandap when Suhani stopped her.
“No di,” Suhani pulled her sister back. “This marriage will happen, and it will happen today.”
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Krishna was in tears at this point. She struggled against Sayyam’s strong grasp as he told the priest to start.
“Sayyam, where is Yuvaan? Don’t do this,” she pleaded.
Sayyam faced her for a second, tightening his grip on her hand,
“Yuvaan isn’t coming.”
Those words shattered something inside Krishna. She stopped pulling away from him and sat motionless, silent tears running down her cheeks. She sat completely still, not even flinching when Sayyam leaned closer to her, fastening something around her neck. She felt herself being shaken and watched as Dadi bent down to tie her dupatta to the cloth draped on Sayyam’s shoulder.
Fear seized her, and she stood up, panic filling her. No. This couldn’t be happening. She looked around desperately, seeing Bhavna and Suhani having a heated conversation. She glanced at Sayyam, ready to beg him to stop this marriage, but he turned his gaze away from her, staring at the floor instead.
He again took hold of her hand, and began to pull her behind him as they circled the fire. She stumbled after him, still believing that Yuvaan would walk through those doors, or she would wake up from this nightmare, safe and sound on her bed. All of a sudden, Krishna felt herself being lifted off the ground. She kicked her feet relentlessly, but Sayyam did nothing but tighten his hold on her.
“Sayyam,” she whispered through tears, “please…” When Sayyam didn’t respond, she began to push against him, accidentally scratching him.
Sayyam hissed in pain, but continued to circle around the fire. “There was no other way Krishna,” he muttered, staring straight ahead.
Sayyam set her down, avoiding eye contact with her, and the priest declared the marriage complete.
This was it. Everything was over. And Krishna had not been able to stop it from happening.
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Oh my gosh guys, I can’t even tell you all how sorry I am. I accidentally ate peanuts, and had a (really) bad allergic reaction, so I wasn’t at my house. And the whole time I was feeling guilty for not posting the episode. I’m still on the meds and stuff so I’m a bit high (high on air; don’t worry ?)
I’ve split this chapter into two sections, and the next part is coming up immediately after this one is up. The other chapter will be really long to make up for posting late.
This was pretty unexpected guys, sorry again?
Love you all!!
– Shreya <3