Bruised Hearts

Prologue

Decked up in her bridal dress, Madhu aimlessly walks through the streets of Mumbai. Heart broken into a million pieces, tears continuously falling, only one thing runs through her mind.

No...! No...! RK...can't do this to me...he left me? It was...all a game? Yeh pyaar ka natak...all for revenge? No...no...this can't be happening...No...! How could he do this to me?!? Nehi...pyaar ka natak? Revenge? For the four slaps? So you played with my heart? I am just an expensive, 40 lacs toy to you? Kiyun RK? Kiyun?!?!?

Madhu screams at the top of her lungs and falls in a thump near a bunch. She sobs loudly for her broken heart and dreams.

Khushi doesn't know how she ended up in the bus. No...no... that's not true. Rejected by Arnav, she left the mandap. She didn't want to go back to home, so she boarded the first bus that came to the station. Khushi needed to get of Delhi. She can't be in the same city as Arnav. Khushi just can't breathe! She sits with her head leaning on the cold window pane. With no more tears to shed, she closes her eyes and thinks back to the last 24 hours. How the happiest day of her life turned into the worst. Khushi still can't believe that Arnav didn't want to complete their wedding.

Kiyun Arnavji? Kiyun?!? You PROMISED...PROMISED...that you will NEVER leave me. I trusted you so much...! I loved you so much...and you are punishing me again for something I didn't do? Why? Why? Why do you hurt me so much? You broke my heart... and my trust. I wish...I wish...I had never met you!

The bus stops at a station in Mumbai. Khushi steps out in her wedding finery, her footsteps heavy as if she has no life within her. Her heart now stone cold, she another woman, also dressed up as a bride. Feeling a pull, Khushi walks up to her and gently touches her shoulders. Madhu stops sobbing and looks up.

Khushi (smiles sadly at Madhu): Aap thik hain? (Are you ok?)

Madhu (wiping away her tears): I am fine for someone who has had her heart stomped on and torn to pieces. I am fine for someone who's life has been crushed. Love kya ajeeb cheez hain. (Love is strange.) We think love is a beautiful emotion...but no! It's ugly and painful... How can we trust in ...this...this...love?!? (Looking at Khushi's outfit and her dead, pain filled eyes) Lagta hain you and I are on the same boat.

Khushi (sits down on the floor beside Madhu): Haan... I loved him so much! Trusted him with my life...but...but...he didn't want to finish marrying me... He blamed me for something I was not even a part of! You're right... love is ugly and painful...! Damn those fairytales for filling our head up with nonsense that love is a sweet, happy and beautiful emotion.

Madhu: My marriage was based all on a lie. (Laughs bitterly) Adhi marriage. Chaar phere wali adhuri Biwi. It was all based on a LIE. He married to avenge 4 slaps...and for 40 lacs. I was just an expensive toy to him. But then he changed. He was no longer the beast. I fell in love with him and he in love with me...or so I thought. But...but...it was all a game. The love, the passion...it was all just a game! We were supposed to get married today and complete all the pheres. But he...stopped...and turned back into the...beast again. All so he can complete his revenge for... those slaps!

Khushi (laughs bitterly too): Well... aren't we a pair? My husband...if I can still even call him that...he blackmailed me to marry him for 6 months or he'll stop my Jiji's marriage. Ohh and here's a kicker for you...we didn't take any pheres! He thought I was having an affair with his snake of a jijaji. Yes...he married me...who he thought was gold-digging ****...to protect his sister's marriage. (Sarcastic) Lovely brother isn't he? Almost 6 months into our CONTRACT marriage, he was kidnapped. I saved him...and finally he believed me, over his JIJAJI. Like a fool in love...I forgave him for all the pain he gave me. We were supposed to complete our marriage too. But...his Dadi... she filled his head with lies! She said MY amma...had an affair with his dad. And that's why his parents committed suicide. MY amma would NEVER do that to another woman! NEVER! Ohhh... but in his anger...he stops thinking...and what did he do? Yes...he blamed ME for what happened over 14 years ago...ME! He didn't marry me, abandoned me for something that had NOTHING to do with me... Broke my trust and my heart... I am such a fool!

Madhu (grabbing Khushi's hands and squeezing it): I am sorry... looks like fate played a cruel joke with us... (Looking at the still standing bus) Mmm...did you just come from another city?

Khushi: Yes...Delhi...I just couldn't be in the same city as Arnav. I just couldn't...so I got on the first bus and...just left... I don't know what I am doing here...I just don't know... I don't know what I am going to do now...

Madhu (stands up and pulls Khushi up with her): Ok...you're coming with me...

The two women walk away from the bus station. Finding strength in the new found friendship, forged out of betrayal and pain.