Finding Yourself

Chapter 1

Her father placed his pen down with deliberate slowness. "Aakriti, you're at a marriageable age. This is how things are done. We find a good family, a good boy, and you get married. It's for your security."

"But I can create my own security," she insisted, her voice gaining a little more strength. "What if the man you find doesn't want me to work? What if he thinks my dream is a 'frivolous pursuit'?"

"Then that's his decision," her father replied, his tone firm. "It's a matter of adjusting. A good wife adjusts to her new home and family. Your job is to make a happy home, not a career."
Aakriti felt a knot tighten in her stomach.

"But why can't I do both? Why does one have to cancel out the other? Papa, I've seen how much you respect your work. Why can't you respect mine?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's different for a girl. A man is the provider. A woman is the nurturer. This is our culture. Our traditions. We can't just throw them away for some modern idea of independence."

"But this isn't just a modern idea," Aakriti pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion. "It's my life. My happiness. What if I'm not happy just being a wife? What if I'm not happy with my career being decided by someone else?"

"Your happiness is our responsibility," he said, his voice softening slightly. "And we will ensure you are happy. We will find a boy who is good, kind, and from a respectable family. You will be safe and secure. That is true happiness."

Aakriti felt the tears welling up in her eyes. It was like hitting a wall. He wasn't listening. He was just reciting what he believed was right, without any room for her perspective. The conversation wasn't a conversation at all; it was a lecture.

"Ok, Papa," she whispered, the fight draining from her as a wave of resignation washed over her. "I understand."

Her father's face relaxed, a small smile of relief on his lips. "That's my good girl. We'll start looking for a boy. You just focus on being a good daughter."

Aakriti nodded, her heart heavy. She knew her life was about to change forever, and for the first time, she felt a profound sense of loss, not for a dream deferred, but for a voice that would never be heard.

●●●●

𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆:

𝑨𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒙 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 - 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅🌷.

𝑨𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐.

𝑆𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝒉𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝒉𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟?

𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑔𝒉𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐴𝑎𝑘𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝒉𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠?

𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑐𝒉𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟?

𝑰'𝒎 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒂𝒌𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 💓😊

𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 - 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆💖