Forever & Always

married to Udhay

With all of my love,

Shiva.

I stare at the letter in shock. Shiva left. How dare he lie like this?

"Amma, idhu poi. Naan aapadi edhuvum seiyala.( Maa, it's a lie. I didn't do such a thing.)" I said slowly.
" Don't lie , i heard you saying the same thing to Brinda the other day. Oh god! What will i do now? You shamed me in front of our relatives, Narmada. How can I face them? What will they say when they learn about groom not showing up. " My amma started to sob.

" Aunty, what are you doing here?  The groom has arrived ." My cousin called my mom. We all came out and shocked to see Udhay coming inside.
" Hey Narmada, your groom looks different than in your wedding card photo. Also his name is udhay not Shiva" My other annoying cousin said mockingly at us.
" You changed the groom in a matter of minutes." An aunty taunted me .
" Pavithra, why you arrange her marriage with Shiva if she loves Udhay? Now see, the groom ran away." Another relative said.
" Will you marry him or cancel the wedding?" Another one laughed at me .
What the hell? I am going to go crazy. I don't think Shiva and Udhay are lookalike. After sending them out, My mom starred at me menacingly.
"Amma, enakku edhuvum theriyaadhu. Udhay eppadi inga?( Mom, i don't know anything. How come Udhay is here?)"
Before I could explain her, Rekha came and took my mom with her. After some time, my mom came back .
"Brinda, make her ready. Just 10 minutes left of the auspicious time ."amma said not even looking at me.
When I tried to speak," don't you dare. You planned it but it backfired on you.  you like him right? Then you will have no problem in marrying him. Now get ready."
" amma, please let me" I was interrupted yet again " it's either your marriage or my death. Your choice"
With that she went out.

''Bri, I don't want to do this, oh my god, what do I do, help.'' I panicked pacing round my room. I was on the verge of tears but yet I felt like I could punch through at steel door at the same time.

''Narmada, relax it's okay, we'll sort this out, okay. You just have to... Do it.'' she sighed taking a deep breath and running her hands through her hair.I shook my head.

" then you run away from here," She suggested.

" I can. But I don't want to see her in pain you know. She will probably kill herself.She already thinks I lied about Shiva. But you and I were just joking that day. She doesn't believe me.'' I sniffled and she rubbed my Back.

The whispers started immediately as My relatives surrounded us. I rolled my eyes ,wondering why they even care . It wasn't their life but mine.

"How can I?" My hands began to shake uncontrollably. Rubbing my temples in distress, I let out a sigh.

I sighed in defeat. Maybe this is meant to happen. Might be my karma.
"Come Narmada, let's go." Rekha came in cheerfully and walked me to the aisle where the priest is chanting mantras. She looked like she accomplished something.
I then sat next to Udhay while she stood behind to us.

Udhay's POV:

I looked at Narmada's face and realized she will be anywhere but not here. She doesn't agree . Rekha lied to me. I reluctantly took the thaali(mangalsutra) from the priest's hand and slowly with my shaking hands brought it around Narmada's neck. I didn't have a courage to look into her eyes, so I looked down as I put the first knot of thaali . Then Rekha took it from me and did the other two knots.

I  looked down at her, her black eyes piercing mine in silence. Slowly, a smile formed on my face as I extended my hand for the rituals. "Are you okay?" I  asked, while walking around the pyre .

"My feelings? Oh don't worry about those. No one else does." She replied and give her fake smile as people are watching us.

She seemed distant now, unreachable. What had I said to make her shy away from me? I know Iam a horrible person in  her opinion but I couldn't help it.  I tried to talk with her during car ride, but She turned away and became cold again.