The Arranged One | ✔️

Chapter 28 - My Forever : Part 2

A/N. Sorry for the late update, but I have tried to make it longer. Also please ignore the spelling/grammatical errors, I just wanted to get the update out for you guys! I know you've been eagerly waiting....enjoy the read😘

Siya couldn't believe it had come to this. She was about to see Abhi for the first time in weeks. Weeks in which they had absolutely no communication. She was going to see him in a setting where she couldn't even rush into his arms and beg for forgiveness.

No, she thought, that was absolutely impossible. Given that she was dressed in a heavy bridal saree and adorned in heavy jewelry and was being helped by Divya to the mandap where she would meet Abhi. She smiled as she made her way to the mandap. The blinding flashes of the paparazzi reminding her exactly why she needed to keep that fake smile plastered on her face.

A month ago, before that fateful night when everything went downhill, before she screwed everything up for herself, this day would have been completely different from what it was now. It would have been the most special day of her life, the day she would get married to her childhood bestfriend, the most important person in her life, the man she had been in love with since forever, the man who loved her back, the man who was literally made for her. But now she was about to marry a man who wanted nothing to do with her, a man who had become a complete stranger to her for the past month, a man who once loved her, a man who probably hated her guts now. This is not at all how she had imagined her wedding day to go.

But it didn't matter. The thing that mattered the most was the fact that she had no contact with Abhi for an entire month and she was quite literally dying to see him. It didn't matter that he hated her, what mattered was that she would finally get to see him. She couldn't even begin to describe how much she had missed him. Missed was probably the most inadequate word for how she felt in the last month. Every day had been a struggle to live, it was like the purpose of living was taken away from her.

It scared her to think how much he meant to her. He was her entire world, and it scared her that she might have lost him forever. She had failed to come up with a plan, rather she didn't want a plan. She simply wanted to pour her heart out to him and apologize to him. She was ready to be on her knees and beg for his forgiveness if needed, but she didn't want a 'plan'. At least not the kind Divya had suggested today.

Siya looked at Divya, who in turn looked back meaningfully. Siya simply shook her head. There was no way Siya was going to go with Divya's crazy plan. It was too insane and Siya knew she wouldn't need it. She was going to be honest with Abhi. That's how she wanted their relationship to progress hereon. After all, not being completely honest with each other had not exactly helped their whole situation. If only she had confessed her love to him before the party, just like she was about to...

Siya had reached the mandap, and her heartbeat had reached its maximum point. She took a fortifying breath before looking up to meet the set of hazel colored eyes that she had insanely missed looking into for the past month. Eyes that were looking at her with politeness of a distant acquaintance, not like a man who was about to marry the woman he loved. Not like a man who was her best friend in the whole wide world.

What she was taken aback by was his complete civility. She had been prepared for anger, hate or even coldness. But she had never thought he would actually behave like a polite stranger. A stranger she was about to marry.

*
The wedding had gone by like a blur. A painful yet absolute blur. Abhi had been so civil, putting on such a great show for everyone present in the room. No one would ever suspect that all wasn't perfect in their relationship. Siya knew what people saw when she and Abhi held hands in front of the sacred fire, or when he tied the sacred mangalsutra around her neck or when they took the seven rounds around the fire. They must have looked like a perfect couple, a match made in heaven. What with Abhi smiling at her from time to time during the ceremony. She had a difficult time trying to process his display of affection. It was messing with her head. She didn't know how he was going to behave when it was just the two of them. Would he shed the obliviousness and be rude and cold towards her, or worse would he keep up the polite civility which was foreign territory for both of them.