"I can't believe they said no," Charan said, sighing for the umpteenth time.
Sathvik rolled his eyes again.
"A good wake-up call, wasn't it, Dad?" Sathvik asked sarcastically.
"Cut the sarcasm, Sathvik."
"It was expected," Nilima said.
"I actually liked them," Charan said, and Sathvik raised an eyebrow at that.
Charan Acharya is a man who is pretty hard to please. To know that he liked the family after a half-hour visit is quite surprising.
"What? Don't look at me like that. I am actually a pretty good judge of character, and they all seem very humble and honest people."
"Well, it was not meant to be," Nilima said.
"The girl is really very pretty. She would have looked perfect with Sathvik," Charan said wistfully.
Sathvik closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch with a sigh.
The picture his father just painted is actually quite beautiful.
He knows he is a good-looking man. He had been told that many times. And Devangana is a very beautiful girl.
He was so busy with the court case and Muskaan that he didn't pay much attention to anything else.
An image of Devangana at her home formed in his head.
She was wearing a simple long skirt and top, and she looked absolutely gorgeous in it.
What would it feel like touching her?
Kissing her?
Sathvik opened his eyes and sat straight on the couch.
Damn it!
What the hell is he thinking?
That too about Devangana?
Her parents just rejected him, and he is fantasising about her.
"Sathvik?" Nilima called, seeing the frown on Sathvik's face.
"Yes, Mom."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just... I will take some rest. Can you look after Muskaan for a while, Mom?"
"Of course. I know you have had no time for anything else ever since we got her. I am sorry, Sathvik, for leaving you to deal with it alone," Nilima said apologetically.
"Mom! It's no problem. She is my niece. Actually, she is my daughter now."
"Hope everything goes well. We will have to somehow convince Mrs. Iyer," Nilima said.
"Don't worry, Mom. Everything will be alright. We will fight for her. She's ours," Sathvik said and left for his room.
"He seems disappointed," Charan pointed out.
"Do you think he had feelings for Devangana?" Nilima asked.
"I don't know. He has hardly known her for a week. Maybe he had a little crush. Who wouldn't? She is outrageously pretty," Charan said.
"He will get over it then."
****
A week passed by without many happenings.
The Kashyap house was coming back to normal.
Tripti Kashyap had loosened her reign on her daughter and is now letting her out of the house.
Ishaan Kashyap is still job hunting.
"Angana, are you ready?" Tripti called out for her daughter, who was getting ready for the mandir.
They were going to the mandir for a sumangali pooja. The intention is to bribe the god for a suitable groom for her daughter.
"Yes, Momma. Let's go," Devangana came out wearing a bottle green dress coloured chiffon saree, with mirror work border.
Her hair was left unbound. Her hands are adorned with matching green coloured bangles. She was wearing a beautiful pair of jhumkas that match perfectly with her attire.
"Aww, how pretty," Tripti said, warding off evil eyes from her daughter.
Devangana grinned at that.
"Let's go, Mommy."
As they reached the mandir near their house, they could feel everyone's eyes on them.
"Why are they looking at us like that?" Tripti asked.
"Maybe because I look pretty," Devangana said cheekily.
Tripti rolled her eyes and dragged her to offer their prayers. They stood in front of their favourite Lord Shiva with eyes closed and prayed.
"Come," Tripti took Devangana towards the huge banyan tree in the temple premise. Many mangalsutras were tied on the banyan tree. It was a belief in this temple that if unmarried girls, pray with pure heart and tie a mangalsutra on the tree, she will get a suitable groom soon.
"Angana, tie this on that branch, close your eyes and pray well," Tripti said and handed over a simple mangalsutra she bought from a stall in the temple premise itself.
"Well, well! Seems like the beauty queen isn't getting any good proposals?" A taunting voice came, once Devangana completed the ritual.
Devangana and Tripti looked up to see Babita Mishra staring at them with an evil look.
"Babita," Tripti acknowledged the lady's presence.
"Do you think this prayer will work?" The lady taunted.
"What is it that you want, Babita?" Tripti asked, her dislike evident in her tone.
"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering who will marry a girl who spent a night with another man." Babita said in an evil tone.
Tripti gasped at the outrageous comment.
"What rubbish are you talking about?"
"Oh, everyone knows, Tripti. What is the point of hiding now?"
"Mind your tongue, Babita," Tripti warned.
Devangana felt her eyes tearing up at the accusations against her character. A small crowd was forming around them, all looking at her and whispering to each other.
"My son had a lucky escape," Babita said.
Babita had been holding this grudge against the Kashyaps for nearly a year now. Ever since her son Rehaan came home with a black eye and a bleeding nose.
All because he gave a love letter to Devangana. Ishaan had not spared a moment before bashing her son.
And now she has an opportunity for revenge, and she is not going to stop.
Krishna, the new Acharya household driver, stopped the car in front of the Shiv mandir.
Nilima peered out of the windows and frowned.
"This is not the mandir I asked you to take us to, Krishna."
"Mom? Does it matter? The god is the same no matter which temple it is," Sathvik said.
Nilima nodded and got out of the car along with Sathvik.
"Mom, get it done fast, okay? We need to get back home before Muskaan wakes up."
As they reached the mandir, climbing up the fleet of stairs, they saw a crowd gathered near the big banyan tree.
"What's happening there?" Nilima asked.
"Don't know," Sathvik mumbled, and then his eyes widened seeing a teary Devangana at the centre.
"Deva?"
"What?" Nilima asked.
"It's Devangana over there."
"Come, let's go see what it is," Nilima said, and they walked towards the crowd.
"Babita! That's enough. You are talking rubbish," he heard Devangana's mother's angry voice.
"She had an affair with the boss. And when he got tired of her, he fired her. He even fired Ishaan," another lady said with an evil smile.
Sathvik's eyes widened in horror, realising what's happening.
"Sathvik," Nilima whispered.
"What upbringing have you given to your daughter that she behaves so immorally? And she has the nerve to come into the mandir," the lady said scornfully.
"That's enough," Sathvik roared, startling all the people.
He walked towards the mother-daughter duo along with Nilima.
"Deva?" Sathvik called her gently.
Devangana looked at him through her tearful eyes, and Sathvik felt his heart skip a beat at that moment.
At that moment, he wanted to hide her away from all the bad things in the world.
"Now who is this? Another of your lovers?" Babita asked.
"Not another word," Sathvik said, staring at the woman coldly.
"Who are you to say that?"
"Sathvik Acharya."
The lady's eyes widened in surprise.
"You are that man?"
"Devangana's fiance," he said, much to everyone's surprise.
The lady scoffed.
"Trying to protect your lover? I thought you fired her because she was being a nuisance to you?"
"Nobody fired her. She resigned because she wanted to prepare for our wedding."
"You think I would believe this rubbish? You, the heir of a billion-dollar company, wants to marry this girl?"
Sathvik held Devangana's hand and dragged her towards the mandir.
"Sathvik ji? What are you doing?" Devangana asked.
"Righting the wrong I did to you, Devangana."
Nilima and Tripti hurried behind a furious Sathvik.
"What are you doing?" Tripti asked, horrified.
"I am sorry, Mrs. Kashyap. All this is my fault, and it is my responsibility to protect Devangana's reputation now," Sathvik said as he stopped in front of the priest, who was staring at them open-mouthed.
"Pandit ji, we are getting married. Please do the needful," Sathvik said as he took off his birth mother's ring from the chain he was wearing. He had always worn it around his neck to feel her presence with him. What better ring to make Devangana wear at their wedding.
The pandit, who had heard the ill comments on Devangana, looked at an anguished Tripti and nodded.
Devangana stared at Sathvik in astonishment.
He made her wear the diamond solitaire ring first and then the pandit bought a nuptial chain on a puja thali.
He took the mangalsutra from the thaal and adorned it around her swan like neck. He then took a pinch of sindoor from the thaal and filled her hairline with it. The pandit's help had arranged for the fire for the pheres in the meanwhile.
"Devaa.." Sathvik murmured as he held her hand to take the pheres. But Devangana was unable to move. She was shocked. Realising her state, Sathvik picked her up in her arms and took the pheres.
"Devangana Kashyap, I, Sathvik Acharya, in the presence of Shiv ji, your mother and mine, promise you that I will always protect you, keep you safe and happy until my last breath," Sathvik said as he made Devangana stand on the floor once the pheres were done..
The pandit chanted the necessary prayers while all this were done.
"Vivaah sampann hua hei!" The pandit declared.
Sathvik turned to look at Babita.
"We are married now. And she is my wife. Now she is not Devangana Kashyap. She is Devangana Sathvik Acharya. Sathvik Acharya's wife. Acharya family's only daughter-in-law. And I will not hear a single word against my wife," Sathvik said coldly.
A/N
Drama! Drama! Drama! I hate dramas! But dramas loves me😜
Please do vote and comment..
Love,
SF❤️