Tainted Bride

PROLOGUE

She looks very beautiful as a bride, and her beauty surpasses even that of the moon today. She hears the sound of a shoe tapping around her, indicating that he is walking around and looking at her, but something feels off.

Her hands were tied behind her back, and his eyes were blindfolded. Her heartbeat rises so high that her throat is now dry. She is a bit shy and a bit fretful, but she knows that he is right in front of her, and in this way, he has blindfolded her and tied her hands, which is very strange to her.

"Please, I don't like it... Stop this…”

But she could not say anything else. Before this, he placed his finger on her lips and made her silent by gently blowing a warm breath near her mouth.

“Shuuuuu…”

This is going to scare her even more. She immediately moves away from him and tries to free her hands. But he quickly lifted her up in a blink and threw her on the bed.

“Nooooooo….”

Again and again, her hands are going to her face and wiping her tears, which is blurring her vision.

There is no life left in the legs at all, but still, with the remaining little courage, she is trying to run away, but in a short time, the remaining strength leaves her side. She falls hard on the ground and begins to breathe deeply with her open mouth. Holding herself by wrapping her hands around her naked body, she looks in front. Still, she does not see any way far away, due to which tears start flowing from her eyes again. She begins to struggle to stand up, relying on her bruised hands for support, but two legs grip her hands tightly.

"Ahhhh…”

Ahhhhhhhhh…..

She wakes up with a jolt, tears washing all over her face. She is just constantly touching herself and trying to make sure that she is not alone in the dark at the moment but is safe in a small room. This room is so small that, after laying a sheet on the ground, she cannot keep anything else there, but it is very cozy and comfortable for her. Suddenly, the door opens, revealing a woman with a very affectionate face who embraces her in a warm, motherly hug, causing her to cry even more.

"It's okay, Avi... It was a bad dream, and it is only a dream; you don't need to be afraid... You are all safe. I am here with you, my dear."

However, her fear is so intense that she simply hugs the woman and continues to cry. In a while, a man also comes in and sits next to both of them and just caresses Avi's head with love.

"Don't worry, sweety, it was just a bad dream... Look around; you are safe here, dear..."

A very affectionate embrace and a loving fatherly touch both greatly aid in stopping her tears, and after some time, she says, she feels absolutely fine with her eyes downcast.

"Do you bring flowers for the garlands?"

"I brought a lot of flowers today. You know that today is Monday, and there will be a huge crowd in the Lord Shiva temple. Last time, all the garlands were sold out very quickly. I hope this time also our garlands will sell the most.”

She lightly nods her head and walks away. They both keep watching her go; she has completely disappeared from their sight. Vishnu's eyes drop as she leaves, leaving him fixed on the floor with a sad expression, while Padma, sitting nearby, presses her mouth against the end of her saree and cries.

"I do not know what this child's pain is or what it is not, but now her pain has started to hurt me too."

“Yes, you are right; in a year and a half, this girl has turned into no less than my own daughter... I don't know why this girl doesn't smile or say anything. She makes garlands for us all day long, and by the grace of God, her handmade garland sells so well that earlier, there wasn't even a single meal for us to eat. Today, all three of us are eating very comfortably and are also living comfortably... She is a blessing of God for us, but her pain always hurts me too."

“You are telling the truth, but now it is very sad to see her. Since the day we found her, I have not seen her sleeping comfortably, not even for a whole night. Every time she sleeps for a few hours and wakes up in the same way, only God knows who is causing her misery and what unfortunate incident has happened to this child. We both don't even know what her name is except "AVI.""

“Let's not start the day like this, because if she sees both of us like this, she will not like it either. After all, I did not know her before; she is just a stranger who we help, but now we are like family to her.”

Upon hearing Vishnu's words, Padma immediately attempts to smile, wiping away the tears from her eyes, and immediately follows Avi to help her. She tries to be as close to Avi as possible and keeps trying to talk to her. But she never says much to her, nor does she give any specific reply to her. She just keeps herself busy.

.

.

.

At present, she is constantly splashing water on her face, and while doing so, she also wants to wash away the dreams that are bothering her. But it's going to be very difficult for her. She starts looking at herself in the stagnant water—the face she has not seen for the last one and a half years. Because she does not want to see her face, she looks at the shadow in the water for a moment and immediately closes her eyes.

With her eyes closed, she sees a girl running around with a lot of laughter, her father laughing with her because she is his life and her mother's smile, and for her younger brother, as if he did not live a moment without her. Immediately, tears stream out of her eyes, and she says to herself,.

“I hate this face. I hate this beauty...”

She immediately runs inside. Their small house is on the bank of the river, and often she likes to sit on the bank of this river in the evening to pass the time but never likes to see her face.

Padma looks at her suddenly, as she has just run inside like every day. She doesn't know what fear always scares her all the time, but she never talks to her about it because it's probably something of a nuisance to her that neither lets her live nor does she smile as she puts tea and toast in front of her, which she begins to eat quietly as usual.

Padma's eyes are fixed on this girl, who will be about 28 years old. Her height is 5'5 feet, with a very curvy body that appears to have been meticulously sculpted by God himself, making her the epitome of beauty. Yes, she is extremely beautiful; she wants to cast evil every day on her, but she always likes to keep her face covered with her thick, long hair and never lets the scarf move off her head. She rarely spoke to anyone, but I loved to play with AASHI. Padma smiles and says,.

"Bundela Madam is very happy with you because you keep her granddaughter Aashi well."

Avi, who was comfortably eating tea and toast when she heard Aashi's name, smiled very lightly at Padma. This smile is so small that one can hardly notice it, but Padma is very happy to see it because it only appears on her lips sometimes.

"Madam ji has wished upon the 40-day circumambulation (round around the temple), but she was getting very upset for Aashi, so I said, "Whenever she will do the circumambulation, you will take care of Aashi; do I do it right?"

Avi quickly nods her head and swiftly finishes her tea biscuit, her entire focus now on meeting Aashi. She met Aashi just 8 months ago, when she had come for the first time with her grandmother to worship in the temple, but she was troubling her grandmother a lot, due to which she was not able to worship properly, and she had to leave. At that time, Avi had taken her in her warm embrace and cooed that 3-year-old sweet girl, so her grandmother, to do the prayer. This was the first time that Aashi had gone to someone other than her family, and at the same time, she was happy with her. Seeing this, her grandmother was quite surprised. She was very happy and relaxed that day. Every week, she visits the nearby temple for prayer, always accompanied by Aashi. Now, every time she goes, Avi takes care of that sweet angel, for whom she eagerly waits for a week. She quickly starts working at double speed because she wants to keep a lot of time for Aashi and does not want to do anything with her time. That's why she wants to finish as much work as possible before her arrival.

Vishnu, who had been silently listening to everything, suddenly turns his attention to Avi, who appears to be content with everything. He stares at his wife, who is looking only at Avi but is consumed by a different kind of worry, so he says softly to her:.

"Do you even know what you're doing? You are also putting her in danger for a few hours of enjoyment. Don't you know Bundela?”

“What kind of trouble? You know that Madam always takes flowers from us and performs prayers. This time Avi is with us, so she has just started getting to know this sweet girl and adores her a lot. What is the problem with this?”

“The problem is not with Bundela madam, but with her son... The whole town is afraid of her son, and Aashi is his daughter. If anything happens by mistake, he will neither leave us nor Avi alive.... This girl is already facing a problem in her life, and after his daughter's arrival, she is connecting to her very fondly, which he didn't like; if he came to know, I am sure she would be in trouble."

“I don't understand. Why are you talking like this? Nothing like this is going to happen. I only know that Avi likes Aashi, and Aashi is very happy with our Avi. Apart from this, I don't know anything. You are worrying about things that have not happened. You saw that Avi smiled lightly at the mention of Aashi, so I am also happy.”

Padma departs from there, while Vishnu silently gazes at the idol of God, prays for the safety of all three of them, and speaks softly.

“Keep your blessings on us."