Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
ISHA
I smiled mistily at the woman who had been my best friend and soulmate since we were three years old and fed each other mud patties in that fancy forest preschool in Mount Abu.
Only she knew what I had been through and how Veer’s contempt for me had shaped my life over the past nine years. I hadn’t expected her to choose me over her brother, but she had just openly taken sides in this tussle between him and me.
I pulled up a chair next to her bed and took her hand.
“I have a plan,” I whispered. “I’ll be fine.”
Veer looked furious and a little hurt by her words.
“Thank you for having such little faith in me, little sis,” he said bitterly.
“I haven’t forgotten how you treated Isha over the past few years, Veer,” she said severely. “This marriage probably seems very convenient to you right now, but if you dare to hurt my best friend, I’ll make you pay for the rest of your life.”
“Okay, why does everyone think Isha needs any of you to fight her battles?” he demanded. “That woman is capable of gutting me like a fish if I piss her off, so please stop with these ridiculous threats and congratulate us.”
“Later! First I want to speak to her alone,” ordered Diya.
Veer stared at her hard for a minute before he spoke.
“If my fiancée escapes out that window because of you, then you and I will have a serious problem, Diya,” he warned.
“Get in line, Veer,” she replied wearily. “A lot of people have a serious problem with me these days. And you’ll have to get through Dheer to get at me. Which means I’m safe.”
“Why does everyone believe I’d be scared of Dheer?” he asked in disgust. “I can take him any day!”
Diya and I burst into laughter and Veer looked insulted.
“What’s so funny?” he asked furiously. “Just because I’m not a beastly brute like he is…”
“Hey!” we both yelled before he could finish.
“I’ll impale you with this IV pole if you say mean things about my husband,” warned Diya.
“Blood-thirsty little cow,” he grumbled as he left the room in high dudgeon.
Diya waited until he was out of earshot before she turned a serious face to me.
“I mean it, Ish. You don’t have to marry a man who makes you feel less about yourself.”
“No one can make me feel less about myself without my permission anymore, Dee. And it’s only for a year. We’ll get an annulment after he takes oath as CM.”
She snorted loudly and rudely.
“I’ve seen the way that man looks at you. And knowing how you feel about him, I think it’s safe to say that there will be no annulment. You’ll have to get a divorce if you want to leave him. And I’m not sure you could even if you wanted to, Isha. I’m not sure you can walk away from him so easily,” she said worriedly.
“Watch me,” I replied defiantly.
I was so sick of everyone thinking that I would waste my life on a man who was largely responsible for my low self-esteem. I loved myself much more than that.
“Veer and I are using each other. This is a business proposition, Diya. Nothing more,” I insisted.
She sighed heavily and shook her head.
“Fine! But remember that Dheer and I will always be on your side. Don’t hesitate to walk away from the deal if Veer treats you like before.”
I hugged her tightly and forced a smile on my face.
“You need to get better soon because our families are already planning the wedding, and we need to put a hard stop to that,” I declared. “I refuse to indulge their wedding mania.”
The doctor promised to discharge her by evening, and a stern nurse chased Veer and me out of Diya’s room just before lunchtime.
The Mom brigade was waiting for us again. Veer’s mother seemed to have made her peace with Nandini Aunty and my mom. Or maybe she’d called for a temporary truce because she didn’t want to miss out on the wedding planning, but she smiled at me politely, and I decided to meet her halfway.
“If you want to be married soon, we have a lot of work, beta,” said my mother.
I held up a hand to stop her.
“Nope,” I said bluntly. “We’re not doing the big, fat, Indian wedding. We’re getting married in court.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” snapped Ma. “You still have elders in your family who can make those decisions.”
“This is our wedding, and we’re doing it our way,” I insisted.
“Right now, you seem to be only doing it your way,” said Veer’s mother snidely. “Does my son not get a say in it?”
I was taken aback because I hadn’t thought he’d care. I gave him a sidelong glance and he was trying to hide a smile.
“Ohmigod! Please don’t say you want a big wedding, Veer,” I begged. “I can’t do it! I refuse to be paraded before thousands of people all of whom will find faults in my outfit, my hair, my makeup. Don’t put me through that, please!”
“First of all, you’ll be a gorgeous bride, and I dare anyone to say otherwise,” he said softly.
Hmph! Of course, he’d say that. No one was going to come out and tell me I looked like a troll until after the wedding was over.
“Secondly,” he went on. “I don’t want a big wedding either.”
“Ranveer Sisodia, if you think you can cheat us out of a rollicking good wedding, you’re out of your mind,” wailed his mother. “You’re my only son. I’ve been planning your wedding since before you were born. Do you kids not care about our feelings at all?”
“Of course, we do, Aunty,” I replied soothingly. “But I care even more about Veer’s political aspirations.”
She shot me a suspicious look.
“Hain? What do you mean?”
“Veer is still recovering from the last scandal, Aunty. I don’t think we should give the media any reason to crucify him further. A big wedding will just cement his spoilt billionaire image in the eyes of the voting public. Instead, a royal who opts for a no-frill, court wedding will impress them much more. Everything we do from now on should be aimed at bringing home the votes,” I said, trying to sound like the dutiful political wife.
“You’re just saying that because you don’t want a big wedding,” she complained.
She wasn’t wrong, but I could hardly say so.
“Well, it works to both our advantage, Aunty!”
“Actually, there’s a small flaw in your plan, Isha,” said Veer, and I shot him a glare hot enough to fry him where he stood.
This wasn’t the time to find flaws. This was the time to go along with what I said because I abso-fucking-lutely refused to have a big, fake wedding. I’d rather save the dhoom-dhamaal for my real one. If I ever married again, it was going to be for love, and that wedding was going to be spectacular. I couldn’t care less about this one.
“Please explain, Your Highness,” I said through gritted teeth.
“The will states that you need to be married within a month after the will was read, right?”
“Yes,” I admitted unwillingly.
“Well, you need to give a month’s notice to the court before you get married. We’ve already wasted precious days getting to this point. If we wait another thirty days, you will have crossed the stipulated time,” he pointed out. “Ranvijay isn’t the only person around here who can read a legal document, you know.”
I clenched my jaw hard enough to grind my teeth to nubs and held back a scream of frustration. Why could I never catch a break?
“But I do have a simple solution for our problem,” he added helpfully. “Nowhere in the will does it say that the marriage needs to be registered in court within thirty days of the will reading. And temple marriages are as legally binding as court marriages. So I suggest we get married in your kuldevta’s temple in a simple but traditional little ceremony with only the immediate family in attendance. The voting public will lap it up, as will the media.”
I was so relieved I could have kissed him, and from the smug look that he shot me, the arrogant bastard knew it too.
“Fine! But we want a grand reception in Jadhwal after the wedding,” stated his mother.
Veer held my gaze fiercely as he replied to her.
“After I take oath as CM, Ma. We’ll invite the whole world to tell them that Veer Sisodia has found his happy ever after.”
I knew what he meant and I looked away pointedly because I refused to make false promises. I had never promised him forever because one year of my life was all I could spare for him.