Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
DIYA
D heer stared at the man who had been like a brother to him and I wondered how Veer would react if he hugged him. Maybe he’d beat him to a pulp like he’d threatened to do nine years ago.
“You’re as ugly as ever,” Dheer remarked with a slow grin as he entered the room.
Isha hovered worriedly in the background and he winked at her reassuringly. Meanwhile, I took care to avoid his gaze because I was conscious of Veer staring from me to Dheer.
“And you’re about as charming as I remember,” he drawled. “I was just telling my sister that she could do much better than you.”
“I’m sure she can, but she’s marrying me,” Dheer said firmly.
“Did the truck driver talk?” Veer asked.
Dheer shook his head.
“No, but I didn’t expect him to talk. The Goels know how to cover their tracks, Veer.”
“Will they get off so easily?” I demanded angrily. “You say they will back off after I marry you, but what about the woman Ayush killed? Will she get no justice?”
“We don’t know who she is, Diya. I have men making discreet enquiries in the villages around here, but the locals have clammed up because they know this is a volatile situation, and they don’t to be caught in the crossfire.”
“We have to keep trying,” I insisted, not wanting to give up so easily.
“We will,” promised Dheer. “And I’ll back you in whatever you want to do. You can testify against Ayush if that’s what you want to do.”
“Are you trying to get my sister killed?” yelled Veer, forcing himself out of the chair. “You have to forget about that woman, Diya. You can’t win against these men.”
“Diya will do exactly as she wants, and I will keep her safe,” Dheer replied, coming to stand next to me.
“But why? Why can’t the two of you drop this?”
“Because I know your sister, Veer. The regret of doing nothing will eat her alive, and I won’t let her get worn down by that regret.”
I stared at Dheer in disbelief as I realised that he had voiced exactly what I was feeling. He did understand me. But if he knew me so well, how could he not have known that I had loved him with all my heart nine years ago? Maybe he had known and not cared, I thought, hardening my heart against him. I had to take care not to be sucked into the vortex of falling in love with him again. This marriage was purely a business arrangement, and there was nothing romantic about it. Which brought me to a very important point.
“Veer, I need you to keep Ma on a strict leash until the wedding is over. She’s dreaming of a big, fat desi wedding, and I don’t want any of the hungama she’s planning. I flatly refuse to do a couple’s dance on a grand stage. It’s going to be a small wedding with no fuss,” I warned.
Before my brother could reply, Isha turned to me with a frown.
“You’re marrying the Maharaja of Trikhera, Diya. Dadi Sa will go up in smoke if you guys don’t follow all the traditions that come with the title.”
“I don’t care,” said Dheer. “It’s our wedding, not hers. We will create new traditions that match our thinking and beliefs. If Diya wants a small wedding, then that’s what she’s going to have.”
I tried to damp down the thrill that I felt when I heard him talk about our wedding. I hadn’t given it much thought but when I did think of it, I called it the wedding. But Dheer just made it way more personal by calling it ours . His and mine. Something that was the start of the silken ropes that bind a couple together.
I was going to slice through those ropes with a pair of garden shears, I told myself. Nine years ago, I was willing to do all of this. I was willing to perform all the rituals that came with our traditions and bind myself to Dheer, mind, body and soul like Fevicol ka majboot jod. But he had changed his mind. And he had done it so brutally that people still whispered about my humiliation in royal circles. If I let myself be taken in by his fancy words, I was laying myself open to that heartbreak and humiliation all over again. Because if he could change his mind once, what was to stop him from changing it again?
“What traditions did you create with your previous fiancée, Dheer?” I asked coldly.
I felt him tense next to me.
“Let’s leave Raksha out of this,” he said lightly. “That’s a closed chapter.”
I hated the very sound of her name. Especially when it came from his lips.
“Sure,” I replied with a shrug.
I had made my point. And I had spoiled his mood.
He could talk about happy ever after as if it were a bygone conclusion, but I wasn’t even willing to make him happy for now, forget ever after. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I wanted to make him pay for the tears I had shed for him.
Maybe that was the one thing I would take away from this temporary marriage. The joy of inflicting as much pain on him as he had inflicted on me. I hadn’t realised I was such a vengeful little soul, but I quite looked forward to making Dheer sorry for his betrayal. He might be seeking redemption, but all I wanted was revenge.
“Isha, let’s go and see what our mothers are doing. I’m not going to let Ma bully me into wearing something hideous for the wedding,” I said, holding out a hand to her.
She took it and led me out of the room. But when the door closed behind us, she pulled me to a halt.
“What the hell are you doing, Diya?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you needling Dheer? Especially about Raksha?”
I couldn’t believe she was asking me that when she knew what I had gone through nine years ago.
“I’m not needling him exactly. I’m just poking holes in the happy ever after that he’s trying to construct,” I replied.
“But why? You guys are meant to be together. You know that as well as I do. Fate has given you a second chance, and Dheer wants to make amends for what he did nine years ago. Why are you making it more difficult?”
“And what about what I want, Isha?”
“What do you want, sweetie?”
I struggled for words because I had no idea what I wanted.
“What I don’t want is to be forced into this marriage. I don’t want to feel like I’m at Dheer’s mercy just because he’s sacrificing his future to save my life. I don’t want to be his rescue project.”
“He’s doing it happily,” she began, and I snorted in bitter amusement at her words.
“Really? Did you miss the part where he said he didn’t want to marry me any more than I want to marry him?”
“I didn’t miss anything. Not the fact that you were both unwilling this morning. Not the fact that something seems to have changed between you since then. And not even the fact that for all the animosity between the two of you, you can’t keep your eyes off each other,” she replied tartly.
“Bullshit,” I retorted, but Isha just rolled her eyes at me.
“Fine! Don’t tell me if you don’t want to, Meena Kumari, but don’t write off your chance at happiness yet. You never know, this marriage might be the best thing that happened to the two of you.”
“Fuck tragedy queen, I’m going to be a bandit queen,” I said, with a laugh. “Ask Ayush Goel if you don’t believe me.”
“You’re a queen in my eyes, no matter what,” she replied, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “The great Delulu queen, who will probably do the most unfashionable thing in the world and fall in love with her own husband.”
I shot her a mock glare.
“Bite your tongue, peasant. I’m fully planning to dump your brother after all this blows over.”
She ground to a halt and turned to me in surprise.
“What?”
I looked around to make sure we were alone before I leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
“It’s going to be temporary, fake marriage, Isha. But don’t tell my mom or she’ll disown me.”
Isha stared at me worriedly.
“Does Dheer know this?”
“Of course, he does. He might not like it, but I will not be tied to a man I hate.”
“You say it like it’s so easy, Diya. But you’re forgetting something very important.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her defiantly.
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“This is Dheer ,” she said pointedly. “The man you’ve loved ever since you learned the meaning of the word. And you can say what you like but I know you’re still not over him. If you were, you would have moved on by now. But you’ve stayed single for the past nine years because try as you might, you couldn’t find a man to replace him in your heart.”
“It’s not his love that kept me single, Isha. It was the memory of his betrayal,” I scoffed. “And you know how they say that love and hate are two faces of the same coin? Well, I hate Dheer as much as I used to love him. I might need him now but it doesn’t erase the past. It doesn’t erase the fact that he threw me away like a used tissue when he found another woman.”
“Okay, I’m going to say something that I should have said years ago, babe. Talk to him about the past. Ask him why he did what he did. Start this new chapter in your relationship on a clean slate, Diya. Because you won’t be able to write this marriage off as easily as you’re thinking. Don’t shut the door on your happy ever after, that’s all I’m saying.”
“There’s no happy ever after in my destiny, Isha,” I said bleakly.
“Don’t say that,” she began, but I cut her off.
“But it’s true! My life has come full circle with the same man who betrayed me before, and I won’t give him the chance to betray me again. As for talking about the past, I don’t care why he did what he did. He broke my heart. He broke me . And I won’t let him do it again. This time, I’ll be the one who breaks off the relationship. I’ll be the one who walks away without a backward glance,” I vowed.