CHAPTER 42
SIYA
Next Day - Evening
The moment I step out of the shower, still drying my damp hair, I look for the black dress I had carefully laid out earlier, but it’s no longer there. Instead, neatly spread across the bed is another outfit: a traditional Himachali red dress. The same kind I wore during the Shivtara Mata event.
Did Raghav pick this one for me for today?
Slowly, I walk towards the bed, unable to tear my eyes away from it.
I recall how I stood before him in an outfit just like this and how his gaze had lingered on me as though he simply couldn’t look away.
He had loved seeing me in that dress so much that even now, out of all the dresses he could have chosen for tonight, this is the one he had laid out for me.
I still wonder what exactly is he planning? He’d bluntly refused to tell me where he was taking me out today. I’d assumed it would probably be a long drive or maybe dinner somewhere outside RK Estate. That’s why I’d picked the black dress in the first place as it is Raghav’s favourite colour.
But if he wants me to wear this one, then so be it. I start getting ready, almost exactly as I did that day. I leave my hair open and place the traditional dupatta over my head. I pair it with ethnic jewellery that complements the outfit perfectly.
By the time I’m done, I take one last look at myself in the mirror and step out of our bedroom, expecting to find either Mom or Raghav waiting for me. Instead, the entire villa is quiet. Where did they suddenly disappear?
I think they must be outside. I reach for my phone, intending to call Raghav, when Haider appears at the entrance. “Raghav has sent me to pick you up,” he says.
I frown. “What kind of date is this? He couldn’t even come to get me himself? He was here barely an hour ago. Where did he go?”
Haider doesn’t answer. Instead, he raises two fingers to his lips and pretends to zip them shut, then makes a small locking gesture.
Message received. His lips are sealed.
I let out a defeated sigh. There’s absolutely no point trying to extract answers from Haider once Raghav has instructed him to keep quiet. Giving up, I follow him out of the villa towards the waiting car. As always, Haider steps ahead and respectfully opens the rear passenger door for me.
I merely look at it for a second before shaking my head with a quiet sigh.
“Oh, stop being so formal, Haider.”
Without another word, I close the rear door myself, walk around the car, open the front passenger door, and settle into the seat beside him.
A faint smile tugs at Haider’s lips, and I know exactly why. He knows I’m not the kind of woman who expects to be treated like some high-and-mighty boss’s wife, sitting in the back while everyone else chauffeurs her around. To me, Haider isn’t just Raghav’s bodyguard anymore. He’s family.
The drive passes in comfortable silence. I keep stealing curious glances out the window, trying to guess where Raghav has planned to take me, but every turn makes me more confused. Then, to my surprise, the car slowly comes to a stop at the Shivtara Mata Temple.
I stare through the windshield before turning towards Haider. He quietly gets out, opens my door, and waits.
Holding my dress carefully so I don’t trip over it, I step out, still trying to process everything.
Raghav has planned a date... here? Of all the places...
My heart begins to beat a little faster. I lift my gaze towards the temple perched above, almost a dozen stone steps away. And that’s when I finally see him. He’s standing inside the temple courtyard with his back to me, dressed entirely in black once again. Black shirt. Black blazer. Dark jeans.
An involuntary smile curves my lips as I glance at Haider, who simply inclines his head towards the temple, silently telling me to go ahead. I nod back, gather my dress once again, and begin climbing the steps slowly.
Perhaps he senses me the moment I enter the temple courtyard, because the very next second, he turns around and our eyes meet.
As always, his gaze slowly travels over me, from the top of my head to the hem of my dress, taking in every little detail as though he’s committing this moment to memory.
The admiration in his eyes is so raw that my breath catches somewhere inside my chest.
I’ve seen Raghav look at me like this many times before. But today… it feels different. I lower my eyes for a second and walk towards him.
“So...” I ask, stopping just a step away, “This is where we’re having our first date?”
Instead of answering, he closes the remaining distance between us.
His hands don’t reach for mine, nor do they settle on my shoulders.
They go straight to my waist. Both his hands slide around it, holding me possessively against him.
Every coherent thought inside my head disappears.
My heart melts first, and the rest of me follows.
I lift my eyes to meet his.
“This place is where everything truly began for us, isn’t it?” he says, and I couldn’t agree more.
This is where it began.
“You have no idea what you did to me that day.” He absently strokes my waist as he continues.
“The first time I saw you at that club in Mumbai, you stole my attention. Somehow, every thought I had kept circling back to you since then.” His gaze moves over my traditional attire once again.
“But when I saw you here, wearing these clothes that mean so much to this land and to me, I realised, for the first time in my life, that I had a heart. And that heart was beating for you. Only you.”
My heartbeats stumbles. What did he just say?
“So yes, this place is special to me.” His fingers tighten ever so lightly around my waist. “This attire is special to me. You are special to me.”
I smile until my cheeks begin to ache. Raghav… the man who once hid every emotion behind silence, is standing before me tonight, laying his heart bare, piece by piece.
“So what better place could there be than this?” he asks softly. “But I didn’t bring you back here to relive the memories that unknowingly brought us together.”
No? Then why?
Before I can say anything, his hands slowly release my waist. His palms glide unhurriedly along my arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake until they finally reach my face. He cups my cheeks with both hands, his thumb brushing beneath my eye as he holds my gaze.
“I know… all these years you waited for your prince charming. You dreamt of someone who would woo you, someone who would win your heart the right way. You had plans for your life, Siya. You wanted your independence. You wanted to build a life of your own. You wanted to leave this mafia world behind to live peacefully, happily...”
He exhales slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “But I broke your trust. I broke your heart, Siya.”
Tears silently gather in my eyes until my vision begins to blur. I shake my head, wanting to stop him before he blames himself any further, but he caresses his thumb against my cheek.
“No...” His voice is barely above a whisper. “Let me speak.”
And I fall silent. My fingers tighten around his shirt as he continues looking into my eyes.
“The way I married you will always remain the biggest regret of my life.” He gently wipes away a tear before it can fall.
“But I don’t want that regret to be the only memory our marriage leaves us with.
I don’t want us to speak about our marriage years from now and remember only those bitter memories.
” He shakes his head ever so slightly. “I want to give you another memory, Siya. One we’ll both cherish for the rest of our lives. And I want to give you that tonight.”
A small crease forms between my brows.
Tonight?
Without another word, he slowly turns his head and gestures towards the temple. My eyes follow his, and I almost stop breathing.
Right in the middle of the temple, before the deity, is a havan kund.
The sacred fire hasn’t been lit yet, but all the arrangements for a traditional Hindu wedding are already in place.
The wooden seats, the ritual offerings, the sindoor, the mangalsutra…
every little detail needed for a marriage is right there.
And then, everything begins to fall into place. Raghav didn’t bring me here for a date. He brought me here to rewrite the darkest memory of my life. The tears I had somehow managed to hold back finally spill over, and I don’t even try to stop them.
Raghav gently wipes each one away with his thumb before leaning down to place the softest kiss against my forehead. When he pulls back, his hands are still cradling my face. He searches my eyes for one long moment before speaking again.
“Siya Vardhaan...” His Adam’s apple bobs ever so slightly. “Will you marry me again?”
In that moment, the world around me simply fades away.
I stare at him, unable to breathe, unable to think. Not even in my wildest dreams had I imagined Raghav proposing to me. And yet here he is, asking me to become his wife all over again.
“I promise you, Siya,” he continues before I can even find my voice. “From this moment onwards, I’ll do everything in my power to make this the most beautiful memory of your life.”
His forehead almost touches mine.
“Every darkness that has ever shadowed your life... I’ll spend the rest of my life filling it with the light of my love.”
My heart stops. Love.
Did Raghav just...
He gives a tiny nod before I can even question it.
“I know. That word probably sounds strange coming from me,” he says with the faintest self-conscious smile I’ve ever seen on his face.
“When Ayaan spoke about love, then Vishnu, then Krish... I always believed it wasn’t meant for someone like me.
” His fingers brush a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“But then you walked into my life. You challenged everything I believed, and somewhere along the way, you made me realise how wrong I’d been…
and how much I needed everything I had spent my whole life convincing myself I didn’t. ”
His thumb strokes my cheek again, his eyes glistening.