LOVE OR ARRANGED ?

CHAPTER XIX

ARUSH'S POV

Half way through our journey, I asked Aadhya if she wanted to eat or drink something. She nodded her head as no and kept staring out of the window. I really wanted her to open up about how she is feeling, but I didn't want to pressurize her into talking to me. So, all I did was just hold her hand throughout our ride. As we reached near to her home, her grip on my hand tightened and I saw a very vulnerable Aadhya at that moment. I got out from the car first and helped her to get down, and we went inside.

Aadhya asked if we can go to her room and I agreed to her and walked silently aside her. I was trying to read her expressions but she is just blankly looking at everything in her room. Unlike earlier, her room looks very empty and lifeless. I thought she is going to breakdown seeing the empty room, but after 5 minutes, she smiled at me and said, "Let us go down, Arush. Everyone must be waiting for us." I held her hand and we got down the stairs together.

We see everyone waiting for us, while her whole family is already in tears. I turned to see her looking at everyone with lot of love and a small smile is adorned on her lips. We were taken to the prayer room and then Ananya asked her, "Do you want to drink some water, Sweety?" She nodded her head in a yes and said, "Let me fetch a glass for myself, Minnie" and went to the kitchen holding her lehenga along with my scarf. She looked so calm and that is worrying everyone.

She came after a minute and looked at me. I took my scarf and placed it on my right shoulder. My mom decided to break the silence and said, "Ankitha. It is time for us to leave now." Ankitha aunty gestured Aadhya towards Ananya. She turned towards Ananya who was holding a silver plate filled with puffed rice and took a handful of puffed rice from the silver plate and threw it over her head, while her Mami caught them with the end of her saree. Aadhya repeated the same two more times, while walking out of her home.

We took blessings from her grandparents and they hugged her and cried a lot asking her to take care, and this was making me feel so bad. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw mom with tears came to stand beside me along with dad. We then moved to her Mamu and Mami and took their blessings. Aadhya smiled when her Mamu sobbed like a small child and wiped his tears saying, "I am still your daughter and we will always have the same relationship." Her Mami was crying uncontrollably holding Aadhya's hands, but Aadhya is just looking at her lovingly and after some time she said, "Today whatever I am, it is because of you Mami. You are my strength and do you think I will be fine if you send me with these tears," she wiped her Mami's tears, who nodded her head and smiled at her.

I see Ananya trying to control her emotions when Aadhya walked towards her. Ananya held Aadhya's hands and said, "Shed a single tear, Sweety. One tear and it will keep my heart at peace. Please," but Aadhya smiled at her and said, "Don't cry too much now, you are going to come to the same family soon Minnie." They both hugged each other while Ananya was crying badly and Aadhya asked her to calm down and rubbed her back. After some time, she said her bye to all the others present there and turned towards me as if saying she is ready to go.

I looked at mom who was watching everything sadly and nodded my head as if conveying her that we should start now. Mom and dad went towards Aadhya's family and said, "Please don't worry about, Aadhya. She is our daughter and will be treated like the princess she is." They happily smiled at my parent's assurance and I slid into my seat first while her Mami held Aadhya's hand and helped her sit in my car. Aadhya looked one last time at her family, before we started to our home.

Though it took only 15 minutes to reach, it felt really long ride with the silence filled in the car. Once we reached, I helped Aadhya to get down and she gave me a heart-melting smile. I smiled at her happily and said, "Welcome home, My Queen," and gave my hand forward and she placed her hand in mine with a small blush adorning her cheeks. We were about to walk across the driveway towards the entrance, when we heard drum sounds and saw Viraj and my other cousins beating the drums, while they laid a path with flower petals for Aadhya.