After a tearful Vidaai, where Indrani again tried unsuccessfully to separate Chandni from Advay, the newlyweds finally reached their home on a stormy rainy night.
Nani, Shilpa and Murli welcomed them with Aarti and tilak. Nani made Chandni enter their home formally, by making her right foot tip over the rice kalash which was an auspicious way of welcoming the new bride in to the in-laws home.
As Chandni glanced nervously around, Advay was still looking grim as ever by her side.
But Nani welcomed her warmly with a hug, and assured her that this was her home now, and Chandni was now her granddaughter. She knew by now that Nani's eyes could not see, but the warmth and kindness in them touched Chandni's heart.
Chandni was moved by her affectionate and kind words, and felt that she finally had at least one person in her in laws home, that she could feel comfortable with and develop a bond.
Nani requested Shilpa to show Chandni around the house and take her to Advay's room. As Advay began to follow her, Nani stopped him and took him to her room.
"Cheeku, in spite of my objections and warning, you went ahead and married Chandni by breaking her alliance with that good for nothing fellow. I am glad that you married her, but from now onwards, remember that she is the Bahu of this family, and if you try to disrespect her or behave in any wrong way, that means you will be bringing disgrace to our family." Nani warned him in a stern voice.
Advay knew there was no point in trying to explain or justify to Nani, the motives behind his treatment of Chandni. He didn't want to give Nani any clue about what he intended to do either.
"Don't worry Nani, I know how to behave with Chandni. But just remember one thing, please don't call me as Dev in front of her, she must never know that I am Dev." He requested her.
She agreed, even though she wasn't happy with his decision.
As Advay began to walk back to his room, trepidation and doubts clouded his mind. He went to the adjacent wash room and looked at his reflection. A groom clad in dark clothes looked back at him. He purposely chose the black colour for his groom's attire to reflect the dark revenge raging inside his heart. But now, he felt as if he was like looking at a stranger.
He removed his headgear, washed his face, and noticed that his hands were trembling. Would he be able to finally do, what he had planned for all these months? Did Chandni's heart bled just like the way his heart was bleeding now, when he was about to destroy his once best friend, and now his wife's life, forever??
Now that he was at the cusp of taking the final step, why was his heart clouding his mind's decisions? All the memories of the horrible day when he lost all his dear ones, ran through his mind once again, reminding of his purpose in life. He shook his head and splashed cold water on his face, hoping to clear his mind in the process.
As Chandni entered Advay's room, despite her low spirit,s she couldn't help but appreciate how beautifully it was decorated, with flowers and candles placed at various points giving the whole room a soft glow. She tentatively took few steps inside, observing all the décor.
Just then, she heard footsteps and Advay came inside, bolting the door behind him.
She turned around, facing him nervously, unsure of how to talk with him now. Her marriage didn't feel like a real marriage at all to her, till she met Nani, and was pacified by her kind words. Advay made it clear that he wanted to marry her, but there was no sign of love or affection anywhere in his words. As she looked at him, she shivered at his hateful gaze, which reminded her of the time they took the Saat Pheras, and she scrambled back a few steps in fear.
As Advay observed her fidgeting nervously, he was fighting his own internal battles. It was time to break his little Chandni's heart now... forever.
Even though he despised himself for doing this to her, he justified to himself that he had to do this as he didn't have a choice.
But seeing the fear in her eyes as she moved away from him, something snapped inside his head. What was she thinking about him? That he was such a sleaze who would force himself on his wife!!!
And he decided that it was time to shut away all his feelings towards her.
"If you think that I am sick like that Asshole PP to force myself upon you, you are sadly mistaken, and this once again proves what a poor judge of character you are. I have no interest in coming even within a foot of you. Do you understand?" He spat at her in contempt.
"And please don't fool yourself to think Nani's kind behaviour towards you is the way things are going to be in this house for you." He hissed at her, and Chandni cursed herself for reacting so sharply to him. How could she explain to him that she was just nervous?
"And it's high time you knew why I married you. You were very curious to know right? I married you so you can be my bride just for one night." He rasped malevolently.
Chandni looked aghast at him, utterly shocked.
"You were crying so much at your Vidaai right, because you were leaving your dear mum and family behind. Well guess what?? I will drop you back at your mom's place tomorrow and you can stay there forever. Just imagine what the whole town will think of you now? A married woman whose husband kept you for one night and then dumped you. What a disgrace it would be to your family?? That is exactly what I want, your family in ruins and in disgrace... now you know why I married you." He spoke as if he delivered a sentence for her, and moved away from her quickly.
Chandni was shaken to the core. What was he talking about? How could he do this to her? Just when she was trying to gather pieces of her broken heart, he had to ruthlessly break her all over again!! Humiliation, anger, anguish all rose in her, and she quickly turned towards him, to ask what he meant by all this.
As if predicting this would happen, he was quickly on to her and didn't let her speak.
"Don't you dare to talk to me or question me. Now stay where you are and don't even try to move." He warned her as he tucked himself into bed.
Instead of wishing her good night, he declared
WELCOME TO HELL CHANDNI....
If Chandni stayed put at the same spot it was more in shock than to follow Advay's orders. What was happening with her life? The raging storm outside the window of her new home was nothing in comparison to the rage and turmoil she felt in her heart.
Had she no control over her life at all? After all the humiliation and ruckus at the altar, she finally resigned herself to her fate, and accepted Advay as her husband so that her dear sister Meghana's life remained scandal free.
For what ?
Just to know that, after fighting her Maa, all her family and the goons, Advay married her just for one night? What kind of a person does that?
Why does he have this intense hatred against her and her family that he wants to see them ruined like this? Was it because she defied him at every step, refused to marry him even though he pleaded his case several times?
Was this case of a vengeance for all those rejections?
Now what would be her fate? She knew exactly what kind of talk would be making rounds tomorrow, if she went back to her parents' home after spending just one night at her in-laws.
She had already defied her Maa to marry Advay; would she accept her with open arms if she went back to her Maa? Chandni certainly hoped so, even though she had no intention to go back. It somehow dawned on her that blindly trusting her Maa's judgement didn't go well, especially in PP's case. The way PP behaved at the altar was disgraceful, but her Maa didn't come to her rescue at all, and that very thought disturbed her.
She can't just take things lying down anymore. She must fight this gross injustice somehow, she thought furiously. If it was just her that was going to be affected by Advay's cruel tactics, she probably wouldn't have reached that decision so quickly. But it was a matter of her family honour too.
Come what may, she was going to fight this!!
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise how long she had been standing. Her throat felt dry and her lips were parched, and before she could turn around to ask Advay for a glass of water, she felt dizzy and collapsed on to the floor in a heap.
Advay couldn't sleep at all, but kept his eyes tightly shut, to avoid looking at Chandni's profile. He might escape from her vision, but there was no escape from her thoughts. What he did just now was despicable, and he knew he had hurt her beyond anything today.
As he was revealing the truth behind his marriage, the way she looked at him, so heartbroken and shocked...it pierced his heart more than he ever prepared himself for. And he was going to hurt her even more deeply tomorrow. He prayed to god to give him strength to go through with it.
He knew that the orphanage records which showed Chandni as the carer of that baby doesn't mean a thing. But why was her name on it, and why was she fighting so hard to suppress the truth here? Who was she protecting ?
Whatever it was, it served his purpose in blackmailing her to agree to their marriage! But he was still not satisfied, with both his own conduct and Chandni's in this issue.
As he tossed and turned more, he could smell some strong burning smell. He snapped his eyes open, only to find a small flame spreading rapidly along the candles. Advay's heart sank as Chandni was nowhere to be seen. He jumped out of his bed in an instant and found Chandni lying at the foot of the bed, unconscious. The Dupatta that she was wearing on top of her head, had flown away to one of the candles and had caught fire.
He bent down and pulled her up.
"Chandni... Chandni!!" he gently patted on her cheek, and even tried to shake her, but there was no response from her.
Panic rose in him as to what might have caused her to collapse like this. All his thoughts and concentration was so much on Chandni, that he didn't realise that the fire was slowly spreading to the curtains now. He lifted her in his arms and lay her down on the bed.
Murli banged on the door urgently.
"Bhayya!! Bhayya. Wake up!! I smell smoke in your room. Wake up.!
Advay left Chandni reluctantly, and opened the door and a panic stricken Murli rushed inside.
"Murli Chandni is unconscious, we need to call a doctor urgently..."
"Cheeku!! Cheeku!! What is happening?" Nani and Shilpa approached their room hearing all the commotion.
"Bhayya first get out of this room first, take Chandni Bhabhi to Nani's room. I will douse this fire out. Shilpa can you call the doctor? Was there a family doctor at Chandni Bhabhi's house? Just call the same one." Murli was quickly taking care of the situation, as Advay just looked lost.
Advay carried Chandni into Nani's room and laid her down gently on the bed.
"Cheeku!! beta kya hua?" Nani asked anxiously.
"Nani, I found Chandni lying unconscious on the floor!" Advay blurted out, and realised immediately how Nani would interpret those words.
"What do you mean you found her?" Nani was reacting exactly as he expected.
"Nani let us first make sure she is Ok. She is wearing all this heavy clothes and jewellery. Can we just get rid of all that first?" He tried to divert her, and Shilpa just walked in informing that the doctor was on his way.
"Shilpa can you please get some cold and hot water." Advay finally controlled his panic now, and was thinking how to do some first aid, and give relief to Chandni till the doctor arrived.
"Nani, please don't worry. I will take care of everything. I just lost... never mind. Sit here on the other side of the bed with Chandni or sit on the chair over there. I will just try to wipe her face with some water first." He explained what he was doing to Nani so she wouldn't feel too anxious.
Shilpa brought a bowl of cold water and cloth and Advay first removed the jewellery in her head and untied it. As he felt her soft hair, he couldn't help but run his fingers through it and spread them comfortably around.
He wiped her face gently with the moist cloth but it was getting stuck with the jewellery.
He tried to loosen the tie at the back for the heavy necklace Chandni was wearing, and suddenly his eyes fell on the black beaded mangalsutra on top of the necklace. His eyes automatically moved to her face and rested on the parting where he put sindhoor that very day symbolising their marriage.
He was overcome by such an unfamiliar raw emotion, so strong and deep, that he didn't know how to deal with it.
His Chandni!!! His....
As he was still struggling with his turmoil, he was consumed by an even more powerful and guilt ridden fear!
What if the harsh words and the threats he made to her caused her to collapse like this?
Till now, he thought, he was living in hell because of the memories of horrors that happened in his life, when he lost all his dear ones. But just then, as he helplessly looked at his Chandni lying unconscious, he realized, watching someone dear to you, suffering, and not able to do anything about it was even more painful...
Something deep tugged at his heart and before he could understand what it meant, the doctor arrived.
^------------^
This chapter and the next are the pivot around which this story revolves and as the title of the chapter says, the hell has surely began for Chandni.
But is it for Chandni alone?
More often than not, feelings of revenge and hatred consume us so much that we too get destroyed along with whoever we are conspiring against.
So what happens next for our Adni pair? The next chapter will have the most interesting twist, and contains the entire plot idea based on which I am writing this story.
But please let me know first what are your thoughts and opinions on the story so far.
Love
Sesi