“Our families are already bound by friendship,” Suchitra told her. “Let us bind them by blood too.”
Maheeta received the idea warmly. Yamini's father, eagerly. Both families presented it to the world asan arrangement between old friends—a royal alliance strengthening ties that already existed.
Only Suchitra knew the truth. That it was not her proposal. It was Bharat's.
Then came the scandal.
The call came three days before the wedding.
Yamini eloped. Married her college classmate and then left the country.
Samar reacted first, furious. “That woman humiliated bhai. She humiliated all of us!”
Yamini’s location was traced within hours.
Ram said nothing, but his anger was clear on his face.
“We’ll bring her back,” Viraj said. “Or her family will face the consequences.”
Viraj was young, but already strategic.
Only Bharat remained calm.
Too calm.
“We will not pursue her,” he said.
Samar stared at him. “She disgraced you, bhai.”
“She made a choice,” Bharat replied, his voice even.
But Suchitra saw it.
The slight tightening in his jaw. The stillness that settled into his shoulders. The way he avoided eye contact more than he usually did.
It wasn't ego. It wasn't anger.
It was heartbreak.
The woman he had chosen chose someone else.
And he let her go.
Suchitra closed her eyes for a moment at the memory, then opened them and looked at Mira.
“Bharat has asked me for only one thing in his life,” she said softly. “He asked for Yamini.”
Mira nodded. She had always known this as Suchitra’s confidante.
“I was happy they finally married after five years,” Suchitra said. “And now they stand apart again.”
“We don't know what caused this, Rani Ma,” Mira said gently.
“No,” Suchitra agreed. “But I know my son.”
She had learned, over five decades and four marriages, that no one ever knows everything about another person, including the people closest to them.
But she knew enough.
