Devendra stared at him.
This was the Thakur of Anand Mahal. The man whose family Chauhans had served for generations. Now he sat here folding them into his life as naturally as breathing.
Gauri lowered her eyes. Tears rose too fast. Every mother wished for her daughter to be loved after marriage. Respected. Protected. Valued.
But this… this felt deeper. A devotion that rearranged a man completely around one person.
Naina stopped chewing midway and looked at her brother as if reassessing every irritating thing he had done since birth.
Pride shone across Sarita’s face.
Meera stared at her plate. Her vision blurred. Yesterday she had accused him of destroying her home. Tonight he built one around her family without being asked.
Her heart could not bear it.
At that moment, his hand found hers under the table. Warm fingers slipped between her own and stayed.
Her pulse stumbled violently. She kept her eyes on the plate.
His thumb brushed slowly across her palm.
Meera focused on eating with terrifying concentration because holding his hand had suddenly made swallowing impossible.
Across the table, Naina noticed. Of course she did. Her eyes dropped once toward their hands, then rose to Meera’s face with an expression so dramatic it deserved background music.
Meera looked down so fast her neck almost hurt.
Naina bit back a laugh.
Conversation moved around them after that. Warm. Familiar. Yet inside Meera, nothing settled fully. The knot… just wouldn’t loosen.
When dinner ended, Abhinav stood first. His hand slipped from hers. The loss of warmth felt immediate.
He exchanged a few words with Devendra and Gauri before turning to her.
His fingers brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Sleep well.”
Meera nodded because trusting her voice felt dangerous.
His thumb grazed her cheek before he turned and walked out with Sarita and Naina.
The quarters felt different after they left. Emptier. Meera remained near the doorway long after he disappeared.
Sleep would not come easy tonight.
Chapter 37
By the next day, wedding preparations had turned into organised madness.
Opinions rose from every corner. Voices overlapped. Instructions collided. The Haveli throbbed with movement.
Meera moved through it on instinct. Food appeared, she ate. A glass reached her, she drank. Someone called her name, she smiled.
Inside, anxiety kept climbing.
It began quietly. By lunch it sharpened. She looked across the table at her parents and felt it rise higher. She could not walk toward the sacred fire with silence standing between her and Abhinav.
The weight pressed harder when her phone gallery opened by mistake.
