The Runaway Bridegroom Read Online Free PDF

her for the evening. She had been so thrilled with the prospect of meeting her rich boss socially, confident that it was the beginning of something exciting in her life. She had been thrilled when he dropped her off at home in that fabulous car of his, after spending a whole evening with her - more than four hours. Based on that, Shikha had dared to dream about their spending their whole lives together.
       More fool she! The anger built within Shikha like a slow-burning volcano. She had had many pegs of whisky-on-the-rocks. While she could hold herself steady, the drink had gone to her head along with Ranveer’s company. What a waste! He had just about been present, out of damned politeness, it looked like.
       Angry tears flowed down Shikha’s face while she wiped them away impatiently. She hadn’t come this far to give up so easily. She knew what was good for Ranveer. She most definitely did, better than him, in fact.
       Ranveer was a lonely bachelor, living in a huge metropolis. He had a successful business, a big bank balance and no one to take care of him. His wife - Shikha still wasn’t sure about the truth of it - was obviously not with him. Such a man needed a woman in his life. Shikha decided there and then that she would be that woman and no one else.
       She got up from her slouched state on the single sofa she was seated on, straightened her shoulders, and decided to go after what she wanted - come hell or high water.
       Shikha was on a warpath and it looked like Ranveer didn’t stand a chance. A slow smile lit her features. If someone had seen her then, her face ravaged by tears and her age showing so clearly, they couldn’t have been blamed for taking her to be a wicked witch plotting revenge.
       She sat up through the night and made three alternate plans to catch the slippery bachelor.
     
    THERE WAS A THIRD PERSON who didn’t get to sleep that night. Chanda twisted and turned in her hostel bed.
       She had done twelve Surya Namaskars to relax her tightly strung body. She had breathed in and breathed out one hundred times. Nope! Either one of those usually helped her switch off like a light bulb. Today, sleep just eluded Chanda, constantly out of her grasp.
       She most definitely knew the cause for it. But Chanda refused to let her mind wander in that direction. It was forbidden! A huge sigh ripped through her, taking her unawares. She got up to step into the minuscule balcony, closing the door behind her. She didn’t want to disturb her roommates who were fast asleep.
       The weather was oh-so-cold! Chanda pulled her sweater tighter around her slender frame and wrapped her arms around herself as she stared out into the night. A sliver of a moon was up there with bright stars strewn around the night sky. Another sigh shuddered through Chanda before she was ready to face what was ailing her.
       Ranveer!
       She recalled his face with total clarity. Chanda had been near him only during the interview but his features seemed to have etched themselves deeply in her heart. His velvety brown eyes had been alive, totally alert; while he had the look of a man who was giving his hundred percent attention to the person in front of him. In fact, Chanda had found it rather difficult meeting his eyes during the interview.
       She faced her demons reluctantly. This was one trap that she had been careful to avoid all along. She had met a number of attractive teenagers and then grown-up men only to avoid them like the plague.
       She wasn’t free to pursue a loving relationship. Chanda was a married woman. No one had said anything to her - neither of her parents. Their neighbours and friends in Jaipur had no idea about Chanda’s marital status. Her classmates in Delhi definitely knew nothing about it.
       But Chanda had always been clear that she was not a free woman. She tried to recall the face of the boy that she had wedded fourteen years ago. Veera! Yeah, that was his name. But his