The Runaway Bridegroom Read Online Free PDF Page B

face—Chanda had no recall how he looked. She vaguely remembered a boy who had been taller than her and quite lanky. Beyond that, nothing!
       A bitter smile rose on Chanda’s face. She was married to a guy whose face she couldn’t recoll ect. Obviously, Veera wasn’t interested in the child-wife he had left behind either. He had never attempted to find her. Chanda was very much aware that her marriage could be annulled pretty easily. But what about the rituals that they had undergone; the seven pheras they had taken around the sacred fire? Did that not bind them?
       This i s what held Chanda back from entering a new relationship. She had never spoken about it to her parents. Neither Meera nor Mohan had placed any restrictions on their only daughter. But somehow Chanda had been clear that she should stay away from getting into a loving relationship with anyone.
       And now she had met Ranveer. What was it about him that made Chanda forget all the control that she had imposed on herself? Her heart seemed to knock so hard in her chest just thinking of him.
       Will she be able to work for him without giving away her feelings of strong attraction? Just one day in that office and not meeting him had drained her of all enthusiasm for life. And tonight she was unable to sleep thinking of the new day tomorrow when she would definitely get a chance to see him.
       Chanda could sense her feelings oscillating from hope to despair that kept her awake throughout the night. She went back inside after a while to toss and turn quietly until her alarm clock decided to wake her up.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Eight
     
       Meera was in the kitchen instructing the cook that evening when Mohan walked into their home. Home was a six-bedroom duplex bungalow sprawled over two acres of garden. It had taken the family a couple of years to feel comfortable living in Jaipur. They were used to their village with wide open spaces and huge farmlands.
       Mohan ran a provision shop at Tripolia Bazaar and his business was doing excellently well. While he had eight men working for him, none of his sons had shown interest in joining their father in his business. Not that Mohan was disturbed by this. He was freedom-loving himself and believed in the philosophy of live-and-let-live. His four sons pursued careers that they loved and each one was successful in his own right.
       Meera walked out of the kitchen on hearing her husband’s footsteps. Even after forty years of marriage, Meera continued to be in love with her husband. She gave him a wide smile that he returned with equal gusto. She walked behind Mohan as he went up the stairs to their bedroom to change.
       “ Baat karthe hi rahogi ya kuch chai ka bhi inthazaam hoga ?” teased Mohan as he removed the buttons on his shirt.
       Meera blushed on hearing the teasing note in her husband’s voice and shook her head before leaving the room to walk down to the kitchen yet again. It never struck her to call out to the cook or his assistant to get tea for her husband. In fact, Meera was very particular about taking care of her husband’s needs herself.
       Mohan came down after a wash and sat down on the sofa in the living room while Meera served his tea along with some fresh chaklis and son-papdi .
      “Now, continue with your stories,” teased Mohan yet again, sipping his tea.
       Meera continued from where she had left off.
       “Chanda is twenty-two. She needs a husband.” Meera twisted her hands together in anguish. “We can’t even plan our sons’ weddings having a married daughter living in the house. I know that Veera has disappeared. But that doesn’t mean that Chanda should live alone all her life. Can’t we—”
       Mohan looked at his small, plump wife. Meera was the typical Indian housewife who worked diligently for the home, taking care of