Upstairs, Saanvi could hear fragments of the conversation drifting through the ceiling. The words were not clear, but she didn't need clarity to understand what they were discussing.
Her marriage
A strange heaviness settled in her chest. What hurt her most was not the idea of marriage itself — it was the silence. No one had asked for her opinion. No one had asked whether she was ready to marry someone she had never met.
Someone she did not know.
Someone who did not know her.
Unable to sit there any longer, she quietly opened her bedroom door and stepped back inside her room. She closed it gently behind her, as if even the sound of it might disturb the fragile calm she was trying to maintain.
She sat on her bed near the open window.
Outside, the street carried on as usual. People walked past with purpose. A boy rode his bicycle too fast. A shopkeeper arranged his display. Everyone seemed to be chasing something — their dreams, their routines, their destinations.
And she wondered—
Was this her destination?
To marry a stranger?
What kind of man was he?
Did he want this marriage?
Did he even know her name yet?
For the first time, Saanvi felt something she had never allowed herself to feel before.
Not anger.
Not fear.
But a quiet sense of being left behind
As if her life had moved forward without her consent.
She looked out at the street again, but the world outside felt distant now.
And for the first time in her life, Saanvi questioned whether love could truly grow between two people who began as strangers.
To be continue....