32. Happy Ending

I worried for the rest of the night; about my father, about the wedding, about my babies. I barely slept that night, but when I did, all I saw was the same nightmare over and over again.

I was running through a jungle in the red, bridal lehenga. My hair flew around in the air and my anklets made sound as I moved. Everything was heavy and tried to stop me from running. I fell down but then got up and kept running. Suddenly everything came to a halt and Shiv came out of nowhere; but this time, he didn't tell me that I will find a way. He just looked me in the eye for a second and vanished into thin air. He didn't comfort me like last time, he didn't say anything, he didn't kiss me, he just went away.

The nightmares were becoming true as every minute passed by as I sat in front of the mirror. The red bridal lehenga, the matching bangles, make-up; everything was weighing me down, it made me feel weak, vulnerable.

I was waiting for it to turn into a beautiful white flowy dress but it never did and I realised that it was reality and dreams just misguide us into thinking that things that are barely possible can happen anytime. The dream I dreamt one night, it started as a nightmare but ended as a beautiful dream and that was the only hope I clung to. I hoped our plan would work out as we had pictured it.

I walked down the massive staircase once again, with Sanjana by my side. The large living room was cleared out and was decorated with lights and flowers. The mandap sat in the middle of the room and as we walked towards it, I felt every eye on me. Everyone looked at a bride who was walking towards a marriage but no one saw a broken girl who never wanted any of it.

I saw Ashwin sitting in the mandap, everyone else around him had smiles on their faces other than the people who knew what was going on. My mom, Vivan, Sanjana; everyone knew this was all a lie.

I sat down beside him and the rituals started.

Halfway through, I saw Lorenzo and Sanjana leave for their part of the plan and after a few minutes, all the lights went off. The fire from the mandap wasn't enough for anyone to see clearly. People started muttering things and some of them went to check what was wrong.

I felt Ashwin get up from beside me silently and I felt another body sit beside me. I sighed in relief as I realised that the plan was going as we thought.

The lights came back up and I turned around, expecting to see Shiv but I saw Ashwin still there, sitting with worry on his face.

"What are you doing? Where is Shiv?" I whispered to him in slight panic.

"Shiv isn't anywhere to be found, no one knows where he went. What am I supposed to do?" he whispered back.

"Oh, no." I muttered to myself.

Just then I heard a voice yell.

"Stop!" I heard my father's stern voice.

Everyone turned around to see Shiv pushing my father's wheelchair towards us.

"What is happening?" I whispered. My head was spinning, nothing was going according to the plan.

"I have no idea." Ashwin replied to me.

"I cannot let this wedding happen." my dad said loudly.

"Why? Do you want to get arrested?" Ashwin's father asked him.

"Still better than seeing my daughter go through hell."

"Dad, no. I am not letting you go to jail." I told him.

"No one is going to jail. The papers never said that would happen if the deal is broken. No imprisonment, no lawsuit." Shiv said.

"What?" Ashwin and I asked in unison.

"Yes. He wanted this wedding for personal reasons and blackmailed your father into it."  Shiv said to me.

"N-no. This is wrong. The deal-" Ashwin's father started but wasn't able to find words.

"No, dad. What is wrong is you forcing me, your own son, into marrying a girl who doesn't want to marry me. You are wrong for not accepting my sexuality. No one is wrong other than you." Ashwin raised his voice for everyone to listen.

"Being gay is the worst disease you can catch Ashwin. Please listen to me, I will get you help; just get married." his father said to him.

"It is not a disease, dad. It is who I am and it doesn't change anything about me other than who I love. And I am in love with Vivan." He said and people gasped.

"Shut up! You cannot be my son." he yelled.

"I never was. If I was, you would've accepted me for who I am and you wouldn't have labelled me as a maniac for being gay." he said calmly, realising what he had said.

"I-"

"Don't say a word." Ashwin said and walked away from there.

"This is all your fault. You made him think he is crazy." His father turned towards Vivan and held his collar.

"Leave my son alone!" my dad yelled. "What is wrong if they are gay? It is their life, let them love who they want to. I know for a fact that they are were not loved and accepted by us or the society. They only had each other till now, so let them be."

My dad looked at his own son and his eyes asked for his forgiveness but I knew Vivan had already forgiven him because he finally stood up for his children.

I stepped forward and pulled Vivan away from Ashwin's dad.

"Go upstairs and see if Ashwin is okay." I told him and he walked away.

"Oh, you poor girl; left alone at the mandap." he said to me next.

"Who said she is left alone?" Shiv said and walked to us. "We all are by her side, aways."

"Whatever." Ashwin's father said and left the house in defeat.

"I am so sorry, Naina. I am sorry that I said all of those things to you, I never meant any of that. You and our babies are the best thing that ever happened to me. I have said it before and I will keep saying it. I love you so much, more than anything in the world." he said and my eyes filled up with tears.

"You really hurt me." I said.

"I know I did and I am very sorry for it. I am an idiot for saying those things but I would be an even bigger idiot if I let you go away from me."

"I don't-" I started but he cut me off.

"Shh. Just listen to me. Please, for once." he said and I shut up.

"I have never been happy, I never had a real family, I never really had a meaning or a purpose. But you gave me all of it. I got happiness, I got a huge family because of you. You give me purpose, Naina. You are the reason I became a real man, you make me better and I want that for the rest of my life, I want to be better, for you. This is a big thing for me to do and you know that. You know that I never wanted a wife or kids, the thought of a family disgusted me; I was scared to fall in love. But, not anymore. We have our babies, we have a huge family and we already consider each other more than family. But I would like to make it official." he said and my tears kept flowing.

"Official?" I asked.

"Yes, although I have done this earlier and you rejected me. Will you be my wife, love? I want you for me for the rest of my life. I want to live a life full of happiness with you, and only you. And I want to make you happy. So, Naina Dixit, will you marry me?" he got down on one knee and took out the same ruby ring.

My eyes were full of tears, tears of joy. I was ready, everything was sorted out and there were no other problems standing in our way. We already had the mandap, I was in the bridal lehenga which suddenly felt like air; and he was wearing a sherwani. It was all perfect.

"Yes!" I said and he lifted me up and twirled around.

He put me down on my feet again and took my left hand to push the wedding ring on my ring finger.

"I was hoping you would say that. I would have been very, very embarrassed if you had said no again." he said.

"How could I ever say no after all that you said?" I said with a smile as I looked up to meet his eyes.

"Well, What are we waiting for?" my mom said. "Come here, both of you."

We sat down inside the mandap and the pandit started the rituals again. I looked at him and found him already looking at me.

"You look beautiful." he whispered to me.

"I always do." I said with a smirk.

"You are spending too much time with me, Miss Dixit. Your cockiness is showing." he said with a smile.

"Mrs. Bahl." I corrected him and the pandit instructed him to put sindoor on my head and a mangalsutra around my neck.

"I like that." he said with a wink. "Mrs. Bahl."

I smiled and looked down at my hands covered in henna. His name was in it, just like it was in my heart and will always remain.

We stood up for the Saat phere which indicated our vows. Each circle around the fire for each vow.

I vowed to be his forever. I vowed to be by his side and to cherish him forever. I vowed to take care of him and try to understand him in whatever situation we are in. I vowed to love him forever.

I never intend to break any of those.

Shiv's POV-

My hands were shaking when I hid myself in Naina'd dad's office. I couldn't marry her like that. We were fighting and I knew she was angry at me. I wanted to ask for her hand first, I wanted to propose to her first. I came up with the stupid plan that the lights would turn off and I will take Ashwin's place. It was honestly a very dumb idea and I never understood why everyone went on with it.

I needed to change it. I looked around for the file in his office, there must've been documents if there was a deal made. Maybe there was a loophole.

I ran my fingers through the boxes labelled by date and my eyes stopped at the particular file.

Dixit-Acharya deal.

I opened it up and scanned through the papers, reading every single word, trying to find some clue. There was no such sentence in the whole document which said the deal was illegal or anyone would have to go to jail or face a lawsuit if the deal is broken.

There was no such thing! The wedding could be stopped without her secretly marrying me. I thought.

I rushed to the back door with the file in my hand and made my way to Naina's car which I fortunately had the keys to. I drove to the hospital as quick as I could.

I ran to her father's room and explained everything to him. He slowly understood that this whole deal was a scam and there was no way he was letting the wedding happen.

I helped him on the wheelchair and walked through the hospital. I informed the staff that he was needed for a while and he will be right back to his room in a few hours. I helped him get into the car and loaded his wheelchair in the trunk of the car.

"Mr. Dixit, I would like to ask your permission to marry your daughter." I asked him as politely and formally as I could, during the car ride back to the house.

"I allow you, son. And please, call me dad." he said with a smile.

.

"Yes, although I have done this earlier and you rejected me. Will you be my wife, love? I want you for me for the rest of my life. I want to live a life full of happiness with you, and only you. So, Naina Dixit, will you marry me?" I asked her after the long speech I made when the drama was over.

I got down on one knee and took out the ring I had stolen from her bag. I opened the box and looked up at her. Her eyes were filled up with tears and her cheeks were wet but she still looked beautiful as ever.

"Yes!" she said and I swept her off her feet in excitement.

I put the ring on her finger and I promised myself to love her forever and never leave her side.

The End.

...

Author's Note-

This was the last chapter of this book but please wait for the epilogue because we all want to know what happens next, right?

Thank you so much for reading and voting. Thank you for giving this book a chance and thank you all for supporting me. I love all of you!

Let me know if you want a sequel or not!