Well, Hiya's little mischief caused redness on Shreya's skin. But surprisingly Karan did not tell anyone about her doing. Hiya couldn't understand why he chose to keep quiet but she let it skip her mind.

Devansh and Rishika were on curfew. They were not allowed to meet each other as the wedding preparations began. However, Devansh would climb up to Rishika's balcony at night to meet her.

Their wedding was another example of the pompous nature of Marwari weddings. Rishika's wedding attire weighed thirty kilos and she almost fell while taking blessings from the elders.

On the day when she was supposed to cook for the first time in her new home, she decided to make fifty-six dishes, traditionally called Chhappan Bhog. It took her six long hours to prepare the feast. But it was worth the hard work. Until Shreya commented, “Of course, she knows cooking. It comes from that category.”

Rishika stabbed her a hundred times in her mind hearing her say that.

Devansh and Rishika also faced some very embarrassing situations after marriage. Once Devansh forgot to discard condom after sex. The house help showed the condom to Devansh's mother saying, “I got this balloon from Bhaiya's room.”

Devansh received a look of disgust from his mother and Rishika got scolded by her mother-in-law later.

Another time, he was standing shirtless beside Rishika who was ironing the clothes when his mother saw the scars of nails on his back.

And maybe these awkward situations would keep occurring throughout their married life.

However, the biggest accident of their sex life occurred not too long after their wedding. One night when they were having sex, the condom ripped. And that's how they happened to get pregnant only after a month of their wedding. The elders were elated to know that. Devansh and Rishika were a bit nervous and scared.

But two months later, Devansh and Rishika shifted to Bangalore for a few years because Devansh had to oversee business there. Rishika was delighted. In Jaipur, she could only wear those uncomfortable traditional Marwadi sarees. But in Bangalore, she could wear whatever she wanted.

Though pregnancy put a lot of restrictions on what she could eat and what she couldn't eat. She couldn't eat street food. Not even her favorite Gol Gappey. She couldn't eat instant noodles. Though she would make some when Devansh would go for walk in the evening. Devansh tried his best to make her eat nutritious food only but he failed miserably. Pregnancy had made Rishika picky with her food and it was giving him a hard time.

During this time, his body too began showing bad effects of corporate life. His back would ache after sitting on a chair for hours. He now needed to use glasses because of working on laptop for long hours.

Though Rishika would massage his back to relieve the pain, making him admire his sweet wife. But all the time admiration would fly out of window when she will dance on Mujhe Buddha Mil Gaya, making fun of their age gap.

Devansh always had this one concern that being brought in an environment where domestic abuse was normalized, he didn't want to become like those men. He didn't want to become like his school friends who would proudly narrate in parties how they beat their wives. He knew he was better than that. So he began maintaining distance from those friends. And it did bring a positive change in his life. He was also trying to control his smoking habits. His father had severe health conditions due to his drinking addiction and he didn't want the same.

Earlier Rishika was sad because she wanted to work after marriage. She had seen fights happening between her parents about her mother's expenditure. Her mother was financially dependent on her father. She didn't want the same for herself. However, her mother-in-law did not approve of it. Devansh too sided with his mother. Because according to his thought process, he earned enough to give his wife a comfortable life.

However, it was in Bangalore when one night Rishika finally understood why job was not written in her fate. She saw the children of the househelps and guards who worked in the apartment complex where she and Devansh lived. She saw them indulging in wrong activities. Smoking.

She talked to their parents, asking if the kids are taking education or not. They weren't. So Rishika decided to do something for the children. She announced that she will take their tuition.

The parents of the children didn't want her to do it for free. So she agreed to take a small amount of money fees. Fifty rupee fees for two young kids for two months and hundred rupee for two teenagers for two months.

Taking this decision to contribute in the better future of those kids made her feel a lot better. She felt proud of her herself. Maybe motherhood was making her stronger.

✿ ✿ ✿

One evening Rishika was preparing dinner in the kitchen when she suddenly felt dizzy and lost her balance. Fortunately, Devansh saw this happening and came running to help her from falling.

“Rishika, be careful. What if something happened to the baby?” He was being calm.

But Rishika, thanks to her pregnancy hormones, yelled at him, “What do you mean something happened to the baby? Do you think I'm that reckless?” She pulled out of his arms.

“You are taking it in another direction. I didn't mean that.” He was gradually losing his temper.

“Yeah, make me look bad. It happened because I was cooking for you. If you are so concerned, cook for yourself.” Yelling that she left the kitchen.

Devansh too walked away and began grumbling while sitting in a corner. He had made his mind that he won't resolve the issue first. It was her mistake and she will have to come to him.

However, very soon he had a change of heart. He cooked her favorite fried rice and also ordered manchurian. And in less than two hours their fight resolved.

Rishika was enjoying the fried rice while Devansh was pretending to enjoy it. It could not replace his beloved Kadhi, of course.

“Devansh, Hiya is shifting to Delhi.” Rishika informed him.

Devansh was a little surprised to know that, “Karan is also shifted to Delhi.”

Rishika chuckled, “I don't think they will cross paths in Delhi. It's a big city.”

Devansh too chuckled, “Yeah, unless Hiya lives somewhere in South Delhi.”

Rishika began chuckling a little louder, “She does.”

Devansh stopped chuckling, “God, please save Karan from that Chudail- I mean, Hiya.” He quickly changed his words seeing Rishika glare at him.

✿ ✿ ✿

It wasn't the end of their story. It was just the end of a phase. A phase where they fell in love with each other and united as one. Soon another phase of their life will begin. However, as this phase ends, so ends our journey. The time is over and we can no more peek into their life.

•••

And the story ends here. It shouldn't be surprising though. My stories are always short.

It was a wonderful experience. There are certain things that I can't share with the readers. But if I ever wrote an autobiography, I'll definitely mention them. 😄

I started this book four months back but then deleted it after writing nine chapters. A week back I felt like I should complete what I started. And again, there are some things that I can't share as telling one person about those things had a bad consequence. But that untold part is the best thing about it. I don't care if the book is not good enough, if doesn't get reads or votes. Because I know what an incredible process it was.

And it would be better if you archive this book to get informed about Hiya and Karan's story in the future.

Thank you so much!