Prologue
Arnav
Weddings were not my thing.
Too many people. Too much noise. Too many strangers asking questions they had absolutely no business asking.
Put me in the middle of a battlefield and I'd know exactly what to do. Give me a crisis, an impossible situation, men waiting for orders, and my mind would
probably be at its calmest.
But put me in a room full of two hundred people expecting me to smile, make conversation, and pretend I remembered how someone's mother's cousin was related to the groom?
That was pressure. I had never liked crowds. Not because they made me nervous. I just didn't see the point in talking for the sake of talking. But weddings seemed to consider silence a personal enemy.
"Well, well."
I recognised the voice before I turned.
The groom stood a few feet away, dressed in a cream kurta-pajama that seemed almost as bright as the smile on his face.
"Major Rathore actually came."
I raised an eyebrow. "Don't make me regret it, Adi."
He laughed.
Carefree. Effortless.
Looking at him now, no one would have guessed this was the same man who had stood beside me under enemy fire only days ago. Maybe finding the right person did that to you. Not that I believed in fairytales. But if my friend had somehow found his, I would be happy for him.
Obviously, I wasn't going to tell him that.
"I'm touched, sir." He placed a hand dramatically over his chest. " I was half expecting you to bail on me.”
"I considered it."
"I know."
I almost smiled.
"Come. There's someone you need to meet."
"Why does that sound like a threat?"
"My would-be wife."
"Definitely a threat."
"Very funny."
He glanced towards the entrance, then checked his phone. "She should be here any minute."
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I glanced at the screen. Work.
"I have to take this."
His expression changed immediately.
"Now?"
"I'll be back."
"Arnav, wait. It'll take thirty seconds."
"So will this."
He gave me a look that clearly said he didn't believe me. Fair enough.
I answered the call and walked away from the crowd.
Rathore."
The noise began to fade behind me.
I had barely listened to the first few sentences when a car pulled up near the back entrance. The door opened. A woman stepped out. There was nothing about her that should have made me look twice. She wasn't dressed for the occasion. Just a simple kurta with loose trousers, her hair pulled into a ponytail, a bag hanging from one shoulder. She didn't even look like a wedding guest.
Maybe whatever she planned to wear was inside that bag. But that wasn't what made me stop.
It was the way she looked around.
Left. Right. Then over her shoulder.
Only after that did she move forward.
Not casually checking her surroundings.
More like making sure no one was watching her.
My attention sharpened.
She didn't look helpless. Far from it.
There was something in the way she carried herself that told me she had seen enough of life to know how to fight her own battles.
And yet, an absurd thought entered my head.
I wanted to protect her. Keep her tucked somewhere safe, away from whatever had taught her to look over her shoulder like that.
What the hell? Why was I even thinking like this? I didn't even know her.
Didn't know what she was looking over her shoulder for. Didn't even know if there was anything to protect her from.
Still, the thought came. Ridiculous.
She had barely taken a few steps when she stopped again. A small frown appeared on her bare face as she tilted her head, listening. A faint whimper came from somewhere near the pavement. She looked down.
A tiny puppy had managed to get itself stuck in a narrow gap beside the drain.
She didn't look around for someone to help. Didn't hesitate either.
She crouched beside it.
The puppy struggled when she reached for it.
She pulled her hand back.
Waited.
Then tried again, slower this time.
"Rathore?"
The voice on the phone dragged my attention back.
"Hmm?"
"Are you even listening?"
"Continue."
He did.
I didn't.
My eyes had already gone back to her.
A few seconds later, she managed to pull the puppy free.
She checked its paws, making sure it wasn't hurt, then set it down.
Then she smiled.
And for one strange second, I forgot what I was supposed to be listening to.
The tiredness I had noticed in her seemed to disappear. It was like watching sunlight break through after a storm.
Brief. Unexpected. Warm enough to make you notice.
She stood, brushed the dust from her clothes, and picked up her bag.
That was when she looked up.
At me.
Our eyes met for barely a second. There was something in hers I couldn't place.
Something that didn't belong with the smile I'd just seen.
She looked away first and walked towards the entrance.
I watched her go.
Then forced my attention back to the call.
By evening, I'd almost forgotten about her.
The wedding rituals had begun, and I was standing with a few of the men from our unit when someone announced that the bride was coming.
I looked towards the entrance, I froze. Her.
For a second, I genuinely thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But there she was. The girl from that afternoon.
Except now she was dressed as a bride.
She walked towards the mandap, surrounded by people, a smile on her face. But this wasn't the small smile I'd seen earlier. This one reached her eyes.
If the smile from that afternoon had been sunlight breaking through a storm, this one looked like spring had finally arrived and intended to stay.
My gaze shifted to Adi.
The expression on his face changed the moment he saw her.
I'd known the man long enough to recognise happiness when I saw it. He held out his hand. She placed hers in it.
Something tightened beneath my ribs.
I frowned at myself.
I'd seen this woman for barely a minute.
We hadn't spoken.
And yet, for some absurd reason, a dull ache settled somewhere inside me.
Strange. How could something feel like a loss when it had never been mine?
Adi closed his fingers around her hand.
I looked at the two of them and almost smiled at the stupidity of my own thoughts.
Of course she didn't need me. She already had her knight in shining armour.
